Ben Franklin

This past Saturday launched a new program year for the City Heroes. This year we were charged with recruitng 150 high school aged youth to participate in our 6th month community service and leadership development program, a very large number but one that my team and I took head. On Saturday we say all of our hard work come together in our first day with our City Heroes.

As part of our Saturday we took groups of Heroes down to the old city section of Philadelphia to teach them about civics and what it means to be part of a community and of course to teach them a little bit more about the great Ben Franklin. We took the Heroes to the Franklin Underground Museum located in the sqaure where Ben Franklin's house was located. Now, I know very little about Ben Franklin, I know some but very little so this was also a new experience for me as well.

While we were in the museum I had one Hero come up to me and ask me a question. Earlier that day I had a chance to talk to this Hero and I was asking him about school and about his senior year and having a good talk with him and when I asked him what he was doing next year he looked at me in a odd sad sort of way and said "Miss Allyson I have no idea what I am going to do next year" it broke my heart a little because he seemed like such a great kid and he was really interested in community service and bettering himself in different ways and I really hurt to see him so lost as to what to do once he was done with high school. So, needless to say when we were in the museum and he came up to me and asked me a question I was excited that he wanted to know more. This Hero came up to me and said Miss Allyson, I dont know much about Ben Franklin can you help teach me more?" The first thought that came to my mind was "Oh S$!t what the heck do I know about Ben Franklin?!" So, I quickly scanned around me for more information and I pulled together what little I knew about good old Ben and I explained to the Hero that Ben Franklin was born in Boston, explained to him about Ben's influence on international politics at the time, and then explained to him bow he was an inventor was well. It was very little but I could tell this Heros was really listening to me. When I was done the Hero paused to finish writing down what I was telling him and then he said to me "Thank you Miss Allyson, nobody has every taught me about this before, I am thankful that you did." And that was that.

That phrase he said, his simple thank you was so powerful and uplifting for me that it evaporated all my stress over building a great program because in his simple thank you he reminded me why I do my work, he reminded me that I am changing lives in ways that I do not realize he reminded me that so many high school youth need a program like City Heroes and that so many times people tend to forget about high school aged youth, and he reminded me that we cannot forget about them, that we need to support them, teach them, and listen to them. I do not like how most people do not care about high school aged youth. We need to care. We cannot fail them, too many of them have enough people fail them everyday. I will never forget that simple "thank you" because that simple phrase has given me my drive. My drive to not fail these kids.

A Very Proud Older Sister

It has been awhile since I have written a blog. Work at City Year as consumed almost all of my time with 70 work weeks and has left very little time for any sort of life. But today I must blog. Today I am blogging to brag. I have been a little sad lately because I was not able to go home for Thanksgiving. I desperately wanted to go home to Galena for not only Thanksgiving but I wanted to see my little brother play his last football game of his high school career at the state championship. Unfortunately living so far away for the past 6 years I have never been able to see Bryan play football, something I wish I could have done and today I wanted to see him start, as the center, at the Illinois 1A championship football game but the distance yet again prevented me to do so.

BUT the distance has not prevented me from bragging about my little brother. I have never been so proud of someone as I am of my brother. While he is almost 6 years younger than me I was never around for his high school years so I never really saw him grow up, I had to rely on phone calls from home and the few times throughout the year when I was actually home. There are many times I wish I could have been home to be there with him, I would have liked to see his football games, his first prom, his horrific driving lessons (which were marked in many fights with the parents, something I can relate closely to), seeing him experience the joys of working at Vinny's, seeing the horrific hair styles he has had over the years thanks to sports, and many other events. My mom and dad, and even Bryan have been very good at calling me, emailing me pictures and such and letting me know how he is doing, while I wish I could be there I am greatful for those forms of communication.

