My Return to the Classroom to Make Constant War on Test Scores and Low Expectation

The world suffers its well-meaning fools,
who often jump in before sensibility rules.
Afraid to confront what they know not,
they carry their protection like a frock. Ronald W. Hull 

I have missed teaching English to high school kids.  In order to support my family, I have been doing Institutional Advancement work since 1994 - exclusively.  Here, at Leo High School, I have substituted in the classroom when and where needed. One year I taught science for three weeks. Christ forgive me.

Time to go back in.

The kids need an experienced, demanding and deeply schooled goad in the classroom.  The need is great.  One of the most heroic young men that it has been honor to meet in forty years of teaching and education struggles with reading and he will graduate and go on to college in few months.

He has never been challenged.  I pick the young man up in Bronzeville every morning and he is constantly buried in some text.  One teacher even  selected a For Dummies product.  I am not kidding. That was my epiphany - or, in Apple/Smart Book language my WTF moment.

I told the fierce and moral young gent, " Read anything, but this is a bit off-putting."

He replied, " What's 'off-putting?'

" It means if you are handed some horseshit, don't eat it."

" Word."

" To be sure, my friend.  How did you feel when these books were trotted out."

" I was pissed, but Mr. _______ said that we needed this to get the basic understanding of the stuff."

"  Would you rather eat at Mikey D's, or Schaller's? "

" Schallers no doubt."

" Why?"

" The food is better and they treat you with dignity. not like some punk."



The teacher was well-meaning and having read the entry scores formed his curriculum.

More damage has been done by well-meaning chart readers than anything caused in nature.  Neville Chamberlain, General Walter Short, WEB Dubois, . . .

I will return to the classroom and I will use the Norton Introduction to Literature Anthology  at all four levels.  Four years;one book.

No kiddie lit; no pop novels; no ethno-centric pap,  no PC huggie books, no comic books; no graphic novels, but real meaty poetry, fiction, drama and prose, as well as critical essays.  The students will read and understand what they read.  They will speak of what they read and they will write about what they have read

I get sickened when I find hundreds of unopened, unread and discarded copies of To Kill a Mockingbird, The Kite Runner and The Great Gatsby covering the halls on the last day of the year.  One text for four years.

They will not be denied contact with white table cloths, cutlery and cuisine.  They will not be denied courtesy and prompt service from their attendant service provider.  They will knock down the best in writing and thought.  They will learn to be discerning This I pledge.

This will be no tip-toe through the tulips in search of rainbows and unicorns. This will be a bitch and a half and worth it.

Real Words from a Real Heart: A Response to an Unreal Media Hack Job by the Sun Times

 

This letter appeared in a post on 19th Ward Blog, a wonderful site.  It is the letter from my friend Mike Joyce responding to the cut-and-paste attack ad put together by the Sun Times Watchdogs on Palm Sunday.

