WOW! AM I TIRED! BUT HAPPY!

Ok, I'm gonna make this quick 'cause little Benny needs to get to bed. It's past my bedtime but I felt I needed to post 'cause I haven't been doing a very good job of keeping up with my blog and I apologize to anyone who is checking it regularly. Get on my case about it please!

Anyway, work is going well. I continue to enjoy working with City Year and the youth we serve at Simon Gratz High School. For those of you who may be interested, Rasheed Wallace, the basketball player went to Gratz. It has an excellent athletic program but many students are lacking in academic strength. We are trying to change that.

I currently work in 3 classes: 2 World History and also Teen Court. Teen Court is a really cool program that was restarted this year at Gratz. Students who are acting up, talking back to teachers,etc., get sent down to court, where students in the court classes prosecute and defend him, and then another groupof students decide the punishment. It struggle at times to have good professional presentations, but the more the teacher and I work with the students, the more I see them improve and see their potential which is exciting.

Another thing, City Year related but not related to Gratz is our upcoming service day. On Martin Luther King Day, we get volunteers to come out for a "day on." To serve. I am on the mural team, here is a sample of what we accomplished on our service day back in October.





The top 2 pictures are murals of local houses in the neighborhood surrounding the recreation center and were painted in 1 day with the help over several dozen amazing volunteers. It was an awesome experience.I really feel like this is the year that I get into art more.

I have started writing some poetry and lyrics. I have also been playing around with GarageBand, a really cool music program for Mac computers. I am contemplating taking a glassblowing course here in Philly because I have always been interested in glassblowing since I first saw some do it several years ago. I think it would be really fun and something that is very different. I'm always up for trying new things and new experiences. I think I am also gonna try and get a triathlon group together here in City Year and possible a meditation group because both would be good ways to come together and let out our frustrations and stress in a postive way.

With that i think I am gonna hit the hay. My mattress is callmy name and I can't say no.

But before I go, for anyone who is interested until Dec.11 on www.timberland.com if you enter in FFWINTER4 in the promote code space you can get 40% off your bill. Check it out and happy shopping. They are one of City Year's biggest sponsors, too.

Alright, good nite and let meknow what you think.

-Peace