OK, I'm too tired to upload this video so you could watch it here, but go to You Tube now and watch this link from Taylor Mali about what teachers make:
Thanks to District 299 for pointing it out.
My favorite part: "You wanna know what I make? I can make kids work harder than they ever have in their lives. I can make a C+ feel like the Congressional Medal of Honor, and an A- feel like a slap in the face."
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Monday, January 21, 2008
Demolition and Construction
The storefront on the northwest corner of 50th and Ashland was demolished sometime last week. Yesterday I was on the Ashland bus with my head in a magazine and didn't even look up until I got off at that corner. "Am I at 51st?" I thought, because it didn't look right. The emptiness of the lot had entered my awareness, making me think I was at the next block south.
Then I looked up and found myself staring at a pile of broken boards, with a bulldozer parked next to the pile. I was thinking about going back to take a picture but I may not have time before I have to get on the road again this week.
Meanwhile, interior work continues on the Goldblatt's building at Ashland and 47th. I still don't know what's going in there, exactly, or if I did, I forgot. If any local readers know what's happening on either site, please comment and fill us in.
Then I looked up and found myself staring at a pile of broken boards, with a bulldozer parked next to the pile. I was thinking about going back to take a picture but I may not have time before I have to get on the road again this week.
Meanwhile, interior work continues on the Goldblatt's building at Ashland and 47th. I still don't know what's going in there, exactly, or if I did, I forgot. If any local readers know what's happening on either site, please comment and fill us in.
Joey Made It!
Whoo-hoo!! Joey made it to Marwen last Thursday. I asked him how it went and he said, "It was really cool." You could hear the coolness in his voice.
Hey, I found a web site about Digital Clay, the stuff he is working with in his class. The basic software is really cheap, only $38.
Joey wanted to know if he could go box today. The Chicago Youth Boxing Club web site doesn't say, and he said he had the manager's number, so I told him he should call and find out. This weekend I will spend some real time with Joey and hear how the boxing is going, too. I could hear his mother saying something in the background and heard Dawn's name, but she hasn't called or emailed me, so I don't have any news. If she does, maybe she'll call me back.
Hey, I found a web site about Digital Clay, the stuff he is working with in his class. The basic software is really cheap, only $38.
Joey wanted to know if he could go box today. The Chicago Youth Boxing Club web site doesn't say, and he said he had the manager's number, so I told him he should call and find out. This weekend I will spend some real time with Joey and hear how the boxing is going, too. I could hear his mother saying something in the background and heard Dawn's name, but she hasn't called or emailed me, so I don't have any news. If she does, maybe she'll call me back.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Mysteries and Kudos
The big mystery on my mind this week: did Joey make it to Marwen? I'm out of town on business, so I don't know. He called me the day before his class and said his dad would take him, so I told Medicine Man he was off the hook this week. I'll find out when I get home Sunday. Stay tuned.
It's interesting--I'm staying with a high school friend and his family in Columbus, Ohio during this business trip. They are contemplating sending their twin preschool-aged boys to a fancy private school. I listen to their mother with half an ear open and think about Joey, danny, Junior and the rest with the other.
Quite frankly, I wish we could just reverse things so the kids who really needed all that private school stuff got it and the more together families stayed in public school. I guess I'm a communist or something equally awful.
Meanwhile, on the kudos, a friend/colleague emailed today to tell me Marshfield Tattler is among Chicago Magazine's picks for best local blogs. Whoo-hoo! Thanks to you, dear readers and linkers, for giving it the visibility to make this possible. The story's not on line yet, but I'll post the link when it is.
Happy weekend, all!
It's interesting--I'm staying with a high school friend and his family in Columbus, Ohio during this business trip. They are contemplating sending their twin preschool-aged boys to a fancy private school. I listen to their mother with half an ear open and think about Joey, danny, Junior and the rest with the other.
Quite frankly, I wish we could just reverse things so the kids who really needed all that private school stuff got it and the more together families stayed in public school. I guess I'm a communist or something equally awful.
Meanwhile, on the kudos, a friend/colleague emailed today to tell me Marshfield Tattler is among Chicago Magazine's picks for best local blogs. Whoo-hoo! Thanks to you, dear readers and linkers, for giving it the visibility to make this possible. The story's not on line yet, but I'll post the link when it is.
Happy weekend, all!
Thursday, January 10, 2008
More Fun with Science
My three friends from across the street came over yesterday. Junior needed to get his homework done. He had to describe various kinds of indicators you use in science, like pH paper, or litmus paper as I knew it back in the day. This got us talking about acids and bases, so of course I decided it was time to drag out the baking soda and vinegar. Fortunately we had some white vinegar in the house. I wonder if you could do a science fair project about the reactivity of different kinds of vinegar with baking soda--white vinegar, wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar, for example. I think I just wrote them in order of decreasing acidity, so less reactivity with baking soda, one would imagine. But how would you measure less reactivity? Less fizz? hmmm...
Anyway, the guys liked watching the baking soda fizz when I poured vinegar on it. We all tasted it afterwards. The youngest one was the first to try after I demonstrated. "Just try it--you'll see it doesn't taste as sour now."
The littlest one went for it. "Yeah, you're right," he said. He didn't get grossed out or anything, unlike Junior or Junior's buddy, who really made a face after his taste.
I called my mom, the retired chemist, before we started, just to make sure we wouldn't blow anything up. I hadn't done this in ages so I didn't remember if it was just a little fizzy or if it got hot or anything. Mom Chemist suggested putting the bowl in the sink just to be sure it wouldn't fizz up and hit somebody in the eye, since I don't have goggles. It was fine, quite tame, of course. Now if I knew how to make one of those volcanoes....
Joey was kind of into volcanoes a couple of years ago. We made a volcano in the snow, but just kinds of drew on some lava trails. It would be cool to make a model volcano that fizzed thanks to baking soda and vinegar. I think I saw that on the Brady Bunch years ago.
