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NaNoWriMo’s Young Writer’s Program (YWP)

Colorful sign up graphic from the NaNoWriMo YWP website saying "Your story matters. Write your novel now."

I have been tasked with checking out another great possibility for students: NaNoWriMo. That is quite the name! Is NaNoWriMo an abbreviation, acronym, or initialism? Check out the video if you want to know how to pronounce it. Let’s start at the beginning, learning about what NaNoWriMo is; and then, let’s explore the NaNoWriMo Young Writer’s Program (YWP).

What is NaNoWriMo?

November is National Novel Writing Month ( NA tional NO vel WR Iting MO nth), which is abbreviated as NaNoWriMo. (I can see why!) The goal of this annual creative writing event is to encourage and challenge participants to write a 50,000-word novel in just 30 days. If you are doing the math, that is 1,667 words per day. This global event brings together writers of all levels and backgrounds to work on their writing projects.

But NaNoWriMo is also a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides tools, structure, community, and encouragement to help people find their voices, achieve creative goals, and build new worlds — on and off the page. 

What is the NaNoWriMo Young Writer’s Program?

According to the website, “NaNoWriMo’s Young Writers Program (YWP) takes a joyful, focused approach to creative writing and makes it accessible to young writers, educators, and families.” It provides educators with standards-aligned resources and lessons for supporting writers who are under 18 in writing a novel during NaNoWriMo and in completing smaller writing projects all year long ! Additionally, it offers tools to track progress, a writing space, workbooks, and motivational materials. Students can sign up on their own or as part of a class set up by their teacher.

To work on a novel, you can join an official event like NaNoWriMo in November , or Camp NaNoWriMo in April and July , set a word-count goal, and try to reach it by the end of the month. 

What ages can participate in the YWP?

Participants 17 and under (18 is okay if still in high school) can sign up for individual accounts . If students are participating with a teacher or group leader, they can join the online classroom created by their teacher to stay connected.

Do students have to write 50,000 words?

No, the YWP allows participants to set individualized goals. 1,000 words? 10,000? 100,000??? It’s up to you! One can use the progress-tracking tools on the site to stay on track. If no official event is happening, students can create a personal challenge with their own deadline for a new or existing project.

Young writers can write directly in their YWP writing space or in a separate document, find inspiration in YWP’s noveling resources, and tap a worldwide community of fellow writers for support in YWP’s forums. But it’s not just about November. YWP supported educators and students in writing projects all year long through their resources!

How do teachers sign up for NaNoWriMo’s YWP?

  • Sign up for NaNoWriMo’s Young Writers Program.
  • Tell a little about yourself.
  • Use the Educator Resources .
  • Create your virtual classroom(s).
  • Enroll students in your class with a unique classroom code.
  • Help students create their novels.
  • When the challenge begins, students start writing!
  • Track student progress.
  • Keep your students motivated.
  • Students write until the very end of the challenge.

NaNoWriMo provides virtual classroom spaces on their site, as well as student workbooks, Common Core-aligned curricula, and free motivational materials.

young writers program nanowrimo

Take advantage of this global movement! Inspire your students of all ages and backgrounds to take on the exhilarating challenge of writing a novel in just 30 days. The Young Writers Program (YWP) ensures that this creative journey is accessible, joyful, and educational for young writers. So, if you want to boost writing skills, work on a specific genre of writing, develop students’ research skills, and more, NaNoWriMo might just be the perfect adventure to embark upon. Get ready to let creativity run wild and bring ideas to life, one word at a time!

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Featured Image: Screenshot by Emily Horn: NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program, Home Page

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Peggy Reimers

With a passion for technology and a creative hands-on approach, Peggy shares 26 years of elementary teaching and educational technology experience through her interactive professional development for educators. She earned her M.S. in Educational Technology from Lesley University and her B.S. in Elementary Education from Montana State University Billings.

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Home » Blog » NaNoWriMo YWP [Complete Review]

NaNoWriMo YWP [Complete Review]

young writers program nanowrimo

TABLE OF CONTENTS

NaNoWriMo is a fantastic program that has been around since 1999. In addition, they have made the Nanowrimo YWP (Young Writers Program). This branch of Nanowrimo challenges and encourages young writers specifically.

It gets them on the path of learning how to write a book. They are challenged to write 50,000 words in one month.

