Thank you Mr. Panksy?

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I just wanted to share a few things I am thankful for...especially since lately I've only carried on about the horrible state of public education and the city of Philadelphia...

1. I am thankful for my student who has multiple physical and mental handicaps, who, when overhearing me discussing gym with another student, said "Mr. Panksy? Who is that?" with an incredulous look on his face and unsure if he should laugh or keep a straight face. I informed him that "No, the gym teachers name is not Mr. Panksy, it is Mr. Stepansky." I'm thankful that we can laugh together at times like this. (Quote of the Week #2)

2. I have a fantastic church family, with whom I packed 50 Thanksgiving boxes with on Saturday. What a blessing it was to not only fellowship together, but to serve our neighbors and give to those in physical need. Nothing like a box of food and a frozen turkey to put a smile on someone's face!

3. My friends are amazing! Who else throws a Extreme Home Makeover Party to celebrate a family in Camden NJ? Who else spends time in prayer for the family? And who else plays Pin the Megaphone on Ty? Check out the link below! This was quite a Sunday night! :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Xq_xpCs9jw

4. Thankful for political leadership in our neighborhood that looks like that might actually do something! Our neighborhood rep. has shown up on the streets knocking on doors, at community meetings, and has written legislation to propose college funding for more students in PA. Check out the post on PA House Bill 1722 for more info.

Happy Thanksgiving all! Thank you for your love, support, and prayers! I am encouraged by all of you! I miss you!

Detention Woman

Latest quote of the week...

"So Miss, you were in my dream last night..." Not exactly the words you love to hear coming from one of your middle school boys. After a few strange stares he continued, "Yeah I had a dream that you were making everyone stay for detention next week. Do I have detention today? I brought in all my papers for your because I don't want to get detention again. I don't want to make you mad, Miss. I brought all my papers because my mom's going to take everything away from me again if I get detention."

This came from a student who I demanded bring in all daily behavior reports he mistakenly failed to bring in from that week as well as two apology notes for his comments towards other teachers. He practically threw them in my face that morning and then the above conversation began. Ohhh...the joys of teaching! I kind of enjoy the fact that for the moment he is somewhat intimidated by me, at least enough to not get detention.

Farewell from Detention Woman!

Rise Up

If you read this, I ask you to get on your knees. You know you've been living here for a while when you hear sirens and think you're imagining how long they continue. In reality I wasn't imagining things a few minutes ago. Two more officers were just shot at Frankford and Torresdale. I'm not really sure how long this can continue and as I think about it, the words that continue to repeat in my head are of Bruce Springsteen singing "My City of Ruins."

There is a blood red circle
On the cold dark ground
And the rain is falling down
The church door's thrown open
I can hear the organ's song
But the congregation's gone
My city of ruins
My city of ruins

Now the sweet bells of mercy
Drift through the evening trees
Young men on the corner
Like scattered leaves,
The boarded up windows,
The empty streets
While my brother's down on his knees
My city of ruins
My city of ruins

Come on, rise up! Come on, rise up!
Come on, rise up! Come on, rise up!
Come on, rise up! Come on, rise up! ...

Now with these hands,
With these hands,
With these hands,
I pray Lord
With these hands,
With these hands,
I pray for the strength, Lord
With these hands,
With these hands,
I pray for the faith, Lord
We pray for your love, Lord
We pray for the lost, Lord
We pray for this world, Lord
We pray for the strength, Lord
We pray for the strength, Lord

Come on
Come on
Come on, rise up
Come on, rise up

In a city that is so desperate, now is the time to rise up. Pray for our congregation as we stand together. Pray that we are bold in our witness and bold in our love. Pray that our doors may swing wide open and the church is a gathering place. Pray that we rise up and stand as a city
- that we do not grow weary.

Choppers Flying and Sirens Sounding

As my friend Ryan said, "Sirens are nothing new around here, but when you hear a constant stream of police sirens driving by for more than ten minutes and you see four helicopters overhead you get a little freaked out. I thought maybe there was some kind of terrorism thing happening on the subway because I saw a Transit Police vehicle drive by. It turns out that a police officer was shot this morning, the second officer to be shot in twelve hours. I believe there was another officer shot a couple of days ago as well. Sometimes you just have to wonder what the hell is going on."
Article

So this week has been a little crazy in the neighborhood. I questioned putting some of this in here as I imagine the fears that some of you might have...but I believe truth needs to be spoken so fasten your seatbelts if you're reading outside of Philadelphia.

On Halloween morning a man who was in the midst of robbing a Dunkin Donuts turned around and shot a cop. The cop has since passed and in the past week the suspect has been captured after escaping to Florida. Little was known and then over the weekend I suspected they had a few leads as the choppers were overhead all weekend and sirens were almost round the clock. I grabbed the following off of my friend Ryan's blog...

Not the kind of national press coverage we were hoping for:

PHILADELPHIA — Authorities issued an arrest warrant on Sunday for a suspect in the slaying of a city police officer who interrupted an armed robbery at a doughnut shop.

Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson identified the suspect as 21-year-old John Lewis, also known as Jordan Lewis, and urged anyone who might know his whereabouts to contact police. He also called on Lewis to turn himself in.

"He killed a police officer, he has at least two guns, he is armed and extremely dangerous," Johnson said.

Lewis can be identified by tattoos on his hands that read "N.P." and "H.P." for North Philadelphia and Hunting Park, two city neighborhoods he frequents, Johnson said.

Check out Ryan's blog: http://ninthstreetrecords.blogspot.com/

Turns out this guy lives about 2 blocks from our newest church plant and about 8-10 blocks from our church. It breaks my heart that a 21-year old guy goes to these lengths to find money. This neighborhood and this city, all of us, need Jesus in a way like never before.