Anyway, there are way cool things you can make yourself at Tinkering School, like this cool bottleboat submarine. Thanks to Alexander Russo at District 299 and the Science After School blog for linking to a video talk by the founder of Tinkering School, which led me to his site.
Anyway, the guys liked watching the baking soda fizz when I poured vinegar on it. We all tasted it afterwards. The youngest one was the first to try after I demonstrated. "Just try it--you'll see it doesn't taste as sour now."
The littlest one went for it. "Yeah, you're right," he said. He didn't get grossed out or anything, unlike Junior or Junior's buddy, who really made a face after his taste.
I called my mom, the retired chemist, before we started, just to make sure we wouldn't blow anything up. I hadn't done this in ages so I didn't remember if it was just a little fizzy or if it got hot or anything. Mom Chemist suggested putting the bowl in the sink just to be sure it wouldn't fizz up and hit somebody in the eye, since I don't have goggles. It was fine, quite tame, of course. Now if I knew how to make one of those volcanoes....
Joey was kind of into volcanoes a couple of years ago. We made a volcano in the snow, but just kinds of drew on some lava trails. It would be cool to make a model volcano that fizzed thanks to baking soda and vinegar. I think I saw that on the Brady Bunch years ago.
Anyway, there are way cool things you can make yourself at Tinkering School, like this cool bottleboat submarine. Thanks to Alexander Russo at District 299 and the Science After School blog for linking to a video talk by the founder of Tinkering School, which led me to his site.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Evidence
Joey and I found the evidence out back this afternoon. A bunch of feathers splayed out on a patch of my back yard, a bloody wishbone about a foot northeast of the feathers, and a bright red organ of some kind in between and a little to the southwest, forming three points of a triangle.
Joey spotted the bones first. "What's that?" he asked me.
Then I saw the feathers. "I bet that cat got a pigeon!"
"Oh, yeah!" He spotted the organ. "Is that the heart?"
"I don't know. I don't know what a pigeon heart looks like. Don't touch it--use a stick."
"I know that," he said, in that teenage "don't call me stupid" kind of voice. There was a long metal rod lying around and he poked at it with that. "Why didn't the cat eat it?"
"Good question," I said. "I don't know why not. I eat chicken hearts."
Joey was pretty intent on hypothesizing how the cat got the pigeon. "He must have jumped from here, see..." I think he was speculating that the cat first got some feathers, then wrestled the bird down and ate most of it in the bone area. I don't know if he had a guess as to how the heart or whatever organ got to point three. There wasn't very much of the pigeon left, so I wonder if the cat carried most of the carcass away and the heart or whatever fell out.
Hmmm.. we're Crime Scene Investigaation: Veterinary today. It was a nice break in a long writing day.
Joey spotted the bones first. "What's that?" he asked me.
Then I saw the feathers. "I bet that cat got a pigeon!"
"Oh, yeah!" He spotted the organ. "Is that the heart?"
"I don't know. I don't know what a pigeon heart looks like. Don't touch it--use a stick."
"I know that," he said, in that teenage "don't call me stupid" kind of voice. There was a long metal rod lying around and he poked at it with that. "Why didn't the cat eat it?"
"Good question," I said. "I don't know why not. I eat chicken hearts."
Joey was pretty intent on hypothesizing how the cat got the pigeon. "He must have jumped from here, see..." I think he was speculating that the cat first got some feathers, then wrestled the bird down and ate most of it in the bone area. I don't know if he had a guess as to how the heart or whatever organ got to point three. There wasn't very much of the pigeon left, so I wonder if the cat carried most of the carcass away and the heart or whatever fell out.
Hmmm.. we're Crime Scene Investigaation: Veterinary today. It was a nice break in a long writing day.
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Clinton, Obama, Alinsky and Me
Thanks to Alexander Russo at District 299 for linking to a fascinating Washington Post article that outlines Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama's connections to Saul Alinsky, whose model of community organizing got its start here in Back of the Yards.
I have to say I think Alinsky would be rolling in his grave if he knew the state of community organizing in Back of the Yards today. The organization he founded here, the Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council, is best known today for its van that takes seniors shopping and for its ballet folklorico ensemble, which are very nice programs but certainly aren't bringing hundreds of people to the aldermen's offices to get sidewalks and streets repaired, for example. There are rumors to the effect that previous leadership in the organization used its history and prestige to arrange various deals for personal advantage. I will say no more since I can't prove anything.
Meanwhile, though the Peace and Education Coalition has done a lot of good in its 10 years of existence, it's an organization of organizations, not a group that builds grassroots muscle directly.
Someone I know who used to work for the IAF told me bluntly that Alinsky wouldn't have much use for people like me. Activists, Alinsky would say, are useless--loners out doing their thing, not growing local leaders or generating power from the masses. They are just brief flashes in the pan, mostly about charity or a single issue, not about empowerment. But I don't know that one can say Alinsky's way left a great deal of impact here, if you look at where our neighborhood is now.
As for our Democratic presidential candidates:
Both Obama and Clinton admired Alinsky's appeal for small-d democracy but came to believe that social progress is best achieved by working within the political system, and on a national scale.
I'm not sure I buy that working inside the political system on any scale is the only alternative to Alinsky, or that Alinsky's way of doing community organizing is the only way. I don't know exactly what the Logan Square Neighborhood Association would say about how it views Alinsky, but I'd give my eyeteeth to have a group like that here.
Dawn's question to me a while back is still rolling around in my head: "What makes some things work and some things not work?" she asked. She said this in the context of having tried unsuccessfully to organize an after-school program at Big Picture that would draw kids from multiple schools.
I thought about two projects I was working on at the same time, one struggling, one going gangbusters, and said, "The two things I know help some things work are money and talented people."
But the really mysterious thing about making something work is generating the energy to get it done. Community organizing is partly about knowing what issues have enough inherent energy to mobilize people, and also about knowing which people have enough energy to mobilize to get the job done on an issue. I think project management is about energy, too--picking a project that is doable based on the energy (money, people) available, then managing the money and the people needed from beginning to end.