"Don't shed any tears for me on the Sun Times smear piece done on me yesterday. I'm a big boy I can handle it. Rahm's got to be pretty desperate for me to rate the front page on a weekend where dozens of people were shot.
For the record I was never contacted for comment on the article. If I had been contacted I would have informed them that I have worked on over 30 elections since Emanuel became mayor and that revenge and my family members were not pertinent to my support of Chuy Garcia.
I am very proud of all of my family members and when somebody in the neighborhood is looking for help they are always there for them. As an elected official my father worked harder and did more for the residents of the 19th Ward than anybody. He did his job tirelessly, selflessly and didn't seek credit or publicity for serving his constituents. He was personally responsible for appointing Mike Sheahan, Ginger Rugai and Tom Dart to their first public offices. My brother Kevin was elected and served the residents of the 19th Ward as an Illinois State Representative. Kevin is a cancer survivor and is now the Vice President of Ave Maria University in Florida.
Both my father and my brother were personally and politically pro life Democrats. There has been nobody in Illinois politics that has been more pro union than my father or my brother.
As far as my involvement with Chuy Garcia goes, I became acquainted with Chuy Garcia through my good friend in the boxing business JC. JC's father and Chuy brought the great labor leader Cesar Chavez to Chicago over 30 years ago. I am supporting Chuy because he is the right candidate for our neighborhood. He has promised to hire 1000 new Police Officers that our community desperately needs. He grew up in a real Chicago neighborhood, attended St. Rita High School, is way more in tune with our community than Rahm.
 Rahm is the wealthy Washington insider whose union credentials include making millions with his billionaire buddy Anti Union Governor Bruce Rauner, passing American job killer NAFTA, saying F*** the United Auto Workers and telling Chicago Teacher's Union President Karen Lewis "F*** you Lewis".
I admire all leaders in Organized Labor Unions. Many unions are supporting Chuy and the ones who are not have no reason to be anti Chuy. In his 30 year public service Chuy has a 100% pro union voting record.
I was proud to have Chuy march in the South Side Irish St. Patrick's Day Parade. He got a genuine rousing cheers all along the Parade route. Chuy has also gotten that kind of reception each of the many times he has visited the 19th Ward. The current mayor does not get that kind of reception in our neighborhood and our alderman did not even endorse him until after his own election was over.
The paper says that I am a lawyer and a boxing coach. It is true that I earn my living as an attorney but as a boxing coach I do not earn a penny. I use boxing to give back to the community.
For over 20 years I have served as a volunteer boxing coach at the West Englewood Boys Club, Leo High School and the Celtic Boxing Club. Through amateur boxing shows I have helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for worthy causes and charities including the St. Baldrick's Foundation, the Mercy Home, the Irish American Foundation, the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame, Leo High School, the West Englewood Boys Club, the Officer John Hurley Family Fund, Catholic Charities, the Illinois State Crime Commission/Police Athletic League of Illinois, the Tommy Z Foundation, the Charlie Weiss Hannah and Friends Autism Foundation and many others. I have also had the opportunity to have inner city youth train alongside Chicago Police Officers and Chicago Firefighters for the Battle of the Badges.
The newspaper may want to bash me for political reasons but I am blessed and greatful for the support of friends in the community. My support for Chuy is based solely on my wanting my 3 year old grow up in a neighborhood that I grew up in."
The words of Michael J. Joyce, 3/30/15

Chicago Tribune Editorial April 15th, 1912. " Only Captain Edward 'Rahm That Iceberg' Smith Can Save This Ship!"

 

                                  What shall we do with a drunken sailor?

'The boat struck a iceberg at 11 o'clock on Sunday night.'The Captain was down in the saloon drinking and gave charge to some-one else to stare(sic) the ship.'It was the Captan(sic) fault.

Emanuel has said often that the pension reforms he negotiated with some unions should be templates for deals with others. He also offered three revenue sources to hold down property taxes: a city-owned casino, a broader sales tax and surpluses in tax increment financing districts. Amid their testy interruptions of one another, Emanuel's command of specifics seemed to flummox Garcia.

Bruce Dold's Editorial Board Defense of Rahming the Iceberg Smith Sent By Wireless Shortly Before 2:20Am, April 15, 1912

" Only Captain Smith has the sophistication, experience and daring to keep this good ship afloat! By Jingo, the salty old gentleman, is arrogant to be sure, but he was unblinking in his resolve to say, 'Damn yer eyes, Mr. Iceberg, and give me  the whale road!'
It is only 11:45 P.M. and there is plenty of time to right His Majesty's Good Ship Titanic!  Jesus has only the historical say-so of some Lake Galilee fisherman about 'calming storms' mighty cathches and even the ludicrously unscientific claim of walking on the waves!

         Only some ponce would argue that better man step up to ship's wheel.

Captain" Edward "Rahm that Berg" Smith is the man to . . .(gulp), (glug), GOD . ..HE DID NOT ORDER THE LIFEBOATS INTO THE WATERS???  .the water's rising!  Damn you, Ca. . . '

Tenebrae -Of Shadows in Altgeld Gardens: Good Intentions, Sin Guilt and Poor Old Judas.

Today is Spy Wednesday; the day Judas Iscariot took coin from Caiaphas and the gents of Sanhedrin in order to betray Jesus.

Money exchanged hands.

It was also the day that, while Judas was ensuring that no kid would be baptized with his cognomen, a woman from Bethany anointed Jesus with oil.

An expensive gift was given.

Spy Wednesday is also known as the Tenebrae, the Time of Shadows, when the liturgical year goes dark, until Easter. It signals the beginning of the Passion - Jesus conducts the first Mass on Thursday, followed by the agony in the Garden, the disciples beat it, Peter denies knowing Jesus, the Temple guards arrest Jesus, take Him to Caiaphas and Caiaphas hands Jesus over to the civil authorities. On Friday, Jesus is condemned by the secular government, tortured and crucified.

Money and gifts are signs of intentions.  One is awful and one is sweet.