It sounds like a crazy venture, but many thousands of people complete the objective each year. What began as a simple concept has grown into a huge, world-renowned event with many extensions and extras.

The Nanowrimo YWP takes place at the same time as the regular Nanowrimo , but it has its own website with some extra features that are designed to help out younger writers .

Nanowrimo itself is aimed at writers who are a minimum of 13 years. The Nanowrimo YWP is for all writers 17 years and under – this includes those younger than 13 as long as they have parental permission.

Why is the NaNoWriMo YWP Important?

The Nanowrimo YWP is important because it places emphasis on the younger generation of writers. The main Nanowrimo program can be a scary undertaking for a younger child. In addition, the website/forum content itself may not be appropriate.

This program for younger writers provides a safe, welcoming, and educational space for kids to write without worrying. It also gives educators a way to facilitate Nanowrimo as a part of their classroom learning in a systematic and professional way.

Nanowrimo YWP is the perfect way for a kid to start learning how to write a novel. Many children want to be creative, but they can be shy.

Rebecca Stead says in one of her Nanowrimo YWP pep talks:

 Your weirdness is your strength. Be willing to let some of your truly strange ideas, your nerdiest observations, and your truest emotions into your story. Writing well usually requires that you make yourself vulnerable, which can be hard to do. Most of us have an instinct to protect ourselves. But you probably can’t protect yourself and write a great story at the same time.

The challenge to write so much without thinking about it at length can help kids come out of their shell.

Lastly, it gives parents peace of mind. Nurturing and supporting a child’s gift or desire for creative writing is very important. They may someday want to learn how to write a book.

The program can be exciting and beneficial to a young writer , but the main Nanowrimo may not be as appealing to parents. It would put their child in the same space as thousands of adults writing on all kinds of topics.

How Does NaNoWriMo YWP Work?

The Nanowrimo YWP has three sections:

The website and its functions will look a little different depending on which group you are in.

[table id=28 /]

NaNoWriMo YWP for Writers

When signing up to participate, writers will need to make sure they register as a “young writer.”

If they are signing up as part of a classroom initiative, their teacher will have given them a classroom code. This will enable registration without an email address.

If a writer is signing up as an individual and not in connection to a class, they will need to provide their email – if 13 or older. If they are under 13, it needs to be the parent’s email.

Once registered, it’s time to fill out a few profile details and create a novel! If there is an ongoing Nanowrimo event, there will be an active challenge to accept.

nanowrimo ywp

Once accepted, they will be given a chance to create their novel’s profile on the website:

nanowrimo ywp

It may be that there is no event coming up or currently running. In this case, they will be able to create their own challenge which will need to include a word count goal.

This goal can be changed at any time throughout the event, so there is no pressure.

The Writing Space

The Nanowrimo YWP provides each writer with an online writing space for them to organize their novel. It includes all their novel’s stats and information.

nanowrimo ywp

They also have a section with some writing tools:

  • Word sprints . These are timed writing sessions. Set the timer and write as much as you can in that amount of time. No stopping.
  • The dare machine. This gives a small writing prompt that is meant to spark some movement in your story. If you’re stuck, take the dare it gives you, and go from there.
  • Download novel . This lets you download your novel as a PDF or Word doc. This allows for easy printing and sharing.

nanowrimo ywp

Word sprints are a simple but effective way to get a lot of words written down quickly. The writer can set a timer for whatever time they would like – perhaps 10 or 15 minutes.

The challenge is to write as many words as possible within that time frame. This is when spelling, grammar, and everything they ever learned in English class gets to be thrown out the window!

The idea here is to get words written . Writers can go back to this challenge throughout the month and try to beat their best word count.

The dare machine is essentially a writing prompt generator. It will provide the writer with a short idea or suggestion to include in their story. For example: “lead a character into a dark forest to find something they need.”

It is, of course, up to the writer whether or not they choose to include these prompts in their stories. Even if they don’t use the idea, it can be a quick and effective way to get past a bit of writer’s block. It can also help them add something imaginative to a scene that may be a little boring.

Get Connected

The Nanowrimo YWP has a forum all its own. It is a place for young novelists to interact with each other, brainstorm together, and talk about their writing.

The forums here are a fun and safe place for kids to connect. They are governed by a very strict code of conduct and are monitored by Nanowrimo staff. Writers who are under 13 may look at the forums but will not be allowed to post anything.

The Nanowrimo Template

The Nanowrimo YWP has many tools for young writers, all of which are designed to make the month easier and more fun for them.