Here on the block, I try to pick projects I think I can do on my own or with just a little help from people or groups I feel very comfortable with: Medicine Man, Su Casa, Big Picture (though they are quite stretched). Without more Spanish-language skill, it's really hard to build a wider network. So I'll be going back to class later this month.
I have to say I think Alinsky would be rolling in his grave if he knew the state of community organizing in Back of the Yards today. The organization he founded here, the Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council, is best known today for its van that takes seniors shopping and for its ballet folklorico ensemble, which are very nice programs but certainly aren't bringing hundreds of people to the aldermen's offices to get sidewalks and streets repaired, for example. There are rumors to the effect that previous leadership in the organization used its history and prestige to arrange various deals for personal advantage. I will say no more since I can't prove anything.
Meanwhile, though the Peace and Education Coalition has done a lot of good in its 10 years of existence, it's an organization of organizations, not a group that builds grassroots muscle directly.
Someone I know who used to work for the IAF told me bluntly that Alinsky wouldn't have much use for people like me. Activists, Alinsky would say, are useless--loners out doing their thing, not growing local leaders or generating power from the masses. They are just brief flashes in the pan, mostly about charity or a single issue, not about empowerment. But I don't know that one can say Alinsky's way left a great deal of impact here, if you look at where our neighborhood is now.
As for our Democratic presidential candidates:
Both Obama and Clinton admired Alinsky's appeal for small-d democracy but came to believe that social progress is best achieved by working within the political system, and on a national scale.
I'm not sure I buy that working inside the political system on any scale is the only alternative to Alinsky, or that Alinsky's way of doing community organizing is the only way. I don't know exactly what the Logan Square Neighborhood Association would say about how it views Alinsky, but I'd give my eyeteeth to have a group like that here.
Dawn's question to me a while back is still rolling around in my head: "What makes some things work and some things not work?" she asked. She said this in the context of having tried unsuccessfully to organize an after-school program at Big Picture that would draw kids from multiple schools.
I thought about two projects I was working on at the same time, one struggling, one going gangbusters, and said, "The two things I know help some things work are money and talented people."
But the really mysterious thing about making something work is generating the energy to get it done. Community organizing is partly about knowing what issues have enough inherent energy to mobilize people, and also about knowing which people have enough energy to mobilize to get the job done on an issue. I think project management is about energy, too--picking a project that is doable based on the energy (money, people) available, then managing the money and the people needed from beginning to end.
Here on the block, I try to pick projects I think I can do on my own or with just a little help from people or groups I feel very comfortable with: Medicine Man, Su Casa, Big Picture (though they are quite stretched). Without more Spanish-language skill, it's really hard to build a wider network. So I'll be going back to class later this month.
Good News, Bad News
The good news is Julian is getting out of the joint. Tonight. He got two years' probation, and I didn't have to spend a cent on a lawyer. Whew.
The bad news is Dawn didn't go to school yesterday. I don't know what happened today. She sent me an email over the weekend. This is what she wrote:
i also hope you had a nice x-mas and new year best wishes and i also never forget what you told me about you wanting me to graduate specially since your phone # that is nice sorry for many decision that i am taking i know that they are not the best ones but i OK and i wish you could understand in but that is not going to happen because you are not in my position i would really appreciate for you help you are a special person and i do now do you bad in what you expect from me.
I hear she wrote something similar--saying essentially, thanks for the good advice, but I'm not going to take it-- to one of her friends from Big Picture who has been urging her to go to school and stay out of trouble.
So I guess it's time to focus on Joey and make sure he makes it to Marwen. His first class is next week and I will be out of town. Sure hope his parents come through on this one.
The bad news is Dawn didn't go to school yesterday. I don't know what happened today. She sent me an email over the weekend. This is what she wrote:
i also hope you had a nice x-mas and new year best wishes and i also never forget what you told me about you wanting me to graduate specially since your phone # that is nice sorry for many decision that i am taking i know that they are not the best ones but i OK and i wish you could understand in but that is not going to happen because you are not in my position i would really appreciate for you help you are a special person and i do now do you bad in what you expect from me.
I hear she wrote something similar--saying essentially, thanks for the good advice, but I'm not going to take it-- to one of her friends from Big Picture who has been urging her to go to school and stay out of trouble.
So I guess it's time to focus on Joey and make sure he makes it to Marwen. His first class is next week and I will be out of town. Sure hope his parents come through on this one.
Indoor Soccer Opens
The Tribune ran a story a couple of days ago about the large new indoor soccer facility at Pershing and Ashland. I've been past there since it opened and there sure are lots of cars in the parking lot.
Chicago Indoor Sports has four large fields, one small one, a game room and a computer room, among other amenities. Apparently it is the first indoor soccer facility in the city. I'm glad it's near us and I'd like to find out how to get to use it. In the comments, someone who has been there says they've had Ultimate Frisbee games, too.
I remember the first time I was at that corner, more than 10 years ago. I had just gone to the old Board of Education offices on Pershing Road to get a substitute teacher card. I came out and had really no idea how to get home from there. (I think someone had given me a ride down? I don't remember.) It felt like a complete wasteland. A northbound Ashland bus came by and I ran for it like it was the last helicopter out of Saigon.
It's very nice to see that corner drawing traffic and being used for something so popular. Plus, I know the site required some environmental cleanup before starting construction--let's hope they did it right so it's in better shape now and for the future.
Chicago Indoor Sports has four large fields, one small one, a game room and a computer room, among other amenities. Apparently it is the first indoor soccer facility in the city. I'm glad it's near us and I'd like to find out how to get to use it. In the comments, someone who has been there says they've had Ultimate Frisbee games, too.
I remember the first time I was at that corner, more than 10 years ago. I had just gone to the old Board of Education offices on Pershing Road to get a substitute teacher card. I came out and had really no idea how to get home from there. (I think someone had given me a ride down? I don't remember.) It felt like a complete wasteland. A northbound Ashland bus came by and I ran for it like it was the last helicopter out of Saigon.