This year I have had the privilege of getting some remarkable phone calls. The first call was to tell me that he was starting as center on the highly prestigious Galena football team, a great honor for any high school football player. The second was one about his grades. School has always been a little more difficult for Bryan but I have never encountered a high school kid (and believe me I have worked with hundreds of them) who has had more drive and dedication in bettering his schooling, he works incredibly hard and school and he never gives up no matter how hard it gets and it has paid off, he has overcome his hate for math and science and has received some of the best grades he has ever had. The third phone call was to tell me that he got into college. This is probably one of the times when I have been most proud of him and there are no other words I can say about that. The fourth phone call was to let me know that he was accepted into the Rotery International Exchange Student program. My little brother has been accepted into a program where he will spend a year of his life between high school and college studying abroad. It takes a lot of courage to not only take a year off in between schooling but to live abroad for a year and my brother has excitedly chosen to do so and I can only imagine what kind of adventures are in store for him and how much he will grow from this once in a life time opportunity. The fifth phone call that I have received from the family came today. About an hour ago I received the phone call that my brother is now a part of a champion football team. Not only did my brother play in this huge game but he started in it and helped lead his team to a perfect season. Bryan, like in everything he does, put so much work and dedication into football, always in the weight room, always pushing as hard as he can, and always showing a passion for the team he has played on for the past four years. His football career came to a wondrous end with a victory, all the years of playing football with the same boys he has grown up with is now over with a very sweet victory and yet again I am so proud of him.

I must talk about him a lot to my friends and to Jason because just the other day when I was talking about him one of my friends told me "You must really love your brother and be so proud of him because you talk about him a lot." It is the truth for both. My brother has turned out to be one of the best kids I am honored to know, there aren't too many sisters who can say all of these wonderful things about their little brother. Bryan has shaped up to be a kind, driven, goofy (yes goofy because his hair is out of control), big hearted, and generous person and I could not be more proud of someone. I wish I could have seen more of his high school years but that will never change the amount of proud I am of him. I love the kid and I am greatful everyday for having him as my brother. Congratulations Bry on an amazing year and an amazing high school career. Love you!

Destiny..do you believe?

Such Great Heights by, The Postal Service

I am thinking it's a sign that the freckles
In our eyes are mirror images and when
We kiss they're perfectly aligned
And I have to speculate that God himself
Did make us into corresponding shapes like
Puzzle pieces from the clay
True, it may seem like a stretch, but
Its thoughts like this that catch my troubled
Head when you're away when I am missing you to death
When you are out there on the road for
Several weeks of shows and when you scan
The radio, I hope this song will guide you home

They will see us waving from such great
Heights, 'come down now,' they'll say
But everything looks perfect from far away,
'come down now,' but we'll stay...

I tried my best to leave this all on your
Machine but the persistent beat it sounded
Thin upon listening
That frankly will not fly. you will hear
The shrillest highs and lowest lows with
The windows down when this is guiding you home


This song is another one I love by an amazing band called, The Postal Service. This song to me talks a lot about destiny. You have to ask yourself every once in awhile do you believe in fate, do things happen by chance? To some extent we must believe a little. Can you imagine if destiny was something people did not believe in? It would lead to so much over analyzing so much paranoia, and also would take away from some of the fun in life. While I believe many things happen for a reason, I am a firm believer that there are things that are just destine to be and there is no real explanation for them and this is one of the major aspects of life that keeps me, and I feel the rest of us, on our toes. How boring would life be if we could always explain every aspect of our lives? We need a little mystery

The second, and final point I would like to mention about this song is in the second to last verse when it says that everything looks perfect from far away. This verse is one that I think we should all incorporate into our lives. More often than not we all get caught up in the chaos, materialistic aspects, and general hustle and bustle of our everyday lives and never take the time to step away and take a good look at our lives. If we all took the time to step back, take a breather, while we will still have everyday woes, we will be able to appreciate how fortunate we are and realize that, while in the moment things might be stressful, on a whole life is pretty darn good.

Blowin in the Wind....lyrics we should all look at

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea?
Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.



This song was written by the great lyricist Bob Dylan in 1963. I find it very ironic that a song that was written over 40 years agon mirrors so much of what is going on today. This is one of my favorite Bob Dylan songs because I feel it raises questions of morality. Bob Dylan is telling us everything our society ignores, and the reprocussions of it. What I like about this song and the way Dyan writes it is that he never tells us the answers the questions but at the same time he does...they are blowing in the wind. The answers are all around us but because we all know that they are around us we all just assume that someone else will take the initiative to stand up to the injustices created by our society and what really happens is that all of this assuming it will be taken care of nothing actually gets done. The answers are all around us, we just need to look at our lives, look at our society, look at the poor education systems, the violence, the corruption, the globalization, the environmental issues, the greed, the unequal distribution of wealth and we need to learn to fight for those who cannot fight, and to live for all those who lived before us. I find it sad that a song relating to the problems of the 60's can be so realated to our society now, it should not be this way, we should be past all this already we should have moved foward as a society, not be at a standstill. We need to stop ignoring and start doing, like the song says "How many times can a man turn his head pretending he just doesnt see?"

