A Much Needed Update

Hey All! Hope everyone is doing well. It has been a minutes since I've had a chance to update my blog.

Since it has been so long I will give you guys the month-by-month review.

Dec.-my work with CityYear went well. Continuing to make progress with students that I am working with. They are very interesting to talk with and to try and help. For example, in one class I work in, they complain when the work is boring or kinda busy work, yet when we do things like try and have discussions or stuff that is more interactive, they don’t pay any attention. It is interesting to see that they believe they can have it both ways. But they really can't. The biggest problem in general is that they have no interest in history. Not their own history and certainly not American history, so, what do you do? Very confusing.

During the winter break, I took a trip down to DC and Maryland and stayed with my cousins. They are such great folks. Joan made such wonderful food and homemade fudge. Can't beat that! Dick is very interesting to talk with and is into sports so we watched tons of football in between conversations. Great people and it was nice to have them all to myself. Normally I only see them during the summer and with lots of other people around, so we can't get into the great sort of conversations that we had on this trip.

Jan.-Happy New Year and all that jazz. No seriously, hope the new year is going well for all of you. I am glad to be here in Philly still. The weather has been great so far. No major storms. In fact, it has been sunny and warm. Looks like I picked a good year to come here.

Most of Jan. was business as usual. I did get to go to a concert. I saw Staind. They put on a great show. I'm not really up on their latest album, but they played plenty of old stuff so I was happy. They had 2 opening acts, which weren't bad but not really great either. Just kinda decent.

I got to be team leader for 2 weeks. That was kinda neat. I had to tell my team what to do, make sure that they were doing their work and enforcing rules. It was nice. I actually liked it. I suppose being a team leader might not be so bad. I really liked the "Village" circles as they call them. That is where all the team leaders and staff circle up both at the beginning and end of the day. Especially at the end of the day it allows us to compare notes, see how things went and what is on the next day's agenda.

Feb.- We had ATA, which stands for Advanced Training Academy. The first day was fun. We had to come up with our own unique PT (physical training) routine. That was fun. Our theme was hip-hop, and besides me we didn't really have anyone in our group who was into hip-hop, so I came up with most of the routine. It went well. We didn't win, but we had fun, so who cares. Then we had a meeting, which allowed people to ask questions and hopefully have them answered. It was kinda boring because most of them were complaints really, and people didn't seem interested in the solutions or finding out why things are the way they are. A lot oh hostility and anger came up, particularly around the whole diversity issue. A lot of racism and animosity that was brewing under the surface came up. The problem that I see is that lots of CY members don't understand that diversity isn't just skin color. It is about skin color, ethnic background, social and economic factors, where you lived and were raised, education, levels of involvement with various issues surrounding what we do in City Year, and personal interests. Everyone gets so crazy about diversity and yes, it would be nice to see more Asians or Hispanics in the program, but if they don't apply, and you can't convince them to, then what else can we do. The problem with those populations is that for Asians, most of the parents want their kids to go to college and for Hispanics, especially 1st generation Americans, they want them to go to college or get a good job so that they can have a better life than their folks. It's very hard convincing anyone to work for nothing for a year. They don't see the benefits.

We got to learn a lot more about how City Year is run and how everything works. It was very informative. Also we got to meet and hear from one of our newest board members, Col. Rob Gordon. West Point grad. Go Army!!! He seems like a good addition to City Year and has some interesting ideas and things he wants to do, so we shall see how all that turns out.

On the third day we got to do an exercise called Crossing the Line. A line divides the room and everyone stands on one side. Statements are read and if it applies to you, you cross the line. If you think that it applies just a little, you can change your place on the line or not even cross, but move closer to the line. It was a great exercise and one that I think helps us learn about each other and get to know more about those people that we work with. Questions dealt with everything from race and racism to family, drug use, being in prison, body image, etc. Everything. It was very intense.

Afterwards we had a talent show, which yours truly performed in. I did a combined spoken word/rap. It went over really well and everyone gave me props. It was very personally and I had only finished it the night before, so it was still a bit fresh in my mind and not completely committed to memory. I just found out that you can audioblog, which I will probably do so that I can blog more often. I will do my spoken word for you guys so you can check it out and let me know.

We had an information session at my school, which I organized. It seemed to go well. About 20 students showed up and several showed an interest in City Year so hopefully we will have people to fill our boots.

Last weekend I went to see the Wu-Tang Clan. Excuse my language but they fuckin' rule!!! It was really great to see them all together on one stage, except for Ol' Dirty Bastard. RIP. It was the first time they had toured in 10 years. That’s a long time. They did lots of classics. RZA and several others members did some freestyling. All in all the 2 hour show was great and worth every dollar. Hopefully the next tour won't take 10 years. Wu-Tang Forever!!!

This weekend I have been recovering from a cold and pink eye. Lovely, huh? Today just had a doctors appointment and seems that the eyes are ok. Have to go back in a week for another check-up and an eye exam. Hopefully tomorrow I will be going to see an ENT about my cold. It is definitely an infection and need to get meds for that.

Well I think that is about it for now. Hope everyone is doing well and I'd love to hear from you all. If you email me with your phone # I'll call you when I’m on the train or have some free time. Or email me and we can email. I’m better at those 2 than I am at updating my blog. Ciao.