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Wednesday, June 10, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Songwriter performs with Circle of Friends kids
By Jodi Schneider McNamee
Correspondent
Steve Seskin is more than
a successful singer/songwriter
and teacher; he’s known for
his exhilarating performances,
and also has an undeniable
connection with children.
On Thursday evening, June
4, at The Belfry, Sisters Folk
Festival (SFF), in support of
Circle of Friends, presented
Seskin in concert. Seskin per-
formed a very unique song,
with special performances by
15 lively children, kindergar-
ten through eighth grade, who
are mentored through Circle
of Friends. The performance
received an enthusiastic stand-
ing ovation.
The song they performed,
“Circle of Friends,” was writ-
ten in less than two hours
earlier that day at Sisters Ele-
mentary School, where Circle
of Friends children gathered
together with Seskin to write
a tune based on their expe-
riences with their Circle of
Friends mentors/friends. The
song was done in the round
near the end, and there were a
couple of champion singers on
each part that helped carry the
song through.
Seskin’s 1998 hit ballad
“Don’t Laugh at Me,” origi-
nally recorded by Peter, Paul
and Mary, was the catalyst to
his connection with kids and
songwriting at schools. Ses-
kin partnered with Peter Yar-
row, and that set in motion the
program Operation Respect/
Don’t Laugh at Me. It was a
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curriculum designed to fos-
ter respect and kindness in
schools. One of the aspects
of respecting others is not to
bully anyone, and that is the
positive message that Seskin
conveys through his song and
talks that he gives at school
assemblies.
This anti-bullying program
has been implemented in more
than 20,000 schools across the
country.
In 2005 Seskin started a
new program in schools where
he spends a day — or several
days at a time — teaching the
kids how to write a song.
“Mostly the songwriting
I’m doing is specifically about
kindness, respect, anti-bully-
ing and self-esteem. The only
difference today was that this
song was targeted for what
Circle of Friends is and what
it means to these kids,” Seskin
said. “They were ready for this
and they had a lot of ideas. We
had a limited amount of time
and my job as I see it was to
facilitate these kids express-
ing themselves, so in the end,
what I want them to feel like is
that they wrote a song [with]
a little help from me, rather
than I wrote a song [with] a
little help from them. At the
end they were having a good
time and all singing the song
that we wrote, and that’s how
I gauge it.
“Circle of Friends is an
amazing opportunity not only
for the kids but for the men-
tors,” he noted. “When you
volunteer to work with a
child I think as in any kind of
photo by Jodi schneider McnaMee
Steve Seskin performed along with many Sisters kids involved with Circle of Friends.
giving, you don’t only give
to the person you’re trying to
help, you give to yourself.”
Seskin has worked with
SFF since 2002 and performed
at last year’s festival. It made
perfect sense to partner Ses-
kin with Circle of Friends to
raise awareness and support
for them, while connecting the
children to singing and song-
writing that could inspire them
to become involved in music.
The concert kicked off with
Sisters High School Ameri-
cana Project students Sedona
Baer followed by Megan Ells-
worth, who performs under
the stage name Megan Rose.
Before introducing Ses-
kin on stage, SFF Executive
Director Brad Tisdel had this
to say to the full house at The
Belfry:
“If you think back in your
own minds, maybe it was a
parent, guardian or friend,
community member, brother
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or sister that just took the time
to care, and tonight I really
want to honor what great work
Circle of Friends is doing
and how important it is in all
of our lives in a lot of ways.
Duncan Campbell started this
in Portland and I just want to
honor the vision that he had
in bringing this program to
Sisters and the fact that it has
happened and has had such an
impact on many people in the
community.”
And just before his fourth
number, Seskin called up the
children, all wearing green
Circle of Friends T-shirts
donated by Western Title.
Seskin asked for his T-shirt,
so he could match them, and
the crowd went wild. And
that was before the standing
ovation.
Right before the
intermission Circle of Friends
Executive Director Debbie
Newport took the stage with
some heartfelt words:
“To our volunteer men-
tors, parents and guardians,
take a deep breath and feel the
circle that is around you from
this community. This is one of
the most amazing communi-
ties that exists, I believe, and
we have an amazing ability to
come together to not only take
care of ourselves but to take
care of each other, and that is
what Circle of Friends is all
about; it’s a way for our com-
munity to come together and
support everyone, and in this
case each and every single one
of our children.”
For more information
about becoming a volunteer
for Circle of Friends call Beth
Hanson at 541-588-6445.
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