Education

I leave for Boston tomorrow. I am going to Boston for a week long training for City Year. As I pack I am getting excited to see old friends who have moved away to help City Year in a different areas of the country, to have a long car ride with friends and co-workers who I have a lot of fun with and admire, and just general excitement to have the opportunity to travel to an amazing city that is rich in culture, history, and academics. Even though I have a lot of excitement I also go to Boston with a lot on my mind. I am going to be trained to be better at my job which requires me to shape and mold 150 high school age youth into young and socially conscience people but yet I am extremely disappointed in what is going on in our education system. This past year I have realized that I am passionate about education, in particular the education inequity in our society. I have just begun my research on the topic and I have started at the top with our federal government and my findings (which I will delve deeper into in another blog) have been quite disturbing, I just cannot fathom the idea of spending such a small amount of money on education, something so extremely important and not giving our youth the opportunity to strive in our society. The government, federal and state, is denying the basic essentials to the future of our nation. I am finding it extremely embarassing that the nation we call home is the wealthiest and greediest in the world and yet our education system is not even in the top 10. This is just the tip of the iceberg of my blogs on my outrage of our education. But I just wanted to state that in my excitement for Boston I am going there with a deeper purpose. I am going to Boston to learn as much as possible so I can bring it back to Philadelphia so I can teach the youth of Philly what they are not learning in their schools, so I can give them an opportunity to grow, become passionate, hopeful, determined young adults.

As I begin my second year of City Year I am making a promise to myself: I will give my all to help the youth of Philadelphia recieve what they are being denied. As I begin my second year of City Year I am making a promose to my kids: I will not let you down.

Gender and the Hip-Hop Culture

While workng at City Year I was asked by theCity Year team at Ben Franklin High School if I would, along with 20 others, help facilitate workshops for their legacy project they were doing for 9th and 10th graders. The team planned a day revolving around hip-hop and gender and how hip-hop has created a culture that is not only violent, but self destructing. I felt a little uneasy about this task that was asked of me because I know very little about the hip hop culture but at the same time I really wanted to be a part of this experience because I had a feeling it was going to be an eye opener for me.

So, I arrived at Ben Franklin a ago not really sure what I was getting myself it to. When the students arrived at school that day (mind you this was about 400 freshmen and sophomores) they were brought to the auditorium and seperated, girls on one side and boys on the other. They then watched a documentary called: Hip-Hop, Beyond the Beats and Rhyms. This video was extremely intense and at times very uncomfortable to sit through. The video looked at how hip-hop started as something powerful and somethin beautiful and has transformed into one that talks about killing, sex, hoes and bitches, degrades women, degrades the African American culture, money, drugs, gangs. The documentary explains what it is like to be a man in the industry and how women are less than objects, they are just sex and they are less than a dime a dozen and how it is important for men to be dominant, and abusive over women becuase it gives them power. The music videos that are being produced are very scadelous and sometimes border on pornography and makes beautiful women look like whores. The violence this music promotes is, in my opinion, extremely frightening, young boys are dying each and everyday from gun violence and yet we as a culture find is perfectly acceptable for artists to produce music and play it on the radio that talks about murder, rape, vengence. What is wrong with our cultuer?! What is most sickening is that this music is generating millions upon millions in sales.

After we watched the documentary the boys and girls were still split up but were put into much smaller discussion groups and I ran a discussion group with 7 girls about the video. During our discussion we talked about the documentary and about their personal expereinces with this topic. I was completely shocked. While each of the girls strongly denied that they dress provocitively they also found it completely acceptable that the music the listend to degraded women, promoted violence, and promoted the male gender as the dominant gender. They explained to me, while the would rather have different lyrics, it was just the way life in the "hood" is and that I would never understand. And you know, maybe I would never understand the type of lives that they have had but I do understand when a culture is systematically putting women down and I do understand when a culture forces its young boys to become a macho man. In Mexico the term for this phenomenon is machismo, and here it is simple the young boys do not want to be coined a "bitch ass nigger" (plese excuse my language, I do not speak like this ever). The young girls at Ben Franklin High School told me, "that if girls in the music videos want to dress like hoes (again excuse my language) then they deserve to be treated the way they do by men, it does not concern me and I do not have to take care of their problems." Can you believe that these girls have never had anyone tell them to stand up for their gender to stand up for what they believe is right all they know is that is the way life is. I asked them about the boys and how they felt that young men are being treated and the only response was "they got to be tough or they will get shot." Philadelphia is a city with an astronomical murder rate, we are well past a murder a day and one has to wonder what is going wront but then you have young teens tell you statements like this and it all begins to come together. With the music they listen to that promots shooting up niggers (again please excuse my language), to slapping around their bitches,money, greed, sex, it is no wonder why they young men of Philadelphia are dying. The music is such a big part of the culture and all it does is promote hate. With all of this I asked the girls if they would ever stop listening to this type of music because of what the lyrics said and they said no because it has a good beat and it is not my fault that the music videos look like that.

