The Scary Guy

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The Scary Guy

The Scary Guy (born December 29, 1953 as Earl Kenneth Kaufmann in Minneapolis , Minnesota ) is an American motivational speaker who campaigns against hatred , violence , prejudice and bullying in schools and companies worldwide. He is the owner of a tattoo shop, entertainer and action artist. His nose, eyebrows and ears are pierced , and about 85 percent of his body is covered with tattoos . The Scary Guy officially changed its name from Earl Kenneth Kaufmann to The Scary Guy in 1998 and is now focused on teaching children and adults to instill love and appreciation for all people. He gives his lectures in schools, universities, companies, police and armed forces. In Germany, Scary's fame is mainly based on the 2006 documentary by Uli Kick, which was broadcast on ARTE in 2011 and on Erste in 2012 .

biography

Scary was born Earl Kenneth Kaufmann on December 29, 1953 and grew up in New Hope . He graduated from Cooper High School in 1972. The Scary Guy was a singing teacher at Macalester College in St. Paul . He also worked as a baby photographer and a computer seller before discovering tattoos. When Scary was already largely tattooed himself, he finally quit his job and opened his own tattoo studio.

Insulting ad and change of heart

In the 1990s, the operator of a competing tattoo parlor ran a newspaper ad saying, "Are you tired of dealing with terrifying guys with war paint on their faces?" Scary first dealt with thoughts of revenge, but then soon wondered why a complete stranger could say or publish something like that about him. He thought about himself and realized that he had gone through life with a similarly negative attitude. He identified the attack of his competitor as negative energy transported by words and decided not to let this destructive force inside him anymore. Negative energy that has entered the body produces hatred and anger, which demand a quick discharge, which subsequently causes more and more negative energy to flow into the body. Through the view: "If you say something like this, it is only your business with which I have nothing to do" the cycle is interrupted. He himself describes this moment of knowledge as the turning point at which he decided to fight against hatred, violence and prejudice from now on. In 1998 he finally had his name officially changed to "The Scary Guy".

The Scary Guy worked with over five million people around the world campaigning for peace through imparting love and acceptance. His work was reported in over 1,700 press articles, 700 radio interviews and several hundred TV programs.

The Scary Guy in Germany

In November 2007, The Scary Guy made his first official or public appearances in Germany (after visiting the US armed forces on the Ramstein base in Germany a few years ago). At the invitation of the organization Network ROPE , which is committed to social work with young people, The Scary Guy gave several lectures in the Darmstadt area and in Ludwigshafen. Partly it was about lectures at schools (for pupils and teachers) and in youth facilities, partly about public appearances that were accessible to everyone.

In 2008 The Scary Guy performed at the invitation of the school's liaison teacher in the Realschule im Hasental in Cologne-Deutz and for the first time in Austria. There were other events in Düren (as part of the drug prevention of the cultural association End Art) and Jülich (study seminar for secondary level 1 teachers). After the events in the Deutzer Realschule were very successful, the teacher Lars Prignitz decided to invite Scary to Germany again in May 2009.

Afterwards, Prignitz founded the Chillaxed initiative with schoolchildren, which endeavored to implement Scary's concept in German schools over the long term. At the same time, Prignitz gave a seminar on the newly developed violence prevention concept at the University of Cologne. During this seminar, an evaluation of the process took place - among other things by questioning the participating students. Preparatory and follow-up material was also created and tested.

In autumn 2010 the secondary school in Cologne-Deutz was visited again, but also the Elwin Christoffel secondary school in Monschau (where Lars Prignitz worked in the meantime) - there were further events at the grammar school in Burgkunstadt (Bavaria). The Hildegard von Bingen grammar school in Cologne and the secondary school in Nideggen also took part in the Chillaxed initiative. At the same time, Scary continued to be used in Darmstadt.

After several years of experience with the implementation of Scary's approach in German schools, Lars Prignitz (who had meanwhile become the headmaster of the bilingual Montessori school in Heidesheim) decided together with the Rope network (which was responsible for the events in Darmstadt ) to start a long-term project at the Bilingual Montessori School in Heidesheim , in which a competence group of students is to be trained to work as ambassadors for Scary's approach. You could start in October 2011, Scary attended the connected elementary and secondary school and made two introductory events. After that, two Rope employees worked for 2 hours each week with a group of students from grades 5-7 who particularly spoke about the events and who wanted to continue working with Scary Guy. The ambassador training begins on May 3rd and 4th 2012, during which the students are trained by Scary, who is coming to Germany again for this purpose. The aim is that the participants of the course are able to teach other students to act emotionally and socially.

We started with our own elementary school - for the 2012/2013 school year it was planned to organize and hold events for social and emotional learning with the school team at other locations and schools. We will also seek to partner with schools in England that use Scary's approach.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ John Windrow: The Scary Guy brings a message of the spirit. In: Star Tribune . September 1, 1998. Section: Variety; Page 1 E.
  2. ^ The Smoking Gun (Jan.-Feb. 1998) Arizona court petition to change name. Retrieved June 13, 2007
  3. ↑ news.bbc.co.uk
  4. ↑ Scary. (No longer available online.) June 24, 2011, archived from the original on May 5, 2010 ; Retrieved April 12, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.arte.tv
  5. ↑ Review: "The Tattoo Therapy" (WDR) ( Memento from April 29, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ^ John Windrow: The Scary Guy brings a message of the spirit. In: Star Tribune . September 1, 1998. Section: Variety; Page 1 E.
  7. ↑ Scary Guy: Don't judge me or anyone by our appearance; His message to kids: Prejudice is the country's no.1 social disease. In: Wisconsin State Journal . September 11, 2000 Section: Local / Wisconsin; Page 2C.
  8. ↑ teachers.tv ( memento of the original from July 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.teachers.tv
  9. ↑ jugendarbeit-in-europa.de ( Memento of the original dated November 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.jugendarbeit-in-europa.de
  10. ↑ jugendarbeit-in-europa.de ( Memento of the original from February 19, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.jugendarbeit-in-europa.de
  11. ↑ ( page no longer available , search in web archives: hasental.de )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / hasental.de.ps-server.net
  12. ↑ ( page no longer available , search in web archives: chillaxed.de )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / chillaxed.de
  13. ↑ jugendarbeit-in-europa.de ( Memento from November 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME The Scary Guy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kaufmann, Earl Kenneth (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American motivational speaker and action artist
DATE OF BIRTH December 29, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH Minneapolis