Most of my greatest sins were rooted in what I thought were good intentions. I lacked the Wisdom to know the difference between evil and genuine sweetness.

Some of my best moments as a human being were rooted genuine sweetness.  In 1998, just after my wife passed away, I was heading home to Griffith, Indiana, where a local woman watched my three kids.  I was and remain a train wreck of complicated grief and self-pity.  I picked up a mother and her young daughter who were standing in the south-east bound emergency lanes of the Bishop Ford Expressway at 115th Street, near the OTB. She had been standing there with the little girl for about a half hour and needed to get home to Altgeld Gardens.  I asked her why she was on the Ford, when the Gardens were to the east and told to mind my own damn business. The little girl about six or seven cried up a storm.   It was snowing like a son of a gun.  The woman had blown her week's money at the Illinois Gaming Board Approved entertainment outlet.

I gave the woman a twenty spot and drove the two of them into the Gardens.  I felt pretty good.

The next night I went to Trump Casino, played Caribbean Stud and lost two weeks pay.  Not my first or last rodeo that one. I am one degenerate gambler - two recoveries and waiting for next fall from grace.

Judas got nothing on me, but despair.

We all slip and fall. Peter denies Jesus three times before the rooster does the two count; James and beloved John, as well as the balance of the Disciples went into the shadows, as well.  Pilate washed his hands.  The good people, after considerable polling showed that Barabbas was a sweetheart, shouted for Jesus' Crucifixion.  The Men of the Cohort gambled "responsibly" for Jesus' clothes. Yet, we all can ask for forgiveness.

Money is not a gift.

That's my lesson out of the shadow. Time for this sinner to hit the Confessional box.  Reconciliation is renewal - you can't have a Happy Easter, or a solid Passover, without it.  

Just in Time For Holy Week, Secularist Sanhedrin Schmich Sends People of Faith to Pilate

Only two weeks ago Chicago Tribune Pultizer Prize Winning Staff Member Mary Schmich penned a St. Paddy's Day Weekend Caveate that warned Chicago to beware of drunken Irish hooliganism. Nice.  The South Side Irish Parade was drunk and arrest free, not because of Mary Schmich's snarky nonsense, but because people of faith and family policed the event.

The same people who do not get their hackles up over the Indiana Religious Freedom legislation that protects a family-owned businesses, if that family is Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or Cargo-Cult Polynesian, from being sued by anyone objecting to their right to refuse services due to religious conviction.

I lived in Indiana ( LaPorte/Griffith) from 1988-1998 and I loved every minute of it.  I met Quakers, Baptists, Assemblies of God folks, Amish, Menonites, Hussites and a pretty healthy population of Catholics.  The Lutherans didn't like me because they owned Prairie Tavern in Rolling Prarie, because I stuffed a hog with potatoes instead of sauerkraut.  They got over it. Gay or straight Hoosiers loved Harry and Karen's Bohemian potatoes with diced morrel mushrooms.  Does that embarass anyone?

The above mentioned Hoosiers are devout and voted in Mike Pence and the legislature enacted a bill that protects people from lawyers - that is all.

Let's say Bed and Breakfast owner refused to give a thirteen year old boy and a twelve year old girl Honeymoon Weekend package, even though both sets of Atheist parents had given written permission for the youngsters to experience the full glory of everything they watch on HBO.

The Indiana Bill saves the owners from a lawsuit - that is all.

However, screaming is all about gay activism and vice versa.  Schmich again locks step with the secularist Progressive talking points and paints Indiana people with her massive rainbow brush attached her very own idiot stick - to get at the tough to reach places, like North Judson, or Amish country.
'Religious freedom' law gives Hoosiers another reason to be embarrassed

Schmich turns to a number of gay Hoosiers and fellow Meme-readers in print journalism for support of her thesis.

Missing are the basic examples of Hoosier embarrassment implied in the headline.

What are the other embarrassments?

Schmich explains,

Embarrass. Verb. em•bar•rass \im-'ber-us, -'ba-rus\
To make (a person, group, government, etc.) look foolish in public.

A person may tell me that I am embarassing, or that behavior is embarassing and then give me examples -

Wearing only a jock-strap and snowshoes to a wedding
Scratching my rump before shaking hands with Mayor Emanuel
Peeing in the swimming pool . . .from the fourth floor of the Atrium to Emabassy Suits
Eatin' fois gras at Alderman Joe Moore's Peoples Picnic
Those are examples of my embarassing behavior

 Mary says this legislation protecting religious freedom is "another' example of something embarrasing in Indiana.