In addition to these helpful resources, it might be helpful to also utilize a novel template that is specific to Nanowrimo:

nanowrimo template

This template will guide them through each day. It reminds them of that day’s word count goal and provides simple story guidelines for that point in their novel.

NaNoWriMo YWP for Educators

There is a fantastic space set up for educators who wish to have their entire class participate in Nanowrimo as a part of school. Educators wishing to sign up will have to register as such and create a password with security questions.

It is important to note that those registering as an educator must be an adult facilitating the Young Writers Program either in school, at a library, or another type of community space. If this is not you, you will not be permitted to make an educators account.

Once you are registered you will have the option to fill out a profile with as much information as you’d like. You will have access to all e ducator resources.

There are student workbooks, lesson plans, and free classroom kits. These will help inspire your students before, during, and after the event. They are fantastic tools to help your kids learn how to write a novel.

nanowrimo ywp

You will also have access to the educator-only forums where you can meet and chat with others like you. This is a great place to exchange tips, advice, and additional resources.

The Virtual Classroom

The next step is to create a virtual classroom. This will be the home-base for you and your students throughout the month. You will able to monitor your student’s novel progress, as well as read and edit them yourself.

nanowrimo ywp classroom

You can also set writing challenges for your class outside of official Nanowrimo events, and you can host class discussions.

If you are hosting Nanowrimo for multiple groups or classes, you can create separate virtual classrooms for each one. Students will need a classroom code in order to join the classroom – this is found in the admin area of your classroom.

Keep Them Motivated

As the educator, you are able to keep track of all your student’s progress. You can keep an eye on their word counts throughout the month. If they are falling behind, there are a few things you can do to keep them motivated.

  • Word sprints. If you have them do any writing during class time, try running word sprints as a group. There is a tool for them to do this online by themselves, but a group effort may have them more motivated. They will probably become even more motivated if you offer some incentives! Stickers, candies, fun pens/pencils or small toys all make great prizes for the winner of a word sprint.
  • The dare challenge . This is something else you can try using as a group. Give everyone the same prompt and allow them some time to write. After a few minutes, have everyone share how they inserted the prompt into their own unique story. It will be fun and inspirational for the students to see how everyone used the same idea differently.
  • Badges are offered at certain milestones throughout the process. They are earned online and displayed on each writer’s profile. Emphasize the badges and their corresponding milestones. Perhaps offer real-life rewards as each student earns a badge.

Prizes especially, are usually enough to get even the non-writers motivated to write a little!

NaNoWriMo YWP for Families

If you are an educator who is hosting a Nanowrimo event for a group of young writers, it may be a good idea to send home a letter for the parents explaining what the project is.

Nanowrimo has a letter drafted up for you that outlines things perfectly. It is available to download and print from their website.

Nanowrimo can be challenging and time-consuming for many kids. It’s important that their parents and families understand what they are doing, and why.

There is also a section on the Nanowrimo YWP website that has some information and resources for the parents of participating children. It begins by giving some helpful links that will describe what Nanowrimo is in detail and how it works for a developing writer.

It also lays out the site’s legal terms and explains how Nanowrimo protects their children. This will be very important to parents, especially those with children under 13 who wish to participate.

The terms and conditions must be reviewed by either a parent or an educator before a child creates an account.

Next, there are some suggested questions and talking points that parents can use to help, support, and encourage their child throughout the month.

Lastly, the website encourages families to write together! Parents can sign up for the Nanowrimo adult program which runs simultaneously to the Nanowrimo YWP in November.

Alternatively, they can sign up as an educator on the Nanowrimo YWP website and write in the same classroom as their child.

After the NaNoWriMo YWP Challenge

November is over, you have 20+ first drafts of varying lengths, and a tired group of kids who just wrote themselves into the ground. What do you do now?

Once the challenge is over, the next steps are probably some of the most exciting for your kids. First comes the editing, and then it’s time to publish those novels !

“Now What?” Months

Students’ novels will be kept on the website for as long as they keep their account. You can go through some editing work with them in January and February before sending them off to be published.

Of course, editing can extend past these two months, but Nanowrimo offers some additional support in January and February. They call these the “now what?” months and there is a forum dedicated to editing help and discussion.

They also run a blog that has some “now what?” resources, including suggestions and steps to take as you begin editing.

Time to Publish!