I left Ben Franklin High School feel so unbelieveably. Sad because the young girls do not have someone telling them that what is being said and done to their gender is unacceptable, is degrading, and no one not should ever be treated like that and that they think it is fine because they live in the "hood" and it is just the way life is. It is not the way life is because women are being sexually exploited and young men are dying each day in the city of "bortherly love and sisterly affection". How many have to die and have to suffer before the young people of Philadelphia wake up and realizt that if they stop buying the music and if they stop watching the videos they might actually save a life and start rebuilding a city that so desperately needs it?

To my dad

Ever since I can remember

You have been the one

who picked me up when i would fall

lift me up when i was down

You are the one who

wiped away the tears

And made a smile magically appear.

You are the one who

loved me no matter what I did

And you are the one who

helped me to be what i am today.



Thank you dad for everything you have done for me and always being there for me. I love you and have a wonderful Birthday.

No Meat

I have decided to not eat meat. No chicken, no beef, and no pork. No Meat. I figured Lent was a good time to test out my new found interest in vegitarianism because if I can do it for 40 days then maybe I will be able to do it for good.But I have encountered a problem with this new plan of mine. This past week has been extremely stressful with work (70 hour work weeks are never fun), student loans and their lack of deferment, Teach for America anticipation and what not. So, whenever I get angry,cranky, or stressed all I want is a big fat cheese burger, or any other form of cow. It has been difficult because I come home every night and I want beef, but instead I eat tofu. I have stayed strong and have not given in, but let me tell you not being able to eat what I want when I am angry makes me even angrier BUT I will not cave but no matter what veggie lovers say a Soy burger or veggie burger just is not the same.

Some of you may be wondering....

Some of you may be wondering what exactly it is I do here in Philadelphia. Yes, you know I do national service but I am not sure you know what happens here in the so-called city of brotherly love. So, for your viewing pleasure I have a photo story of my life. These pictures include some service, some not so service events, my roommates, my teammates, the youth I attempt to help, and other shinanigans that occur in this city. So here you go

and the last batch of them...

The last of the pictures to satisfy your curiosity,

Happy Birthday Mom

To my mother

Today is Valentines Day, it is also my mother's birthday. What can I say? She is a pretty amazing woman. As many of you know my mother and I have had many differences over the years. But, with all of those differences I have learned many life lessons from her. This blog to my mother is going to be short because if I were to write everything I wanted to it would take too long. Basically, my mom is the person I strive to be, she influences me in ways that I cannot even beging to explain. I am so greatful to be the daughter of a woman who is so strong, bright, and beautiful. Mamma, I love you so much and one day I hope I can be just like you, I hope you have a wonderful birthday.

A good laugh

So, I was sitting in my room one day a little bored when my roommate Emily calls me over to her room to watch a video on You Tube. While watching it, it gave me a good laugh because it is so true and its hilarious (at least in my opinion). So here is the link to the "End of Ze World." Laugh a little, its good for you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f8grWE7AOw

I bet you never knew this

So I have been told I am a difficult person to get to know. I dont really share a lot of information with people because for the most part I feel that it is none of their business. But every now and then I decide to share info with people and in light of my Auntie Chescas blog I thought this would be an appropriate time to do so. So here are some random facts about ME:

1. When I was younger, and I mean A LOT younger I pooped in a McDonalds Happy Meal box in the car while on a car ride with my family. To this day Happy Meals kind of freak me out.....mom I bet you remeber that one.