Okay, that's the table cloth, Mary. What is on the table?

 Being a Hoosier of any political stripe has long meant enduring the mockery that comes from living in one of the most conservative states in the United States.
"Mississippi of the Midwest." "Welcome to Indiana: Please Turn Your Clock Back 50 years." Bumpkins.

Those are hurt feelings, Mary. What are examples of the legislated sources of embarrassment?

Does the Borman Expressway embarrass Hoosiers?
Are Cover Bridges Embarrassing?
Hoagy Carmichael make one blush?
Ezra Pound give one the willies?
Boilermakers?

Mary Schmich is bigot.  Therefore, I need to Schmich-up

A bigot  is one given to bigotry:Definition of bigotry in English:
noun
Intolerance toward those who hold different opinions from oneself:
the difficulties of combating prejudice and bigotry Origen:Late 17th century: from bigot, reinforced by French bigoterie. from the Oxford English Dictionary

 Let's not fault Mary Scmich too much;after all she is only doing what was exactly acted out in Roman occupied Judea 2,000 years ago.  Caiaphas and the members of the Sanhedrin took care of someone who disagreed with the meme du jour and turned that person over to the secular authorities and him rendered up to Caesar. The secular cry was " Give Us Barabbas!" Barabbas was a community activist jailed for being a member of Occupy Jerusalem.

Traditional marriage is no longer acceptable as thought, or phrase, or matter of historical fact, because very wealthy gay activists have funded the term out of common conversation.

Mary is on the side of the secular angles and so was Pilate.

Come the Resurrection, maybe the bigots will have the scales drop.

Happy Holy Week, Mary, the People of Indiana, Gays, Breeders and Polynesian Cargo Cult Followers!

 

Chicago Dunciad: The Sun Times Watchdogs? Hardly. Rahm's Purse Pups More Exactly

"While pensive Poets painful vigils keep,/ Sleepless themselves to give their readers sleep" I 91–92) The Dunciad by Alexander Pope.

I am his Highness' dog at Kew;
Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you?
"On the Collar of a Dog".Alexander Pope

I am a devout Papist.  Catholic born-bred and believing, but I am a disciple if Alexander Pope, who was the John Kass of the 18th Century. Unlike, Chicago's John Kass, Alexander Pope had a very weak constitution: sickly and small;nevertheless, was fierce foe of frauds and fawning lick-spittles - especially those who lived by the pen and the pay of politicians.

Men of talent can be hacks.  Hell, if I had the opportunity I'd probably be one too.  As it is, I live in simple and fortunate honest poverty.

Today's Sun Times Watchdogs ( giving ones self a nickname always bothered me)  as two very talented investigative writers for the editorially compromised and daffy Sun Times, Tim Novak and Chris Fusco presented burnt offerings to the Rahm Emanuel election campaign.  The family of Jeremiah Joyce gets the treatment.

Nothing new, nothing ground-breaking, nothing here but clippings of old items meant to arouse the ire of dim-wits and partisans. This a solely punitive piece; meant to hurt people and not inform.

It is a pretty nasty piece of work performed for a particularly nasty person who is scared out of his wits by Chuy Garcia and anyone who stands with Rahm's foe.

I love the Joyce family, because they are honest, unpretentious people who help people who need help.  Mike 'Pickle' Joyce is not only the most great-hearted and fiercely loyal person I know, but also the smartest person I have had the pleasure to meet  with exception of the late Steve Allen.  Mike has coached the African American young men of Leo High School without pay and out of his own pocket for nearly two decades - because Mike loves them and the school.

I know, not intimately, all of the Joyces.  Each and every one of them is a fine person. Nevertheless, The Watchdogs trotted out old news spun as political gold.

Gold is a metaphor for crap in classical literature, by the way.

Tim Novak and Chris Fusco acted more like purse puppies than Watchdogs.  That is a sad waste of their time and their talents.

Fawning Bob, "I'm With Rahm" Fioretti!

 

“If there is a run off, I will support whoever the challenger is,” the alderman said then. “We need a change. Chicago is headed in the wrong direction under this mayor.” Fighting Bob Fioretti only last month.

Count on it!

7.4 out of 100 Chicagoans took Bob's word and cast their votes to the February 24th wind!

Well, like most simple, hard-working, salt-of-the-earth, 'unsophisticated' Chicagoans, I pretty much ignored Bob Fioretti.