It's very nice to see that corner drawing traffic and being used for something so popular. Plus, I know the site required some environmental cleanup before starting construction--let's hope they did it right so it's in better shape now and for the future.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Bowling & Pizza!
As I promised Peter Pan, today was the big day for pizza and bowling. Sixteen kids showed up! We actually needed both the Su Casa van and Medicine Man's car to fit everybody. The van was running very slowly due to the cold, so I'm grateful I didn't stick with the original plan to go to Waveland Bowl.
We went to Lawn Bowling at 67th and Pulaski. They only take reservations for groups of 20 or more, and we were 18. We were lucky--they gave us four lanes right away, and threw in a couple of extra frames for everybody since we were only bowling one game. (With 17 bowlers, I figured one game would be plenty.) Our high scorer was Medicine Man, with something like 112. Peter Pan bowled two strikes back to back, and one of the Brady girls bowled a strike in her first-ever game. The two kids from Su Casa who came along were good bowlers--the older girls made the sister feel welcome, and she was the winner in their group.
The only thing I didn't count on was the pizza was really slow--they only had one working oven, so they could only heat up one pizza at a time. Once the aging blond behind the counter/bar realized I was trying to feed 16 hungry children, she threw in a couple of big bowls of popcorn for free. "You must have the patience of a saint," she said.
"I only brought the good kids from my block," I said. Not quite true, but I didn't bring anybody I was really worried couldn't handle it. Medicine Man, who has had his share of chaperoning hard-to-manage kids, was impressed with how well-behaved our crew was. They cleaned up after themselves, and once they understood they had to wait for the pins to be reset before taking their second turn, we were all good.
The wait for the pizza was tough, but Medicine Man tried to teach them some complicated game involving slapping your hands on the table in a pattern. It was quite funny to watch the youngest ones try to figure out when it was their turn to slap the table.I'm sure it was a college drinking game minus the beer. Later I got our two tables (yes, we basically had a boys table and a girls table) to play Telephone. "Nothing rude, right?" said one of the boys. Right. They managed to crack themselves up just fine without getting nasty.
Medicine Man took some pictures, so if you know me and you want to see them, email me and I'll put together a list to send out a Picasa album or something. (I don't want to put kids' photos up on the Internet without some level of protection.)
Next time we'll skip the pizza there and try the new Chinese buffet up at 62nd and California.
Oh, and just about everybody kicked in at least a few bucks. Those who didn't, I knew why and it was no problem. Peter Pan's mom tried to give me a fifty and I handed her a twenty back. I would have handed back more but I was planning to put it on a credit card so I didn't have that much cash with me.
The best part was, after I parked the van at Su Casa, I came through their house to go out the front and one of the two kids was practicing her bowling swing in the hallway!
We went to Lawn Bowling at 67th and Pulaski. They only take reservations for groups of 20 or more, and we were 18. We were lucky--they gave us four lanes right away, and threw in a couple of extra frames for everybody since we were only bowling one game. (With 17 bowlers, I figured one game would be plenty.) Our high scorer was Medicine Man, with something like 112. Peter Pan bowled two strikes back to back, and one of the Brady girls bowled a strike in her first-ever game. The two kids from Su Casa who came along were good bowlers--the older girls made the sister feel welcome, and she was the winner in their group.
The only thing I didn't count on was the pizza was really slow--they only had one working oven, so they could only heat up one pizza at a time. Once the aging blond behind the counter/bar realized I was trying to feed 16 hungry children, she threw in a couple of big bowls of popcorn for free. "You must have the patience of a saint," she said.
"I only brought the good kids from my block," I said. Not quite true, but I didn't bring anybody I was really worried couldn't handle it. Medicine Man, who has had his share of chaperoning hard-to-manage kids, was impressed with how well-behaved our crew was. They cleaned up after themselves, and once they understood they had to wait for the pins to be reset before taking their second turn, we were all good.
The wait for the pizza was tough, but Medicine Man tried to teach them some complicated game involving slapping your hands on the table in a pattern. It was quite funny to watch the youngest ones try to figure out when it was their turn to slap the table.I'm sure it was a college drinking game minus the beer. Later I got our two tables (yes, we basically had a boys table and a girls table) to play Telephone. "Nothing rude, right?" said one of the boys. Right. They managed to crack themselves up just fine without getting nasty.
Medicine Man took some pictures, so if you know me and you want to see them, email me and I'll put together a list to send out a Picasa album or something. (I don't want to put kids' photos up on the Internet without some level of protection.)
Next time we'll skip the pizza there and try the new Chinese buffet up at 62nd and California.
Oh, and just about everybody kicked in at least a few bucks. Those who didn't, I knew why and it was no problem. Peter Pan's mom tried to give me a fifty and I handed her a twenty back. I would have handed back more but I was planning to put it on a credit card so I didn't have that much cash with me.
The best part was, after I parked the van at Su Casa, I came through their house to go out the front and one of the two kids was practicing her bowling swing in the hallway!
Joey's New Year's Resolution
...appears to be to do his homework. I am not arguing. (I do wonder if his folks took away his game until he gets his project done, like they did when we were trying to get another book read last year. It is an effective motivator.)
Last night I was at Joey's house and his mom had been nagging him about his homework. "He's mad," she told me (with a little of that wry parental amusement I'm beginning to understand).
"I've been working on it," he told me. I went over to his room to see what he had. He had a folded up piece of orange posterboard, the book, Bone #5, which he had barely started (not surprising, since we know he can't read worth a lick yet), and some practice writing the title in cool-looking script letters. I asked if he wanted to come read the story at my house later this week and he said yes. He was on my doorstep this afternoon. I dropped my deadline writing project instantly and started reading the book to him.
For a kid with signs of dyslexia, he's sure into the alphabet. (Maybe that makes sense, actually. Apparently he can look at each letter lots of different ways, and that's the problem when it comes time to read something. See The Gift of Dyslexia, which I still have to read.) For Christmas I got him a book on calligraphy and a cool set of pens, paints and inks to do illustrated manuscripts. He had just the book until today, and he had already started learning one of the alphabets with just a pencil. This afternoon, after we got a couple of chapters into Bone, we took a break and opened up the calligraphy set. He tried writing my name and adding some flowers. It looks cool.
