“All of us have schnozzles . . . if not in our
faces, then in our character, minds or habits.
When we admit our schnozzles, instead of
defending them, we begin to laugh, and
the world laughs with us.”
Mighty Quote of the Day
November 29th, 2009Stuff You May Have Missed
November 29th, 2009
Before Katrina, the New Orleans public school system was a national disaster. Since Katrina, it’s a whole different story.
Overall, reports the New Orleans Times-Picayune, “the quality of education citywide is steadily rising, with the percentage of so-called failing schools dropping from 63 percent in the spring of 2005 to 42 percent this fall.”
This five-part series tells the whole story.
Chat with New Orleans School Superintendent (and former Philly school boss) Paul Vallas here.
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In their current issue, the Philadelphia Notebook, which covers the city’s public schools, has an ominous story that tells what happens when “zero tolerance” policies are taken to the extreme.
The story, by Wendy Harris, begins: “Chalissa Morrison was transferred in February from West Philadelphia High School to Community Education Partners (CEP), Miller campus, without a hearing after school officials found a steak knife in her book bag.
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“Morrison, a mentally gifted student, was put in handcuffs and taken to the 18th Police District, where she sat ‘and cried’ for 14 hours.”
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“’The night before I was going home late from my best friend’s house and she put it in there for my protection,’ Morrison said. She forgot about it when she went to school the next day.
“School personnel immediately called police. Morrison, a mentally gifted student, was put in handcuffs and taken to the 18th Police District, where she sat ‘and cried’ for 14 hours. After her release, she was placed on five days’ suspension. Morrison then returned to West.
“’But while I was in class doing my work, the disciplinary person called me out of class and gave me a letter that said I had to go to CEP,’ she said.
“For five months at the disciplinary school, Morrison rotated between the same four subjects in a setting she described as more like a ‘prison block’ than a learning environment… ”
The rest of this troubling story here.
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Most newspaper columnists ditch their columns once they score a lucrative book or movie deal. Not Steve Lopez, the former Inquirer columnist who now writes for the LA Times. Lopez scored big with “The Soloist,” but continues to find the stories that once helped newspapers feel invaluable.
Here’s one recent Lopez column about a teacher who works for free.
Islamic Holy Days
November 29th, 2009
A man in Nigeria rides a motorbike after prayers on the first day of Eid al-Adha.
Some 2.5 million Muslim faithful from all over the world descended on Mecca this year despite heavy flooding from recent torrential rains.
An impressive collection of photographs of this year’s Hajj and observance of Eid al-Adha—which comes at the end of the Hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca—can be found on the Boston Globe’s website. Link here.
Prayer time in the Abobo district of Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
Your Post-Holiday Wake Up Tune
November 29th, 2009November 24th, 2009
At Mighty Writers we’re humbled by the number of people we’re grateful to this Thanksgiving.
We dare not start with the names. There are too many.
There are the dozens of volunteer tutors. Some give us the only spare hours they have to themselves all week; others show up day in and out, whatever the weather, dependable as a Cliff Lee off-speed sinker.
There are the accomplished writers who arrive at our doors prepared with their Sunday best. They conduct workshops, stimulate quality dialogue and inspire the kind of Mighty writing that makes everybody proud.
There are the business specialists who give us their much needed marketing, website and grantwriting expertise.
There are the people who drop-by—some friends, others strangers—toting pencils and apples and books and juice and notebooks and markers.
There are the parents and guardians who give us their trust every single day, who teach us valuable lessons about mentorship because of the unconditional love they show for their children.
Most of all, make no mistake, we owe our biggest thanks to the kids—the Mighty Writers, each of them—for permitting us into their lives, for inspiring us daily by exposing us to their vivid imaginations and special brand of buoyancy.
Not yet six months since our doors first opened, Mighty Writers is on track to serve 50 kids at our 15th & Christian afterschool location and more than 500 a year in our writing workshops.
We have lots of plans to announce in the weeks and months ahead. We’ll be talking about them soon in this space.
For now, though, we just want to say thank you. We are so very grateful.
Have a blessed Thanksgiving break.
Keep it Mighty.
Tim Whitaker, Executive Director
Mighty Writers