Rahm Emanuel did not and probably sent Fighting Bob a sophisticated Whitman Sampler chock full ganche covered alewives and smelt with nice note hand penned from Mayor 9.5's delicate fingers, "Dive In, Bob!"

Now, today we learn about Fawning Bob Fioretti,

 “We need a mayor that can dive in, rather than a mayor that wants to create a commission to look at the problem that his supporters say does not exist,” the Fioretti statement said. “The mayor and i disagree on many issues. . . . My endorsement is about which of these two candidates is ready and able to take on the tough financial challenges this city faces. For me, that candidate is Rahm.” (emphasis my own)

He belongs to the ages, now! He belongs to this - 

Video from Second City Cop

Time for Another "Rahm Can't Lose" Poll, After Garcia Pins the Dancer!

UpDate - March 30, 2015: Told You the Poll was Coming! And Easter is Sunday.

He might not be King of the City, but he is Rahm of the Urban Jungle, and last night he got thumped by Commissioner Garcia, while dancing through the weeds.

The clear-cut aggressor in their second debate, Garcia even flattened Emanuel when the mayor tried to claim credit — as he did in one of his earliest campaign commercials — for a landmark achievement in Garcia’s backyard.
“Let’s take the neighborhood of Little Village that Chuy’s represented for 30 years. Working with community leaders, I finally closed the coal plant that was there spewing pollution,” Emanuel said during the debate on Fox32 Chicago.
Garcia was so incensed by Emanuel’s attempt to claim credit, he literally laughed out loud.

As did we all . . .

Now, we can expect a poll conducted by the firm of Ogden and Nash, or whatever, showing Rahm with 99.5% advantage.

A random selection of  three imaginary voters(Desiree Rogers, Andy Shaw and Gator Bradley)  were given the following questions

1: What is your political party?
2: Do You Like You Job?
3: Rahm, or Poke in the eye with a hot pierogi?
4: What are your thoughts on The Epic of Gilgamesh?
5: Does race effect your shopping choices?
6: Does religion matter to Pope Francis?
7: What about gender? What about ganders? What about garters?
8: Does sexuality effect your views on sleep?
9: Does a politicians fingers matter?
10: What about college drinking?
11: Do you have anything to say about this quiz? Please say something. I'm lonely.  I'm a pollster.

Results:not for the squeamish

 1. All Identified as Democrats 2. All liked their jobs;especially, Urban TranslatorGator Bradley 3. Two of three voters ( Desiree Rogers, Andy Shaw and Gator Bradley) prefered Rahm to a poke in the lamps with steamiung pierogi, but Desiree Rogers hesitated asked for more time and finally asked for both. 4. No opinions - even Andy Shaw 5. All three race to shop 6. I guess . . . 7. Gender, ganders and garters matter - don not ask and certainly do not tell, but Gator loves garters! 8. Yes, especially when a new job at the Lotto, Peoples Gas, Obama White House and The Illinois BGA 9. Only to the candidate, when visiting  The Husky Hog BBQ at 335 W 31st St, Chicago, IL 60616 The Huslky Hog is crazy good!10. Weed.11. Not about nor to the pollster so much as a kind word.

The Chicago Snow Man - March 2015

The Side of House Hickey, only two days ago - March 2015

Chicagoans, you've earned this!  America's greatest poet was a shy business guy.  He knew.  So, do we all.

 The Snow Man
by Wallace Stevens

One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;
And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter
Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,
Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place
For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.

Come to America and Live the Dream 1912

Rahm 'N Noodles

"A little learning is a dang'rous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again. Alexander Pope for Chuy!

Guess who is all about sophistcated fiscal love saving Chicago from Detroitis, a simile for detritis. .

Rahm!

Guess who says so.

Noodles.

Noodles take sips of the heady stuff brewed by disciples of Dave Axelrod - the Godfather of the Narrative Meme and distilled bull-jive.  Noodles get hammered on a sip if Sneed, a snifter of Zorn, au bon pere of Old Trib and Early & OftenTimes and  go from pleasant, witty and charming  to bullet proof in every political exchange quicker than REM cycles.

Noodles thank their lucky stars, charms, strikes and lottos that Rahm Emanuel has guided the small city wagon train with sure and steady tough-minded fiscal sophistication and love these last four years. Ever mindful that Rahm can be a prickly little prique, Noodles know that unless Commissioner Jesus"Chuy" Garcia lays out ever measure he plans to take over next four years Chicago will surely become a ghost town on a lake like Detroit.