2. Again when I was younger, when we still lived in Rochester, I was probably being a pill and my mom decided to send me to the orphanage. I didnt believe that she would actually do such a thing but as she was angrily getting her keys she yelled at me "I hope you packed underwear because they wont have any at the orphanage for you!" Then she drove me to the orphanage (which she claims was a group home for troubled children aka orphanage). Yeah a little traumatizing but I am able to laugh about it now.

3. While walking in Philadelphia I sometimes have the urge to kick pigeons. I know its not humane but their smelly, hepatitis, poopy little bodies creep me out and they huddle everywhere in the city and they dont move out of your way you cant escape them its like they own the city or something.

4. When going to the bathroom MUST have the toilett paper coming from up over the roll, not from underneath the roll. If it is coming from underneath I will not use it until I correct the direction. And while we are on the topic of bathrooms I will not go in public places, not under any circumstances will I do it.

5. Instant Indian food from Trader Joe's is a staple in my life and I must eat it at least once a week (sometimes every other day) with sticky rice.

6. I have spit off the Eiffel Tower.

7. When I was younger I ONCE (I would like to emphasize the word once) tried on Lolo's hearing aid without him knowing it. Lolo I am very sorry and I was very very careful.

8. I have to sit in the same chair when I eat any meal at home in Galena or at home in Philadelphia, I have issues when I sit in different chair. I dont know it just throws me off and I dont like it.

9. I enjoy learning and studying about Middle Eastern countries and culture and often like to think I can speak and read Arabic, which is sometimes amusing

10. When I worked in the Psychiatric hospital I enjoyed eating the food that they would serve to patients.

A small piece of heaven in a place that often feels like hell

The City of Philadelphia is a tough city to live in. In Philadelphia the crime rate is astonomical,over 400 murders for 2006 and for this year already there has been at least one murder a day, the city is very dirty, only 2% recycle, the traffic is horrible,and the people are often quite harsh. Even though I love living here these characteristics of the city start to take a toll on your psyche. Just the other night I found a restaurant that makes all of my Philly woes disappear. The restaurant is called Manila Bay, and it is a small, beautiful place that offers me the comfort foods that remind me of home, and of lolo. The food is amazing, with offers of tocino, lumpia, pancit, bistek, chop soy, adobo(but it will never be as good as lolo's), laing and much much more including the ever so good San Miguel beer and all the entree's are priced between $7-$9, very affordable even for a poor lowly corps member like myself. It was so nice to not only eat Filipino food, but it was nice because I brought my roommate Emily with me and she got a taste of Filipino food for the first time and she loved it. It was so nice to be in a restaurant the served up comfort foods, it made getting through a City Year work week in Philadelphia bearable.

Turning 23

Today, after much celebration the night before,I am 23. I am not too sure how I feel about this number. There is a part of me that is really bitter. Now, I know 23 is not old by any means and that I still have my whole life in front of me but there are things that I have not yet accomplished such as being graduate school, being fluent in a language (yes yes yes I know that I brought that one upon myself so please no comments), I have not saved the world yet, I do not own a car, and I havent been to China. Even though I have not accomplished these things there is so much I have learned and accompished so far:

1. I have my college degree
2. I managed to escape college without any piercings or tatoos
3. I have travled to several different countries
4. I have learned how to bite my tongue and not argue with my mother because no matter what I will never win
5. I have learned that when an aunt is gracious enough to house me I need to put the alcohol down
6. I am a proud older sister to a wonderful younger brother who has inspired me to do the work I am doing now
7. I have learned that in college when you have to pay for laundry there are several different ways to wear your underware before you have to wash them (yes gross I know)
8. I learned the hard way that pizza boxes should never go into an oven to bake
9. I have had the honor of having my lolo and lola help raise me and be a wonderful influence in my life
10. I have a father who loves me and spoils me and is the calming voice in my life
11. I am the oldest grandchild on the Silva side and I have countless wonderful and adorable cousins whom when I see always make me smile and laugh
12. I have learned that no matter who makes it, Nonnies mashed potatos and Lolos Adobo are always better and I, nor anyone else, can never replicate them
13. I know how to rig a toilet to flush by using a really long shoe lace
14. I have learned that when sitting in a class and we are studying the cardiovascular disease Angina I should not laugh out loud almost hyisterically, because I am that immature
15. I have learned that you are never too old to love Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Narnia
16. I have learned that being half Filipino is one of the most amazing things ever
17. Finally, I have the most wonderful family, amazing friends, and a future ahead of me that is big and bright and holds endless possibilities.


So I guess being 23 isnt all that bad.