Biker and musician promote drug awareness and anti-bullying at Dixon School

DIXON – A guitarist and biker redefined what it meant to be cool in Dixon, Friday, during an anti-bullying, drug and alcohol awareness assembly through Bikers against Bullying.

Jared Blake, a finalist on The Voice, joined with motorcyclist Flash to speak to the kids about the impacts of drugs and alcohol on their lives as well as encouraging them to avoid getting involved with them. The day opened with Flash riding his motorcycle into the gym and Blake sang songs to the kids throughout the assembly.

Their goal was to ‘redefine cool’ and promote the idea that you can be a cool person, being recognized for what you are doing without the negative impact. 

“You can be a badass without being a douchbag,” Flash said of one of their big messages to kids.

Blake agreed and recalled how they had both made lots of bad decisions when they were younger, leading to lots of issues as they got older. Flash said most of these mistakes were made in an effort to be cool without realizing the damage they were doing in the process.

He felt it was unfortunate that most people have to get fairly old before realizing they can be cool without all the bad stuff. They both said things would have been much different for them had they known what they do now while they were in high school. It is a never ending process, though, and Flash said they are always learning and needing to make the right decision.

“You see adults create damage in other people’s lives on a daily basis,” he said. “And you don’t have to. You just don’t have to.”

Blake and Flash also interacted with the kids, allowing them to speak. During one part of the presentation, they asked some of the kids who they looked up to and why. In an especially emotional moment, a girl admitted she used to look up to her older brother, but was not allowed to see him after he got into some trouble with drugs and alcohol; Flash commended her for the bravery it took to admit to something like that especially in such a small community, encouraging her to reach out to her brother and let him know how she feels.

Both presenters were surprised by how open the student was. Flash said it was a sign of how big an issue it is, that some of the kids are willing to speak out about the issue in front of such a small student body. 

Blake felt one source of the issues was parent involvement. Either the parents do not know what the kids are doing, and are not paying attention, or they are telling them to quit while they do the same thing themselves.

This was Blake and Flash’s first time doing the presentation together. Flash has been doing his anti-bullying presentations for approximately five years and Blake has gone to schools for two. They decided to join forces and spread their messages together during their current trip around Montana.

Both speakers loved the reception the got in Dixon. Flash said it was very laid back and welcoming; he described it as an awesome experience.

Flash also had a special parting message for everyone in the communities.

“Parents, look at your kids,” he said. “They’ll let you know if they’re happy or not, but only if you want to hear it.”

He felt the best way the issues could be solved was for the community as a whole to take an active role in solving it. If everyone looks after each other, parents, families, neighbors and the community as a whole, everything would fall into place.