Detroit is the magic charm elixor for the sippers of heady brew.  My Alderman, Matt O'Shea, as fine and hardworking a young chap as one could find pours Detroit for Noodles in my Ward in mailer I got yesterday.  Matt O'Shea is loyal to Rahm and still respects his constituents who will put Chuy Garcia over Rahm come April 7th.

Noodles will weave and argue the tight and conversation ending meme that only Rahm can save Chicago from going the way that Rahm drove this hick burg on wheels. And that settles it!~

Another Rahm Poll to Keep Aunt Gert's Vote

Rahm is polling up a storm!  The only way he can remain in office and not join Pat Quinn in the unemployement line is to convince Aunt Gert that that "other guy" will have Mariachi bands outside of her nail salon 24/7.

Aunt Gert takes an Uber to Orland Park from Chicago Lawn ( 63rd & Kostner) because her nail-girls on Pulaski closed 'when the Mexicans moved in.' Aunt Gert is German-Irish and couldn't stand Polacks and Lugans either and don't get her started on 'the coloreds.'  Aunt Gert is with Rahm.

Dog Whistle meme - Chuy is a nice indígena mezclada con blanca from cowboy-happy Durango ( foreign born like Mayor Pushcart Tony Cermak -doncha know) who has absolutely no fiscal sophistication: Chuy has never sold off City assets, nor booted a car in Brainerd.

You see, Rahm climbed up on Richie Daley's knee one fine April day and said that he wanted to be Mayor ever so much. I am sure that Mayor Richie understood that the earnest little guy would call off any and all dogs yapping at his heels from Justice and the Chicago Media. Rahm is Mayor and has millions of dollars to prove it.

That is fiscal sophistication.

Chicago is Detroit with a Continental Finance MasterCard.  Sophisticated.

Here is the latest poll thick with John Dewey-esque outcomes pre-established and numbers to impress Aunt Gert, " Numbers don't lie, Dumbass!"

Aunt Gert is sophisticated,

  Weekly Mayoral Poll

Sticky! It's Time for Another National Conversation About Race!

Sticky Johnson is doing time.  He was a neighbor of Leo High School, who always had smile that could light up a room!  "Hey, Coach! Hey, Leo Man! Big Win! Go Lions!. . . .got any change? I'm $.30 away from my 40!"  Sticky was known to the kids, the coaches and the leadership of our school. Seemed to be a harmless bust-out on threshhold of turning his life around. Sticky could not catch a break.  Sticky is doing hard time.

Sticky should not be left out of our latest national conversation about Race. Conversations about Race always seem to occur whenever President Obama has an especially bad week - like Bibi Netanyahu's Likud victory over the Obama K-Street Commandos ( Jerry Bird's One Voice) sent to Israel to gum up the elections. Enter Starbucks and Mrs. Star Wars!

Should have sent Sticky Johnson!  In this latest wake of Israeli obstreperousness, the Starbucks CEO laid out Race Together . . .kind of like One Voice, except racing and not voicing.  This gave Chicago's doyen of drivel, Michael Sneed, a great opportunity to pucker up for local monied-powerhouse's keister - Mellody Hobson - Mrs. Star Wars Lucas Museum and Landfill. Mellody Hobson?  Is her given name pronouned in the Iberian fashion?  MAYOD?  Probably not.

Hey, Kids!  TRY and find a Starbucks in an impoverished black neighborhood! T'aint any! A Starbucks is Chatham Heights home to septuagenarian Civil Rights activists, retire CPD Commanders and Bankers B Starbucks Hyde Park Lite just east of Clarence Darrow's ashes and C BUCKS in tony Hyde Park Peoples Republic of Obama

Starbucks, Mellody Hobson, David Axelrodian Grassroots and a Likud Victory in Israel can mean only one thing - It's Time for another National Conversation About Race.

As the Director of Development for an overwhelmingly African American place of learning, I take a back seat to no one when it comes to smooching the rumps of already generous folks - most of them are old white guys.

However, I have not been able to guilt people who came by their riches through political pay-to-play and strategic investment of capital in former slum property to send as much as a nickel over to the school on Sangamon.  Much shame to me.  Most of my failure is rooted in an inability to match flim-flam with faith and guff with gelt.