He took the set home and in the few hours between 3 and 8:30 p.m. (some of which he was bowling and eating pizza), he figured out how to use both nibs in the set and used them to write Bone in this incredibly fancy black lettering with gold trim. If his first try looks cool, the second looks truly amazing.
So we read the entire book in one day--I got hooked and couldn't stop reading in the middle myself--the chapter endings are classic cliffhangers and you always want to know what happens next. I did manage to stop before the last chapter and take a little more time for business before starting the pizza and bowling fest mentioned above.
When we got back, I took myself out to dinner at La Cecina. Just as I was wrapping up, my cell rang. It was Joey. "Maritza, are you home? Can I come read the book?" He had to wait for me to come home, but within half an hour we back into it, immersed in the last chapter. As a graphic novel, it probably had fewer words than Goosebumps and went faster, but the ideas were more complex: is war the answer? is power the only good? Stuff like that. We didn't talk too deeply about those issues--I mostly kind of checked in with him as we went along, asking comprehension and prediction questions, sometimes asking how he thought characters felt and why they were doing what they were doing. We'll talk about the bigger ideas on Saturday.
For now, he can draw the picture of the pivotal part of the book for the main part of the posterboard, and do a box of characters along the side. We'll do the more writing-oriented stuff together on Saturday after we get back from signing him up for a class at Marwen.
It just kills me--he totally gets stories when they are read to him--he loves movies--he just spent most of this break watching and re-watching Stomp the Yard--but whatever inner glitch is in there between his eyes and his brain is keeping his nose out of books. Dang. Do I have to get a master's in reading to help him out or what???
Oh, and he brought me a DVD of the DaVinci Code. "I thought you'd like it," he said.
"I read the book," I told him. "I've been kinda wanting to see the movie."
Last night I was at Joey's house and his mom had been nagging him about his homework. "He's mad," she told me (with a little of that wry parental amusement I'm beginning to understand).
"I've been working on it," he told me. I went over to his room to see what he had. He had a folded up piece of orange posterboard, the book, Bone #5, which he had barely started (not surprising, since we know he can't read worth a lick yet), and some practice writing the title in cool-looking script letters. I asked if he wanted to come read the story at my house later this week and he said yes. He was on my doorstep this afternoon. I dropped my deadline writing project instantly and started reading the book to him.
For a kid with signs of dyslexia, he's sure into the alphabet. (Maybe that makes sense, actually. Apparently he can look at each letter lots of different ways, and that's the problem when it comes time to read something. See The Gift of Dyslexia, which I still have to read.) For Christmas I got him a book on calligraphy and a cool set of pens, paints and inks to do illustrated manuscripts. He had just the book until today, and he had already started learning one of the alphabets with just a pencil. This afternoon, after we got a couple of chapters into Bone, we took a break and opened up the calligraphy set. He tried writing my name and adding some flowers. It looks cool.
He took the set home and in the few hours between 3 and 8:30 p.m. (some of which he was bowling and eating pizza), he figured out how to use both nibs in the set and used them to write Bone in this incredibly fancy black lettering with gold trim. If his first try looks cool, the second looks truly amazing.
So we read the entire book in one day--I got hooked and couldn't stop reading in the middle myself--the chapter endings are classic cliffhangers and you always want to know what happens next. I did manage to stop before the last chapter and take a little more time for business before starting the pizza and bowling fest mentioned above.
When we got back, I took myself out to dinner at La Cecina. Just as I was wrapping up, my cell rang. It was Joey. "Maritza, are you home? Can I come read the book?" He had to wait for me to come home, but within half an hour we back into it, immersed in the last chapter. As a graphic novel, it probably had fewer words than Goosebumps and went faster, but the ideas were more complex: is war the answer? is power the only good? Stuff like that. We didn't talk too deeply about those issues--I mostly kind of checked in with him as we went along, asking comprehension and prediction questions, sometimes asking how he thought characters felt and why they were doing what they were doing. We'll talk about the bigger ideas on Saturday.
For now, he can draw the picture of the pivotal part of the book for the main part of the posterboard, and do a box of characters along the side. We'll do the more writing-oriented stuff together on Saturday after we get back from signing him up for a class at Marwen.
It just kills me--he totally gets stories when they are read to him--he loves movies--he just spent most of this break watching and re-watching Stomp the Yard--but whatever inner glitch is in there between his eyes and his brain is keeping his nose out of books. Dang. Do I have to get a master's in reading to help him out or what???
Oh, and he brought me a DVD of the DaVinci Code. "I thought you'd like it," he said.
"I read the book," I told him. "I've been kinda wanting to see the movie."
Saturday, December 29, 2007
2007 Year in Review
It seems very unlikely I'll have another chance to post again before 2008 arrives, so here's a quick review of the best and worst moments of 2007 on Marshfield Avenue and beyond, from this limited perspective.
Block/neighborhood highlights
Big Picture successes: the play with Teatro Vista, first graduating class, Day of the Dead show
New neighbors--the Bradys
The Peace & Education Scholarship fundraiser, which I believe raised $80,000 for scholarships for local youth regardless of immigration status
The barbecue, despite its aftermath.
Five moms for coffee-I'm sorry I haven't followed up, but I hope it was a good bridge-builder for the moms to get to know each other.
The High School Fair van! I can't find a post about getting eight kids from the block to the high school fair, but we did it.
Getting the abandoned house resealed--thanks to help from Neighborhood Housing Services.
Our whole side of the block shoveling the sidewalk right away after the December big snow! Even if Yup-yup was part of it.
Block/neighborhood heartbreakers
The fight to save Big Picture--no one seems to know what next year holds, but it doesn't look good.
Chris Pineda's murder. Let's remember the outpouring of love and support at his funeral here.