Nanowrimo has partnered with Blurb, a self-publishing platform for writers. The process can be as simple or as creative as you want. To begin, each novel will need to be downloaded as a PDF. You can do this using Squibler .

The easiest and quickest way to get the books printed is to let Nanowrimo design the book for you. This option only requires you to upload the PDF copy of the novel and select the type of cover and paper you want. Nanowrimo does the rest!

If you and/or your class are feeling adventurous and creative, there is also an option to have the books printed with custom designed covers. This could be a fun activity for your class, and it will make the finished product even more personalized for them.

There are detailed instructions on the Nanowrimo YWP website for both publishing options, and they make the process relatively simple.

Learning about the publishing process is part of learning how to write a novel.

Blurb offers participants of the Young Writers Program 30% off of their order, as well as a free ISBN. They also give 15% of the purchase back to Nanowrimo in support of the Young Writers Program.

Get the Kids Writing

The Nanowrimo YWP is beneficial in so many ways. For young writers , it offers a safe and productive environment to stretch, grow, and develop their writing skills. It’s a step in the process of teaching the kids how to write a book.

If an entire class is participating, it’s a learning experience even for students who are not naturally “writers.” It teaches discipline, encourages goal-setting, and utilizes their imagination.

For educators, it is a fantastic program that is ready to go. It offers a done-for-you structure, excellent support, and plenty of resources. It’s a fun challenge that will have students excited to write. Overall, it’s an excellent addition to any curriculum.

Nanowrimo is successful because of their long-standing passion for both writing and the writer . They value creativity and work hard to make success attainable for everyone.

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The Wisdom of Young Speechwriters

A passing BBC journalist called me to ask for some quotes on why President Obama and his wife Michelle are such great public speakers. A lively discussion ensued on what in fact makes someone a ‘great public speaker’. Are the Obamas excellent speakers who too often give poor speeches?

She sounded unhappy when I opined that the problem with so many speechwriters is that they are young and so can’t bring wisdom to bear on the speech support task. “I disagree,” she said, “young people have wisdom!”

There’s a novel thought. Do they? Or do they have some wisdom, but not as much as older people? That one is answered conclusively  here.

Let’s carefully frame the question for our immediate purpose. It’s not “do people (necessarily) get wiser as they get older”?  That debate rumbles on . Rather it is this: “can young people (let’s say under 35) have the wisdom needed to write a great speech?”

President Obama’s speechwriter  Jon Favreau  was very young (24) when he first started writing speeches for then Senator Obama in 2005. He went on to achieve speechwriting glory, being named one of the  100 Most Influential People in the World  by  Time  magazine in 2009. Yowza. I wonder whether it ever occurs to  Time  to explore the world of President Putin’s speechwriters – maybe there is someone there who also should be on that list?

There’s no doubt that J Favreau can write a fine speech. Above all he won the full confidence of President Obama and so got close enough to him to tune in to President Obama’s ‘voice’ and  write speeches given by using teleprompters . This is an art in itself. Here’s an extract from a chapter in  Speeches for Leaders  devoted to just this:

The idea seems sound. The leader maintains far better eye contact with the audience instead of repeatedly looking down at notes. However, what the teleprompter (or iPad) giveth in enhanced eye contact, it taketh away in the form of hugely reduced spontaneity and conversation. By using a teleprompter, a leader is trapped with the words served up as they scroll down the small screen. The leader is  reading out a speech , not speaking directly to an audience from the heart. If the leader starts any improvising, departing from the prepared script, a mess can quickly ensue. Once it all gets out of synch, it’s difficult for the teleprompter operator and leader to re – find the right place, quickly and together, and get the speech back on track. While that is happening, the leader is horribly exposed like a fish gasping for air. This is all the more obvious if the speaker is fiddling with a scrolling iPad screen. Long seconds spent peering down at the screen to get the text back to the right place are seconds not spent engaging with the audience. The audience suddenly finds itself ignoring the speech and enjoying the mess: everyone likes to see an important person making a fool of themselves. Any hope the leader has of controlling the room accordingly frays or collapses, and perhaps is never recovered.

Obama utterly relies on teleprompters to maintain contact with the audience on the day and so sound ‘authentic’. Of course that is dangerous – he crashes completely  when the teleprompter freezes  or he otherwise gets out of synch. But when it works well the results can be outstanding.

