Tom Brokaw report profiles our hood.

I hope most of you were able to see Tom Brokaws report entitled " separate and Unequal" last night. If not I should have them available on DVD in the next few weeks. NBC used Jackson Mississippi and specifically our neighborhood to profile the problems of race and education. The program featured an interview with Vince Gordon who we work closely with. Vince runs the Young Life program that meets here at the Perkins center. If you look in the back ground you can see shots of the Perkins center and our house.
To answer Michaels question in the previous post, I do think it was a fare portrayal of Jackson. The report pointed out what we've been seeing ever since we moved here. A cycle of poverty that is repeating over and over. We just found out last week that a 14 year old girl who was in our after school program and dropped out is pregnant. The breakdown of the family and the lack of positive male figures in our community is killing our people. The report also touched on how separate black and whites live here in Jackson. After integration the whites moved out of the city and started private academies for their children to attend. This made most of the public schools entirely black which is still the case today.

the transcript of the report is available at www.msnbc.com. click on the Brokaw Reports link under Dateline.

Lets discuss this.

I feel that bringing this issue to the nation is a great step but now we need a follow up report on what we can do. Here at the Perkins center we have a plan and are dreaming of ways to change this community.

If you missed the report and would like a DVD copy let me know.

Johnny

Update!

I was able to recover the photos! Im a nerd!


Emily on her 25th B- Day

The nerd always gets the babe in the end.


Finally an update! It seems like we've created a little online community with our comments on the last post. Please keep the comments coming, it was great to hear from ya'll.

Well this summer has been something. Being still in the midst of it I can hardly reflect yet but I can post some pictures and a few stories. We are in our 6th week of summer camp and our closing program will be one week from today. I've been capturing photos and video ( thanks to Jason!) all summer and will be putting out another DVD of our summer camp. This years DVD should be a good one. I will make those available for order so stay tuned.

Compared to last summer this one seems so different. Emily and I have gone from the kindergarten class teachers to the camp directors. I've had my fare share of frustrations. I never realized what a challenge it is to manage a large staff. You don't always get to be the nice guy or everyone's friend but the standards of the program must be held to. The kids are awesome! So many new and old faces this year, we love them all. I think we do well with the children because we are friends with them. Sure we have to discipline them and remind them of the rules sometimes but we always come back to the foundation of friendship. Emily is very good at this. Honestly I've learned a lot. Im planning on writing a report for myself when camp ends. It will be called " What to do and what not to do". But I guess that sometimes the best way to learn and grow is through experience.

Last night Emily and I went to the gym to work out and for the first time we really struggled to get our 30 min run/elliptical done. I think its a sign of how tired we are. At the end of the day we kinda just collapse into bed and enjoy the air conditioning. Lowell and Dixie left for the summer 2 weeks ago. When they left our house was full of people who were here for and intimate leadership retreat with John Perkins. Every bed in the house needs to be washed and made and we still haven't started. I just cant bring myself to make beds in 100 degree rooms at the end of the day.

The cockroaches have made a big return in the last few days. Emily and I caught a big one walking up the wall in our room last night. Oh and speaking of last night......
It was 10pm and I hadn't had dinner so I went down stairs to grab a bite to eat. Its always a bit creepy coming down stairs at night. For those of you who don't know we live in a big old house with 10 bedrooms and six bathrooms and we are living there alone for the time being. So I was a little creeped out and went to make sure that the front door was locked, and it was. I was making my food when all of the sudden the outdoor light on the back porch which has a motion sensor clicked on. I froze....My heart started beating very fast. I had just been thinking about that light the other night when I took the garbage out. I remembered thinking that If I ever saw that light come on I would know that someone or thin was outside. Our back yard is basically a park. The park has 2 gates which are both locked at night and a fence surrounds the entire area.
It took me second but I realized that there was someone out side on the deck. I went to the window and locked out. All of the sudden I saw a hand pass by on the railing to the steps. Someone had just darted past the window apparently running away. I hesitated for a moment then ran outside yelling but all I could see was darkness. I was really freaked out.
After giving it some thought I realized that it was probably this highschool aged neighbor who has been accused of looking in peoples windows in the past.
This was the first incident in over a year where I was scared in our community which is surprising since most people would call our part of town the hood.

Here are some pictures from our zoo field trip a few weeks ago. Check out our "Grow Strong" t-shirts. My second ever t-shirt design. Those of you from the Whitney Youth group Chicago trip of 98 have seen my other one.



Zebras make Joseph real mad



the garden is thriving! Emily takes children over there everyday and they love it. Our staff and kids are all taking veggies home every week. This week we began purchasing our youth garden supplies thanks to a thousand dollar grant we received.





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