Eight Carleton University varsity athletes have teamed up to write a book to help younger boys build emotional intelligence and connectedness. “New Adventures, New Paths” is a collaboration between Carleton University’s Equity and Inclusive Communities and the Carleton Ravens. Bailey Reid, senior advisor of gender and sexual violence prevention and support with Carleton University, says the idea to write the book came after she realized there was a lack of stories about emotional connection or navigating emotional complexity for men. “We came up with this project [thinking] that it would be amazing if we had men on campus come together to write stories of collaboration and care for other younger men and boys,” said Reid. The project is using storytelling to empower young men to recognize their potential as positive changemakers. “I think we’re really trying to show that masculinity can happen in many different ways. That by asking for help instead of denying that you need it, by caring for one another and collaborating with one another. Men can still achieve their dreams. Masculinity is a vast expanse,” said Reid. AJ Osman, a basketball player with the Carleton Ravens and a co-author, says he used this project to step out of what he’s accustomed to. “When this opportunity first presented itself, I thought it was an amazing chance for me to actually have a real impact on the youth and the city. I know how much people look up to athletes,” said Osman. Osman says he tries to use his position to help kids with positive messaging. “Being part of this project, it was my goal to combat a toxic masculinity environment that we see nowadays in media, whether that’s films, books, or just culture in general. A lot of coming-of-age stories I think promote the wrong kind of principles or morals,” said Osman. He says he wants elementary school, middle school and high school students to have guidelines to base their decisions and choices on. Osman’s story is about a 12 year old boy named Caleb who felt like he was an outcast from society. Caleb is the name of Osman’s little brother. The athletes spent more than 15 hours in writing training with Carleton University’s writing team to learn and execute their story telling. Nelson Cilien, a Carleton Ravens basketball player and another co-author, says he always wanted to have an impact. “My goal is just to show the next generation that anything is possible if you really believe in yourself,” said Cilien. After winning two back-to-back national championships, he thought he made it to success, until reality set in when he wasn’t taking school seriously and had to take a step back to focus on his work. “Sometimes I feel like in life, you also need to take a step back, to have a bigger step forward,” said Cilien. “You learn from your mistakes, study to take school seriously, study hard, ask for help.” Reid says the Carleton Ravens are leaders on campus and in the community, so it was fitting for them to contribute. “They really were able to bring that typical masculinity, but also, use their stories to challenge some of the assumptions that we make about male athletes in particular,” said Reid. Other co-authors include: Anthony Aweya, Louth Coulibaly, Domac Domac, Zacharie Georges, Xavier-Étienne Patry and Louis Zhang.