Writing for a speaker using teleprompters so that the words flow naturally requires extra skill. The speaker also needs a skilled teleprompter operator able to adjust the flow of words down the screen and maybe even pause the flow completely, depending on audience reaction.

In short, teleprompters work only for speakers with the money to afford a team of experts used to making teleprompted speeches a success. Thinking about using an iPad or iPhone app so that you have your own teleprompter for delivering your speech? DON’T.

Be all that as it may, what about Wisdom?

The problem with anyone young is that they have all sorts of positive qualities: energy, fresh thinking, ambition, confidence and so on. But they (necessarily) don’t have the experience that comes from knowing lots of things. From seeing how things play out over time. For grasping the deeper dynamics of any negotiation. From understanding relationships in all their baffling complexity. From grasping what the Serbs call  duh situaciji  – the spirit of the situation.

Take US/Russia relations. It’s safe to say that neither J Favreau nor President Obama knew anything much about Russia before the President visited Moscow a few months after his election in 2009. Why should they? Russia is an enigma wrapped in a conundrum surrounded by a mystery, or something like that. Above all it’s BIG. It has big attitudes. Big grudges. Big ‘intensity’. Russia really likes being Russia. Nowhere else does Russia like Russia does.

Thus along comes President Obama armed with his sassy speechwriters to deliver a major speech! To Russia! It comes just weeks after his  majorly flawed Cairo speech  to the ‘Muslim world’. The  text of his Moscow speech is here .

First thing. The speech is delivered (like his Cairo speech) to a University audience of economics graduates. Hurrah. Young people! The future!

Is this the right choice? Maybe there’s something just a whiff patronising in a country like Russia using a young audience for a front-rank US foreign policy speech – as if he’s speaking ‘over the heads’ of all the frumpy old people who actually run the country? It also seems to take it for granted that young Russians are ‘cool’, progressive-minded thoughtful people who basically share universal Obamaesque social democrat values.  But what if they don’t ?

The speech itself starts with all the usual laboured Obama faux-rhetoric:

Russian writers have helped us understand the complexity of the human experience, and recognize eternal truths. Russian painters, composers, and dancers have introduced us to new forms of beauty. Russian scientists have cured disease, sought new frontiers of progress, and helped us go to space. These are contributions that are not contained by Russia’s borders, as vast as those borders are. Indeed, Russia’s heritage has touched every corner of the world, and speaks to the humanity that we share.

This sort of thing is condescending padding. We then have the obligatory rent-a-quote, dumped in to add ‘connection’ even though everyone there on the day knows that neither Obama nor his speechwriters have read much if anything of Pushkin:

Here at NES, you have inherited this great cultural legacy, but your focus on economics is no less fundamental to the future of humanity. As Pushkin said, “Inspiration is needed in geometry just as much as poetry.”

Why not take that unexpected idea and make a theme of the speech from it? Balance  Art v Science – Subjective v Objective  as an idea in international relations. Nope. Too complicated.

Like President Medvedev and myself, you’re not old enough to have witnessed the darkest hours of the Cold War, when hydrogen bombs were tested in the atmosphere, and children drilled in fallout shelters, and we reached the brink of nuclear catastrophe. But you are the last generation born when the world was divided. At that time, the American and Soviet armies were still massed in Europe, trained and ready to fight. The ideological trenches of the last century were roughly in place. Competition in everything from astrophysics to athletics was treated as a zero-sum game. If one person won, then the other person had to lose.

Ah – *wakes up*.  I win – you lose . That sounds like something Russians understand.

And then, within a few short years, the world as it was ceased to be. Now, make no mistake: This change did not come from any one nation. The Cold War reached a conclusion because of the actions of many nations over many years, and because the people of Russia and Eastern Europe stood up and decided that its end would be peaceful.

What a weird and wrong way to summarise the end of communism in the USSR. Nothing about Soviet communism  as a catastrophic idea ?

Over two tumultuous decades, that truth has been borne out around the world. Great wealth has been created, but it has not eliminated vast pockets of crushing poverty. Poverty exists here, it exists in the United States, and it exists all around the world. More people have gone to the ballot box, but too many governments still fail to protect the rights of their people. Ideological struggles have diminished, but they’ve been replaced by conflicts over tribe and ethnicity and religion. A human being with a computer can hold the same amount of information stored in the Russian State Library, but that technology can also be used to do great harm.

