Well it's that time of year again. This years national YSA conference has just been announced and already people are unhappy, myself included. Why? well they seemed to have decided to tighten the rules this year. A lot! They seemed to have decided to use the guidelines from the youth conferences. Which admit ally although fine for youth are a bit too strong for 'adults'.
Here's an example from the dress and appearance guidelines for Young single adult men;
"Young single adult men are expected to be clean shaven; if worn moustaches and beards of any shape or size must be cleanly trimmed."
See the problem here already? How can you be clean shaven you also have a moustache? Cordeilas suggestion was maybe you can have 'half and half' one side of your face clean shaven and one side with a beard. Any suggestions?
Next line;
" Ponytails, pigtails, braids, designs, carvings, completely shaved heads, unnatural hair colour, and any type of extreme or distracting style are not permitted. Sideburns should not extend below the earlobe or onto the cheek."
Right, I don't know how it is in the US but guys in the UK do not wear pigtails. Ponytails maybe if they have awfully long hair, but pigtails???? Is this even a serious line or did someone make a mistake in the copy and paste. I think if a guy did turn up in pigtails he's got a lot more problems then his odd choice of hairstyle! And what have they got about sideburns! Is someone going to be walking around with a ruler!
Next Line from the dress and appearance guidelines for Young single adult men;
"If girls or women desire to have their ears pierced, they are encouraged to wear only one pair of modest earrings"
Interestingly they seem to have put guidelines for girls into the men's guidelines. Make your own jokes here!
Onto the Casual dress explained section;
The following items of clothing are considered appropriate for Casual Dress: blue jeans, blue jean jackets, cargo-style trousers, trainers, hiking or work boots, flip-flops, casual T-shirts, and brightly coloured clothing.
We're only allowed Blue jeans? But what if we have black jeans ( or in coolcat's case bright orange jeans) does that mean we get sent back to our rooms to change? Cargo-style trousers? Only have regular trousers is that allowed? what the heck does Brightly coloured clothing mean ?? Ohhh I can see a lot of people trying to push the limits on this one.
Onto Best address and Sunday dress explained. Now granted I will give them this one. Some of the interpretations from people last year as to what exactly constituted sunday dress were what could be described as a 'bit lose'. However there is one line that has worried some people
" There will be activities throughout the weekend where Sunday Dress clothing will be required"
See through the weekend. Not just Sunday this year. It also states that you should have a conservative tie. But what if you only have a new labour or lib dem tie??? Okay cheap joke, I'll leave it alone.
The guidelines for the single adult women more or less the same with a few differences. For example it says in their guidelines that hairstyles should be clean and neat with no extreme styles or unnatural colours. Obliviously their allowed pigtails :-) One part of their guidelines that cordeila found amusing was ; "Blouses must be modest in fit, extend below the waistline, and be long enough to cover the stomach and lower back, especially when bending over or raising hands or arms" She said that she though from brother hardy that it was ankles you shouldn’t show not your stomach :-)
Now onto the inappropriate clothing list;
" Inappropriate clothing includes underwear styles; pyjama or sleepwear styles; grubby or sloppy styles, including patched or torn clothing; gym-type clothing; and any clothing with suggestive or inappropriate wording or pictures. Also, anything which is sleeveless or immodestly revealing is not permitted. Trousers must be worn at the waistline so as to not reveal underwear. Footwear should be worn in all public areas. Hats are approved for outside wear only. Headbands and bandannas are not permitted during any activities "
Gym type clothing? Does that mean no sport this year. No oddball Olympics either. Imagine my distress at the oddball Olympics going, he, he, he. ( check my blog entries in August 2006 for a explanation) and what’s wrong with bandana and headbands? Especially for girls with long hair during service projects? guess their going to have to go and buy scrunchies.
Right moving onto accommodation.
“For the 2007 YSA Conference you will be staying in bedrooms.”
Well thank you for stating the obvious I didn’t think we would be staying in tents this year. In fact we stayed in bedrooms last year!
“ Wake up every morning”
Well I don’t think many people are planning to sleep through the whole weekend.
And finally the line Grumpy found hysterically funny
“We just ask that you take care of them as they were your own bedrooms.”
I think his comment was along the lines of “ Don’t they want the room back in one piece?
Trust me anyone who has ever seen my bedroom will get how funny it is.
Moving onto activities. Apparently during the Saturday evening dance/ball there will be a one hour variety show. First question. Why during the middle of a dance and where exactly are they going to hold it! And where do the audience go? Theres not enough room in that hall for chairs. No one’s going to want to stand up for a hour and I can’t see any girls wanted to sit on the floor in dresses!
Dress code for performers.
• Costumes must be modest
No pussycat doll outfits then. Shame J
• Shorts must come to the knee
and I thought shorts could be classifed as gym clothes. Loophole, loophole.
• Shirts must always be worn and no revealing tummies
No revealing tummies? I think they missed the rules about not to pull the girls hair or push their faces in the mud. Not forgetting the medics are their to fix owies.Dance wear must be modest-if it is too tight or revealing
So no chance of technik, medik and cordeilas superman routine being repeated then,
Guidelines for performers
• Acts must not contain and vulgar or suggestive movements
So no Prodigy or 50 cents songs then I’m guessing
• No food or liquid of any kind may be used (including toothpaste)
No food or liquid I can understand, but toothpaste?? I want to know what happened and where to merit them feeling that they have to add toothpaste to the list.
• Songs must not contain any suggestive words or messages
No Natasha beddingfield then or Lilly Allen
• Because we want to respect the reverence of church music, please do not auditionwith any Church-related numbers
This one I can understand.
Well all in all I can see this year being a interesting experience. Don’t you? It will be interesting for me at least to see if people accept this without any complaints as it from a church leader and you support your church leaders. Now before anybody worries I'm going apostate this is far from the case. I'm interested to compare this to the furore over Eldar Johnstons remarks last year. He was a church leader yet came in for a hidious amount of criticism from some YSA who wouldn't or couldn't accept anything had been wrong with the dance. Will the same people just accept this guidelines without comment?
I for one have no idea, but I get the feeling it will be fun to find out.
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