You see I am no Desiree Rogers, Mellody Honson. Elzie Higgenbottom, much less Robert Redford, a Michael Moore, or a Cullen Davis. White, or Black, my soul recoils from a huge of pile of . . .bunkum.Not so the media, especially butt-munchers like Chicago Sun Times gossip maven Michael Sneed

The talk of the Twitterverse Wednesday began with a cup of Starbucks that brewed up a storm on social media.
And it was Chicago’s own Mellody Hobson — a financial whiz who is president of Ariel Investments and an African-American member of the Starbucks board of directors — who may have started the coffee brewing.

Well, ShhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeIIIIDDDDDDDDD, Sneed, It might have been Me!  I could have been Eddie Carroll of Carroll Roofing!  You know people say that Eddie came up with the idea of the spitlless harmonica.  The Harmonica Lewinsky! Really. Honor bright.

Race together?

Why, it just might have been Sticky Johnson, who is doing time for breaking into Leo's buses for the catalytic converters and pistol-whipped Mr. Haywood, our mechanic, when he came out and caught Sticky, a Section a Housing Alumnus  who was staying with friends in an apartment on Sangamon.  It just may have been Sticky who may have started the coffee brewing.

Sticky!  Speak on it,  Son!

I Get Schooled: "Only Sophisticated Fiscal Fellows Follow Rahm"

Cultivated and percipient 19th Ward voter Chapin " The Lute" Craven* took especial umbrage when I offered my choice for Mayor - Jesus Chuy Gracia.

This, in sum, to the very best of my memory, were The Lute's views on my vote.

" You must be @#$%ing stupid, or some kind Tea Party thug. How can you call yourself a Democrat. You're full of $hit. I read you stupid crap about how you love Sarah Palin and hate Obama, because he happens to be a black man and you can not stand the simple truth that he won and he is in the White House to stay.

Rahm is the only choice we have and you hate Rahm because he is 'this' close to President Obama. You want Illinois to be like Detroit, Wisconsin with Scott Walker. How you like Rauner? Yeah. Idiots like you put him there. You want Chuy because you think he will destroy unions.

Rahm loves unions. Rahm hates the Tea Party and that is why he is taking money awy from Tea Party creeps like you and putting it into his own Campaign - redistribution of wealth, baby.  It's here and you can't handle it!

Chuy's nuts! He's not sophisticated, A$$hole; do you grasp that? Fiscal sophistication -understand?

All you know is hate. Hate for Obama! Hate for Col. er . . .African Americans!  Hate for Q . . .Marriage Equality! Haters gonna hate. You hate Rahm. Why? Jew? You and your hero Bibi - haters.

Chuy is going to turn Illinois into a border town, @#$er! That's right!  The Latino vote that is not mobbed up will vote for Rahm Emanuel.  You and Tea Party Chuy want a low turnout again.   @#$% You! That's right @#$% You! . . . Hey, can hold a couple of dollars, until I get my disability check."

Can't argue with that. Lute.

*Chapin " The Lute" Craven, 58, of Beverly  was a middle school science teacher in Glenwood, IL, and  applied for disability in 2003 due to "prolonged stress and chronic back pain," Illinois Attorney Genera Lisa Madiganl's Office has taken a special interest in Mr. Craven and recently said, "Mr. Craven  might be in violation of Illinois laws and statutes concerning vocational disability.  :Lute's disability  application was approved in 2004.

Since that time, he has received $245,130 in monthly disability payments, even though he was allegedly working as a full-time teacher in Beecher, IL began working as a substitute in Whiting, IN before filing his disability application, authorities said, and continued until 2010, when he accepted the full-time job, which he continues to hold.
Lute is active in Medieval String Club of Beverly Unitarian Church and featured artist on the sidewalk between Claremont and Western Avenue at 110th Street most Saturdays and Sundays. A vegetarian and activist Lute reads the New York Times, watches only Public Television and likes Carol Marin but would never think of dating her.
Mr. Craven is a confirmed bachleor and resides near the Metra .

Leo Alumni Meeting at Father Perez Knights of Columbus Hall in Mount Greenood

Every third Wednesday of the month, the Old Lions roar, buck up for a kid in need, chart new speedlanes to help the school that had a hand in helping their parents form their lives and plan the annual banquet, decal drive and the golf outing.

These meetings tale place at the venerable Father Perez Knights of Columbus Hall. Father Perez is located at 422 W 111th St, Chicago, IL . In my youth the Knights met at a hall at 84th & Ashland and that was the site where young guys joined 16" softball teams, bowling leagues and waited to come of age Catholic gentlemen.The value imparted in home, reinforced in the parishes and the high schools of the south side were honed like a great set of Swiss knives.  The KCs actively sought out the means and manpower to protect the unborn, help struggling families through acts of charity and encourage Catholic worship - 'Hey, spend more time with you wife an kids, a little less at the Sea Breeze lounge and here and get to Mass, Hickey, you're a mess.'