Again, there’s something exasperatingly condescending about these platitudes. Maybe they make sense somewhere else? But to an audience of highly educated tough young Russians? No.

And so it rambles on, for some 40 minutes. The key philosophical weakness of the speech comes here:

Yet unfortunately, there is sometimes a sense that old assumptions must prevail, old ways of thinking; a conception of power that is rooted in the past rather than in the future. There is the 20th century view that the United States and Russia are destined to be antagonists, and that a strong Russia or a strong America can only assert themselves in opposition to one another. And there is a 19th century view that we are destined to vie for spheres of influence, and that great powers must forge competing blocs to balance one another. These assumptions are wrong.

Really? Look at Russia now studiously peeling off Crimea from Ukraine in blatant defiance of international law. That looks impressively like a major success for a very old assumption, namely that if you’re big and brutish enough and grab part of someone else’s land, who’s going to stop you?

As I said in Prague, rules must be binding, violations must be punished, and words must mean something.

Ah, our old friend musty speechwriting. When you want to sound tough without actually committing to anything, throw in musty phrases. This speech has a grim 19 musts. Its mustiness reaches an oddly incoherent crescendo in the key passage referring to Russia and Ukraine:

And that leads me to the final area that I will discuss, which is America’s interest in an international system that advances cooperation while respecting the sovereignty of all nations. State sovereignty must be a cornerstone of international order. Just as all states should have the right to choose their leaders, states  must  have the right to borders that are secure, and to their own foreign policies. That is true for Russia, just as it is true for the United States. Any system that cedes those rights will lead to anarchy. That’s why we  must  apply this principle to all nations — and that includes nations like Georgia and Ukraine. America will never impose a security arrangement on another country. For any country to become a member of an organization like NATO, for example, a majority of its people  must  choose to; they  must  undertake reforms; they  must  be able to contribute to the Alliance’s mission. And let me be clear: NATO should be seeking collaboration with Russia, not confrontation.

No doubt. But what if Russia under current management does not trust NATO?

You get to decide what comes next. You get to choose where change will take us, because the future does not belong to those who gather armies on a field of battle or bury missiles in the ground; the future belongs to young people with an education and the imagination to create. That is the source of power in this century.

Hmm. Power comes all sorts of things. Including from a willingness to use force to achieve specific ends. Plus  not all young people  want to create the sorts of things that Obama has in mind.

The speech finishes in a veritable torrent of mixed metaphors:

Every country charts its own course. Russia has cut its way through time like a mighty river through a canyon, leaving an indelible mark on human history as it goes. As you move this story forward, look to the future that can be built if we refuse to be burdened by the old obstacles and old suspicions.

A river charts a course that leaves an indelible mark on a future than can be built unburdened by obstacles/suspicions. Hurrah!

This is what I mean by a speech lacking Wisdom. It’s mainly not badly written. Maybe it even sounded pretty good on the day.

But the  tone  is all wrong for a keynote speech  in Moscow . Its didactic style grates. Its messages are flabby, its homilies patronising. It reasonably extends a Hand of Friendship but has much too little to say what will happen if that hand is spurned.

Neither Jon Favreau nor President Obama knew enough about the subject, and above all about the highly specific  psychological  approach of President Putin and his elite. This explains why the most basic failure of this speech (ie the place where the absence of Wisdom was most acute) lay in its failure to address the  key foreign policy dilemma in US/Russia relations :

Hence if Russia can not be in practice a real partner for the USA, it seeks its global political market niche in behaving awkwardly towards US policies at the UN and elsewhere, as this at least marks out some sort of continuing Big Power status even if in a negative way.

Basically, this Obama speech in Moscow did not do much more than rehash the famous line from the doomed but sly President in  Mars Attacks  as he addresses the Martian invaders:  Why can’t we all just … get along?

That sounds and is weak.

Hence the  Obama Syria red line fiasco  some 220 weeks later. And Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea.  Assad must go! Oops. Looks like thanks to Putin he’ll still be around after I step down early next year…

Wisdom? Hard to define it. But you notice when it’s absent. As do a tough-minded audience.

+++ UPDATE +++

The BBC article about the Obamas’ public speaking is here (in Spanish).

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Perfect and humorous analysis with a brilliant film insert. Surprisingly, even the mention of the Serbs! 🙂 I have enjoyed.

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Always good to get a mention of Serbs into such things, I find! Imaš kuću – vrati stan!

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young writers program nanowrimo

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