Shots on our block, and on the next block up
The Halloween murder of Leticia Barrera
Dorothy's disappearance--I haven't written about this, hoping she'll come back, but since the house got boarded up she's been gone. It hasn't stopped Yup-yup. He doesn't talk about her; he has that new bucktoothed girl to hang out with. Unlike before with Priscilla, I don't know that Dorothy's disappearance means good things for her. Let's hope and pray it does.
While you're hoping and praying, keep my favorite next door neighbors in there, too. Dawn, Julian, Jr., Joey and their parents are all having big ups and downs right now. Let's hope 2008 brings good tidings and peace to them, and to all of us here in Back of the Yards.
Oh, and one last thing that made 2007 special--the arrival of a roommate who hasn't caused any tropical storms, so I don't write about him here. We'll call him Medicine Man, since he's an aspiring doctor, staying with me for a year while he serves as an Americorps volunteer in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood. On top of his day job and med school applications/interviews, Medicine Man has quietly paid his rent on time, loaned me his car, made coffee for moms, and helped schlep the 8th-graders to the high school fair. You rock!
Block/neighborhood highlights
Big Picture successes: the play with Teatro Vista, first graduating class, Day of the Dead show
New neighbors--the Bradys
The Peace & Education Scholarship fundraiser, which I believe raised $80,000 for scholarships for local youth regardless of immigration status
The barbecue, despite its aftermath.
Five moms for coffee-I'm sorry I haven't followed up, but I hope it was a good bridge-builder for the moms to get to know each other.
The High School Fair van! I can't find a post about getting eight kids from the block to the high school fair, but we did it.
Getting the abandoned house resealed--thanks to help from Neighborhood Housing Services.
Our whole side of the block shoveling the sidewalk right away after the December big snow! Even if Yup-yup was part of it.
Block/neighborhood heartbreakers
The fight to save Big Picture--no one seems to know what next year holds, but it doesn't look good.
Chris Pineda's murder. Let's remember the outpouring of love and support at his funeral here.
Shots on our block, and on the next block up
The Halloween murder of Leticia Barrera
Dorothy's disappearance--I haven't written about this, hoping she'll come back, but since the house got boarded up she's been gone. It hasn't stopped Yup-yup. He doesn't talk about her; he has that new bucktoothed girl to hang out with. Unlike before with Priscilla, I don't know that Dorothy's disappearance means good things for her. Let's hope and pray it does.
While you're hoping and praying, keep my favorite next door neighbors in there, too. Dawn, Julian, Jr., Joey and their parents are all having big ups and downs right now. Let's hope 2008 brings good tidings and peace to them, and to all of us here in Back of the Yards.
Oh, and one last thing that made 2007 special--the arrival of a roommate who hasn't caused any tropical storms, so I don't write about him here. We'll call him Medicine Man, since he's an aspiring doctor, staying with me for a year while he serves as an Americorps volunteer in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood. On top of his day job and med school applications/interviews, Medicine Man has quietly paid his rent on time, loaned me his car, made coffee for moms, and helped schlep the 8th-graders to the high school fair. You rock!
Marshfield Mom of the Year
...goes to one of the Brady moms down the block. This lady works nights--she gets off at 1:30 a.m., with Monday and Tuesday off. But she and her 2nd-grade daughter showed up on my doorstep at 11 a.m. today so her daughter could read me a Disney story in English for her Reading Fair project. If I understood her mother correctly, usually one of the older children would work with the little one, but right now the older sibs are in Mexico for the holiday. I also think she told me her older daughters are even doing some studying while they are down there. She asked me something I didn't really grasp about scholarships, so I suggested we talk about it when she comes back with her daughter on New Year's Day afternoon (it's a Tuesday so she has off).
When we were trying to figure out when to get together again, she asked about Monday and suggested evening, like 8. I reminded her it was New Year's Even and she had an "oh, yeah!" expression on her face. Not much holiday for her, clearly.
I've seen this mom at LSC meetings. She is really looking for some supports out here. She told me back at Whittier (or Whitney? their old school in Pilsen) there was a parent group that helped her a lot. Hedges has one here, but as far as I know Chavez only has the formal committees-bilingual, LSC. I don't even know if they have the NCLP parent involvement thing going or if it would be any good if they did.
Anyway, this poor woman was nodding off on my sofa while her little girl read me a story about Ariel the mermaid. When she finished, I had to write a reaction to the story as the "generational connection." The Ariel story made the point that busy dads like King Triton need to spend time with their Ariels, so I referenced that and then said that her mom lived it by being with us for the story when she didn't even understand English. I told her daughter to explain the story to her mom in Spanish after Mom gets a nap!
When we were trying to figure out when to get together again, she asked about Monday and suggested evening, like 8. I reminded her it was New Year's Even and she had an "oh, yeah!" expression on her face. Not much holiday for her, clearly.
I've seen this mom at LSC meetings. She is really looking for some supports out here. She told me back at Whittier (or Whitney? their old school in Pilsen) there was a parent group that helped her a lot. Hedges has one here, but as far as I know Chavez only has the formal committees-bilingual, LSC. I don't even know if they have the NCLP parent involvement thing going or if it would be any good if they did.
Anyway, this poor woman was nodding off on my sofa while her little girl read me a story about Ariel the mermaid. When she finished, I had to write a reaction to the story as the "generational connection." The Ariel story made the point that busy dads like King Triton need to spend time with their Ariels, so I referenced that and then said that her mom lived it by being with us for the story when she didn't even understand English. I told her daughter to explain the story to her mom in Spanish after Mom gets a nap!
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Tagged!
No, not that kind. (Lots of my neighbors would be more interested if I were writing about this more often. In fact I just bought a calligraphy book today for Joey, because he wants to learn how to draw Olde English letters. Maybe it'll help his reading. Seriously.)
Apparently there's a blog chain mail thing going around. I was tagged by the author of the Prea Prez blog, but I only found out because suddenly people were coming over from his blog to mine, and I didn't know why. He got tagged by Eduwonkette. She left the rules. Here they are:
- Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
- Share 7 random and or weird things about yourself.
- Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
- Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
So here are my seven random/weird things:
1) I was born in Wilmington, Delaware and still go back regularly (like for Christmas) to see family.
2) Maybe my mom has finally thrown out all the Barry Manilow and Abba records I owned as a kid, but I'm not sure.
3) My driver's license is suspended in Wisconsin: I was busted for civil disobedience and refuse to pay the fine that would reinstate it.
4) I have never owned a car. (So the license thing isn't a big deal.)
5) The family homestead in Delaware almost certainly still has home movies of me, my sister and brother breakdancing to Lawrence Welk. (My youngest sister wasn't born yet--she got off easy!)
6) I don't own a television set, either. (But I like to go home and watch HGTV with my mom over holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving.)
7) I'm with Eduwonkette--the Jersey Shore is one of my favorite vacation destinations!!
And here are the people I'm tagging:
Puns in the Oven
District 299
Life in Union Victoria (Guatemala)
City on the Make
Mamita Mala
City of Progress (a new one to me--check it out)
Bridgeport Seasoning (also new to me, but hey, reaching out to the neighbors is what I'm all about, right?)
Apparently there's a blog chain mail thing going around. I was tagged by the author of the Prea Prez blog, but I only found out because suddenly people were coming over from his blog to mine, and I didn't know why. He got tagged by Eduwonkette. She left the rules. Here they are:
- Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
- Share 7 random and or weird things about yourself.
- Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
- Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
So here are my seven random/weird things:
1) I was born in Wilmington, Delaware and still go back regularly (like for Christmas) to see family.
2) Maybe my mom has finally thrown out all the Barry Manilow and Abba records I owned as a kid, but I'm not sure.
3) My driver's license is suspended in Wisconsin: I was busted for civil disobedience and refuse to pay the fine that would reinstate it.
4) I have never owned a car. (So the license thing isn't a big deal.)
5) The family homestead in Delaware almost certainly still has home movies of me, my sister and brother breakdancing to Lawrence Welk. (My youngest sister wasn't born yet--she got off easy!)
6) I don't own a television set, either. (But I like to go home and watch HGTV with my mom over holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving.)
7) I'm with Eduwonkette--the Jersey Shore is one of my favorite vacation destinations!!
And here are the people I'm tagging:
Puns in the Oven
District 299
Life in Union Victoria (Guatemala)
City on the Make
Mamita Mala
City of Progress (a new one to me--check it out)
Bridgeport Seasoning (also new to me, but hey, reaching out to the neighbors is what I'm all about, right?)
Friday, December 21, 2007
Heard on the Ashland Bus
Around 2 this afternoon, the package-laden crowd on the Ashland bus got a good laugh just before we went under the viaduct at 49th.
A fiftyish mom in a pink jacket and white sweats was sitting with her twenty-something daughter, wearing a black jacket, jeans and black boots. A man selling DVDs on the bus was seated nearby.
"Do you have Endless Christmas?" the mother asked.
"No," he answered, then rattled off similar DVDs he did have, but she had all of them already. Then he turned to the daughter: "Alvin and the Chipmunks?"
"No way!" she said, offended.
"For kids?" he suggested.
This led her to explain that the lady in pink was her mother and all her children were grown.
"For your kids?" he asked.
"I ain't got none," she said, rather emphatically.
"Want some help with that?" he asked.
"Hell, no!"
All of us within earshot cracked up at that. It put the merry in Merry Christmas today.
A fiftyish mom in a pink jacket and white sweats was sitting with her twenty-something daughter, wearing a black jacket, jeans and black boots. A man selling DVDs on the bus was seated nearby.
"Do you have Endless Christmas?" the mother asked.
"No," he answered, then rattled off similar DVDs he did have, but she had all of them already. Then he turned to the daughter: "Alvin and the Chipmunks?"
"No way!" she said, offended.
"For kids?" he suggested.
This led her to explain that the lady in pink was her mother and all her children were grown.
"For your kids?" he asked.
"I ain't got none," she said, rather emphatically.
"Want some help with that?" he asked.
"Hell, no!"
All of us within earshot cracked up at that. It put the merry in Merry Christmas today.
Good Book News
On Wednesday I went to Holy Cross's posadas and ran into Xochitl, the big sister of Citlali, whose birthday was not too long ago. I saw their parents at a baby shower on Sunday night and gave them Citlali's birthday present--a book. (I still have to get the shower gift--I'm one gift behind at every party these days, ouch.)
I got Citlali El desierto es mi madre/The Desert Is My Mother, an illustrated children's book by Pat Mora and Daniel Lechon. It's beautiful. Xochitl told me on Wednesday she had already read it to her sister.
I forget if I mentioned Alberto wants to read the copy of Carl Hiasson's Flush I brought back from the book fair in September. That would be for his Reading Fair project.
Joey likes the book I picked up for him--he was thinking about a comic book. I got one of the ones in the Bone series. Joey took a little while to look through it, said yeah, he'd like to read it, and started drawing. A while later he asked for some plain white paper and construction paper. Not sure how he'll read it, but I'm happy he's going to spend some time looking at it and getting meaning from it his own way. I told him we'll read it together later on.
I got Citlali El desierto es mi madre/The Desert Is My Mother, an illustrated children's book by Pat Mora and Daniel Lechon. It's beautiful. Xochitl told me on Wednesday she had already read it to her sister.
I forget if I mentioned Alberto wants to read the copy of Carl Hiasson's Flush I brought back from the book fair in September. That would be for his Reading Fair project.
Joey likes the book I picked up for him--he was thinking about a comic book. I got one of the ones in the Bone series. Joey took a little while to look through it, said yeah, he'd like to read it, and started drawing. A while later he asked for some plain white paper and construction paper. Not sure how he'll read it, but I'm happy he's going to spend some time looking at it and getting meaning from it his own way. I told him we'll read it together later on.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Memorial Vigil Tomorrow
Tomorrow at 4 p.m. on the corner of 48th and Loomis there will be a vigil and interfaith prayer service to remember Alexandra Toro, 16, who was shot and killed Sunday afternoon. The Tribune ran a story about the shooting today.
