Mark your Calendars

I (johnny) will be playing a free concert at Mississippi Pizza Pub in Portland on Wednesday December 27th from 6-8PM. The show is free and we would love to see you there for a fun night of music, pizza and friends.


P.S. Portlanders please feel free to print off the above flyer and post them around town.

Mentoring Program

Emily and I have been busy lately as we've been involved in starting a youth mentoring program here in Jackson. Jackson is in a crisis right now. Crime is out of control and most of it is being perpetrated by minors under the age of 18. Those of us who are working with youth see these problems daily and realize that we are almost powerless to fight these negative trends on our own. We see that it is going to take a community-wide effort—even a citywide effort if we are going to see Jackson become what we dream it could be. As a result we are developing a mentoring program that seeks to get community members involved in mentoring youth within the public school system for one hour a week.

As I look around the streets in our neighborhood one of the main things I see that is lacking, is the transfer of wisdom from the old to the young. This is largely due to the lack of stable male figures in the community. The "men" of the streets are 14 or 15 years old and most of them don't have any clue how to be a man, because their father left them or is in prison. Somehow we've got to find a way to transfer life wisdom to these young and developing kids. We believe this mentoring program is a good first step. Mentors will go into the schools and meet with 3 children for one hour a week. Together they will read through a book called "Talks My Father (Mother for the girls) Never Had With Me." The goal is to get the kids talking and thinking about things like self-discipline, future goals, and social skills. The book starts at square one. In the first chapter of the boy’s book the children learn how to shake someone's hand and introduce themselves. This may seem weird to some of you but I've noticed in our neighborhood the boys don’t know how to shake someone’s hand or introduce themselves. They usually just hang their heads.

We are starting with one school in January and if all goes well we will adopt 2 new schools in the fall of 2007. We have to do something. I think deep down my hope is that the wealthy white people from North Jackson will see this program and its ease of one hour a week and choose to get involved in change. That they wouldn’t just drive through the crime ridden areas of West Jackson and think that there is no hope; but that they might chose to build relationships with three children and through those relationships get involved in reconciling and unifying our city.

Johnny

Voting : Alive and well in Jackson

Tuesday November 11th, was an exciting day in Jackson, Mississippi. The day before election day I was invited to a training to be a poll campaigner for the Jackson Public School Bond Issue. The public schools are in such disrepair, not to mention the poor internal infrastructure. Year after year bonds come and go, never receiving the support necessary to be passed. This year it was proposed to give $150,000,000 to the struggling school district, who by the way is made up of 98% African American children. I didn't know what to expect- taking into account the segregation of Jackson and its unjust past.

My friend Cassandra and I were assigned to take breakfast, snacks, and lunch to those campaigning for the bond outside of polls all across Jackson. This was my very first experience voting at a poll, as Oregonians have the option to skip all human contact and vote by mail:) What I saw during our long day amazed me. For the first time I witnessed a generation of local citizens out in political force. And this force wasn't made up of the privileged white population with a narrow agenda, they were my neighbors. I often have wondered where the people are from the civil rights movement, just as I wonder what happened to all of those anti-materialism/anti-violence hippies. But on election day Jackson was alive. People were on street corners, at schools, restaurants and churches, utilizing the right they and others fought so hard to achieve. Hundreds of folks volunteered their time and energy for 12 hours strait to encourage their fellow community members to support the children. In months passed I had considered how to get the community to vote; door-to-door registration? Fliers? But what I quickly learned driving around with Cassandra, is that this part of the deep south bled and died for their right to vote. And some idealistic white girl from the North can't touch the empowerment that still exists within native Mississippians today.

The fact that the bond passed with flying colors (80% in favor), gives me hope that slowly but surely our city is changing.


Emily

Late Halloween Photos

Here are a few photos from halloween

New Song

I wrote and recorded a gospel song called "The plow" this weekend.
Listen and dowload for free here