Our Church was the stronger because of the Knights, in my opinion. Today, fewer young people get active and that is a shame.

The Father Perez Council seems to be more vital than many other benevolent associations, including other KC Councils. The Knights at Perez have long made their facility open to the Leo Alumni Association.

The meetings of the Alumni Association always begin with the sad litany of recently departed Leo Men, followed by prayers.  President Larry Lynch took over duties from Dan Stecich in February and the transition is smoother than an Ed Joyce '70 pick up line at Leo Dance in the Sixties.  Ed was slicker than snot on a doorknob - still is.

The Minuets of the previous meeting is called for a vote and after the more veteran Alums like President Emeritus Rich Furlong, Don Hogan, or Bob Sigel ask for clarity on a statement or typo.  The minuets are approved and seconded - always by Jack Benedek '67.

Leo High School, represented by President McGrath, VP Mike Holmes, or yours truly, reports on the activities at the school. Last night, I requested some immediate help for a Leo senior whose mother had just been laid off, passed my Irish Shandon cap, which was much too shallow, transfered the cash to a larger vessel and counted several hundred dollars, which President will give to the boy's mother today.

My report included

• Senior college acceptances - every graduating senior has been accepted to solid colleges including teh United States Coast Guard Academy, Loyola, St. Joe's in  Rensselaer, Northern Illinois, University of Illinois & etc.
• Leo chess team captain and Catholic League Champion Dexter Dale honored at City Hall
• Big Shoulders Fund lend a shoulder day with 80 Price Waterhouse interns
• Loyola University Aruppe College two year program
• St. Patricks Day March
• Chicago Blackhawks visit to Leo
• Q & A on plans for the future

The questions are always of the  " How can we help?" variety.

President Larry Lynch calls for a report from the various commitees taskled with selling tables or tickets for events.  Then we close with a prayer and "The Bar is Open!"

The Alumni always have hot trays loaded with good eatin' treats - last night was Italian Beef and St. Joseph sweets table.

God Bless all Knights and every Leo Man!

Chicago Police My Favorite Variety of Human Beings

This past Sunday was  the South Side Irish Parade.  I attend Mass at a cousin's house in Beverly before the step-off as has been the Hickey Family custom from earliest days of parade's history. Mass is always followed by a magnificent Irish Breakfast and a tribal jaw-fest.  This year I had an appointment in suburban Oak Park and pulled " a Murphy" at Communion.   I had parked my car strategically at 99th & Oakley for an easy egress to the Dan Ryan.  As is my custom, I gabbed with the people working to make the parade a success.  I met two young CPD Heroes on east side of Western Avenue. They said it was their first South Side Irish detail and wanted to know a good place to eat. I ponted out Fox's Beverly Pub and assured them of a fine feed and a most attentive staff of Friends of The Blue.

Down the street across from Tom Gibbons' Town Liquors. I had the pleasure of these three sons of Chicago's Northside One a Luther North Alum, another a St. Pat's graduate and third young guy the tallest of the three a CPS scion of Sullivan High School.  I toldthis trio of heroes that I get a store of great yarns and jokes from the Homicide Detectives who live near me and wanted to return the favor. 

Mike Houlihan, a guy named Brian and Pulitzer Prize winning Chicago Tribune writer Bill Crawford

I told them a yarn picked up from Chicago's Rennaissance Man - Film Maker, radio host, author and with Michael Houlihan

" A very troubled man went to his doctor and told him ' Doc, I think I am losing my mind.  My boss told me to get help.

The man with the caduceus gave him a look of genuine concern and asked, 'What's the problem, Sport?'

' Doc, for no good reason I blurt out WHAT"S NEW PUSSYCAT?'  I was in a meeting of mortgage brokers last week and while I reported on quartley home sales in Indiana . . .I  bluted out again WHAT"S NEW PUSSYCAT? My boss said I'm Losing my mind. Tell me, Doc, what is going on with me.'

The Son of Hermes, Mr. MD, smilked knowingly and replied 'You have what we in the medical profession call Tom Jones Syndrome.'

The worried man seemed assured somehow, ' Is that pretty common.'

The doctor shouted ' IT"S NOT UNUSUAL!'

The cops loved it.  I love cops.