At tonight's NHS dinner and meeting, some folks who knew her told a little about her life, which was a very hard one.
As one of us said at dinner tonight, "Nobody deserves to be killed."
At tonight's NHS dinner and meeting, some folks who knew her told a little about her life, which was a very hard one.
As one of us said at dinner tonight, "Nobody deserves to be killed."
Christmas Gifts for Neighbors
While considering what to get my brother-in-law for Christmas, I found this
nifty web site chock-full of Christmas gift ideas.
They even have a section on Christmas gifts for neighbors.
"Christmas gifts for neighbors don't have to be expensive things. It's the thought that counts." True enough. My favorite gifts to give out are books, especially bilingual children's books. With families other than the Bradys, it's hard to know whether they are really getting read, but hey, you try. Last night I handed a pretty one off to a family with a number inside for the dad to call Instituto del Progreso Latino, which offers English classes at 46th and Wood. He wants to improve his English.
Despite the nice thought that neighborly gifts shouldn't get too expensive, Santa's wish list on this block does include some pricey and/or hard-to-get items:
the Julian, Jr. legal defense fund, opening at $1000
new jobs for Julian Sr. and our other Junior friend's dad--not pricey per se, but not easy for me to find, since I don't have strong connections in welding, restaurant or factory work
No Manches t-shirts for three boys who think they are funny!
acceptances to Curie, Whitney Young, Kennedy, Juarez and whatever other high schools are on our 8th-graders wish lists
affordable mortgage refinances for all my neighbors on adjustable-rate-mortgages
long-term residential drug treatment for Dorothy, who has vanished since the house was boarded up
So Santa, if you're listening, keep these in mind, OK, even for the one guy who hasn't been good. He hasn't been as bad as the charges made him out to be.
In happy news, congrats to the Su Casa Catholic Worker, who have raised the roof! They've raised the funds for much-needed roof repairs, I gather to start as soon as the weather permits.
nifty web site chock-full of Christmas gift ideas.
They even have a section on Christmas gifts for neighbors.
"Christmas gifts for neighbors don't have to be expensive things. It's the thought that counts." True enough. My favorite gifts to give out are books, especially bilingual children's books. With families other than the Bradys, it's hard to know whether they are really getting read, but hey, you try. Last night I handed a pretty one off to a family with a number inside for the dad to call Instituto del Progreso Latino, which offers English classes at 46th and Wood. He wants to improve his English.
Despite the nice thought that neighborly gifts shouldn't get too expensive, Santa's wish list on this block does include some pricey and/or hard-to-get items:
the Julian, Jr. legal defense fund, opening at $1000
new jobs for Julian Sr. and our other Junior friend's dad--not pricey per se, but not easy for me to find, since I don't have strong connections in welding, restaurant or factory work
No Manches t-shirts for three boys who think they are funny!
acceptances to Curie, Whitney Young, Kennedy, Juarez and whatever other high schools are on our 8th-graders wish lists
affordable mortgage refinances for all my neighbors on adjustable-rate-mortgages
long-term residential drug treatment for Dorothy, who has vanished since the house was boarded up
So Santa, if you're listening, keep these in mind, OK, even for the one guy who hasn't been good. He hasn't been as bad as the charges made him out to be.
In happy news, congrats to the Su Casa Catholic Worker, who have raised the roof! They've raised the funds for much-needed roof repairs, I gather to start as soon as the weather permits.
Squatter House Boarded Up
Well, Yup-yup's been boarded up out of the house in which he was squatting. Saturday morning, after the 4-inch-ish snow (before the 8-inch-ish snow we got Saturday night), he was hanging around on the corner drunk as a skunk, hollering at passers-by and generally making a nuisance of himself.
I was shoveling off my front step. By the time I got to the bottom, he had waddled his way down the street and started into what was headed for a long diatribe. "Miss Maritza, you see they boarded up the house....I can work..."
"I know you can work," I said. "I want you to shovel the snow down there," I said, pointing at the house on the corner. (They never shovel. There was packed ice under the new snow there, the worst.)
"Sometimes I talk too much," he said, slightly ruefully.
"You don't have to go on. Just go ahead and get started."
He did the sidewalk over there very thoroughly. There were only two ice patches that were too deep to dig up without risking breaking the shovel, so I put salt on them. He went out in my backyard and dug out the back porch and the sidewalk to the alley. It got him off the street and toned down his incessant yapping (should I say yup-yupping) to a minimum.
That was one of the few times I've ever felt good about paying him for a job.
I was shoveling off my front step. By the time I got to the bottom, he had waddled his way down the street and started into what was headed for a long diatribe. "Miss Maritza, you see they boarded up the house....I can work..."
"I know you can work," I said. "I want you to shovel the snow down there," I said, pointing at the house on the corner. (They never shovel. There was packed ice under the new snow there, the worst.)
"Sometimes I talk too much," he said, slightly ruefully.
"You don't have to go on. Just go ahead and get started."
He did the sidewalk over there very thoroughly. There were only two ice patches that were too deep to dig up without risking breaking the shovel, so I put salt on them. He went out in my backyard and dug out the back porch and the sidewalk to the alley. It got him off the street and toned down his incessant yapping (should I say yup-yupping) to a minimum.
That was one of the few times I've ever felt good about paying him for a job.
Friday, December 14, 2007
District 299 Tips on High School Hunting
Next Friday, December 21, is the last day to apply for non-neighborhood high schools in CPS. Since our elementary school gets out early for Christmas, applications were due on Wednesday. I submitted a post to the local education blog District 299 asking for advice, and it generated a lot of response and interesting buzz about new charter schools opening, changes in leadership at Bogan High on the Southwest side, and other good tips.
So if you're still in the high school hunt and you live around here, check out the post and comments here. Looks like the conversation may go on for a while yet, so check back and see if there's more over the weekend, too.
So if you're still in the high school hunt and you live around here, check out the post and comments here. Looks like the conversation may go on for a while yet, so check back and see if there's more over the weekend, too.
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