After School Arts tutor shares memorable moments

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Teaching and tutoring the After School Arts students in Reservoir Avenue Elementary School is only the beginning of the relationships between tutor and student. Many of the tutors have been tapped into children’s lives and have built positive and influential friendships with them.

“It’s not that we come in and save them, but rather it’s us connecting with them, children who have odds stacked against them,” said Andrew Mook, coordinator of the 2008-2009 ASA program. “These connections breed a lot of really interesting and beautiful things.”

Mook recalled an example that opened his eyes to the difficult lives many of these young children endure and the importance as his job as a mentor and a friend.

During a creative writing session, the children were asked to answer “What’s your favorite day?” Some children wrote about holidays or their birthdays. “But one kid, intuitively enough wrote about a day that hasn’t happened yet,” said Mook, “he wrote about the next day.”

The 5th-grader explained his writing to Mook:

“Tomorrow is my dad’s birthday, but he’s not going to be with me, because he’s in jail. I hope you never have a day like I’m going to have tomorrow. My dad’s in jail because he carries his baggage around with him everywhere he goes. I carry my baggage around with me everywhere I go, so I know that I’m going to end up in trouble, or in jail, or in a grave. So my hope for you, for tomorrow, is that you don’t turn out like me, that you don’t carry your baggage around with you, so you can live as long as you’re supposed to live…and have a nice wife.”

“A story like that doesn’t bring you any hope,” said Mook, “it actually destroys your heart.”
Mook explained that seeing children, who have no male influence and are already being recruited for gangs, are reaching out to the tutors, leveling out and connecting with people who are positive influences, give Mook and the ASA tutors hope.

“We saw during the end of the year his behavior getting so much better,” said Mook, “we were watching him become a man, as many of these kids are way older mentally then they are physically. We saw him turn around and reprimand a friend who was treating a girl in the class badly. It’s the little victories like that that make it worth it, and it’s super rewarding to see the effect we have in reaching out to these kids.”

Underneath all of this, whether it’s tutoring a student, helping a refugee family move in, or hanging out with these tough, high risk children, the ASA tutors said the important aspect of what they do is trying to understand how to love well.

“And knowing that love goes well beyond a welfare check and well beyond a government program,” said Mook, “that love is what we’re aiming for.”

After School Arts (Part 2)

After School Arts (Part 1)

June 17, 2009
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The crowd was clapping a steady rhythm, cheering louder and louder. Music was pumping, as was 5th grader Isaac C.’s heart.

Dressed in his new black uniform with red stitching across the back, he extended his right hand as a fist and held his left hand flat. He prepped, he prepped, he prepped.

With a smash, Isaac broke his fist through a painted board. A metaphor of what he hopes to see changed in his neighborhood — violence broken apart and eliminated.

“I want people to stop killing people,” said Isaac, “no shooting, no fighting, no war.”

After School Arts, an arts and community building initiative, held their closing ceremony in Columbus Theatre, Wednesday June 17.

The program meets biweekly at Reservoir Avenue Elementary School and offers lessons in music, dance, karate, acting, and fine arts including photography, painting, making collages and drawing for children in grades 3rd-5th.

Fifty students participated in ASA during the 2008-2009 school year. Thirty tutors were involved in teaching the various art forms. The program is free for the students, funded by donations from individuals and churches in the community. This year’s program cost around $2,000.

The closing ceremony unfolded with a free, donated dinner, a gallery of the students’ artwork and a performance showcasing the various disciplines the students learned.

Flashes filled the gallery as parents and relatives snapped photographs of their children’s artwork.

“Give children an opportunity and they will run with it,” said Cheri Olszewski, a mother of Christina, an ASA tutor. “Children’s artistic abilities amaze me every time. What they teach these children will stay with them forever.”

The performance was tucked in a small theatre behind the larger auditorium of Columbus Theatre. An estimated 250 people attended the event, filling every seat, the spaces along the walls, in the aisles and on the floor around the stage.

The performance came to a close with 5th grader Idallace Cortez’s original hip hop song about her life and family, accompanied by a live band made up of ASA tutors and music students.

As she chanted, “L to the O to the V to the E! I said L to the O to the V to the E!” the whole audience rose to their feet and joined her.

“I was absolutely beside myself,” said Linda Sylvia of the program’s closing ceremony. Sylvia’s face lit up as she spoke of her daughter Nyree’s achievement through ASA. “It’s been a great year and a wonderful experience. It’s so important for these kids to see and do something positive. I can’t wait for Nyree’s little brother to participate in this program.”

Two-and-a-half years ago, Andrew Mook, who coordinates ASA, found out that the arts and music program had been cut from Reservoir Ave. He and his artist friends from a church community saw the need and decided to establish this program.

“88% of the students and families at this school are below the state poverty line,” said Mook, “we often get tapped into kids who have a really difficult home life and risk of gangs and violence in their neighborhoods.”

“The Arts create an environment where the kids can be honest and intimate with themselves and with others,” said Mook. “It can help them wrestle with their personal challenges beyond talking about them, which is hard enough. While teaching them art we’re creating connections and friendships with these kids.”
Mook and others involved in ASA meet monthly with the principal of Reservoir Ave to observe academic growth. “It’s incredible,” said Mook, “We’re seeing calculable growth in their grades. They become comfortable and exposed to their own learning style as they engage with material.”

Mook said he is very excited to see the positive repercussions of ASA permeating the community as a number of elementary schools have asked to replicate the program.

Donald Chamblee the grandfather of 5th grader Jaqueasja Chamblee agreed that the knowledge of the arts these children receive impacts their future. “These children have been encouraged to be creative and are very talented. They are going to be successful. And 20 years from now they’ll come back and give to this community.”

That is exactly the cycle After School Arts hopes to establish.

Faith in the Firehouse (Part 3)

NEW YORK — FDNY Firehouse Engine 279, Ladder 131 in Brooklyn, NYC held their annual Memorial Mass in remembrance of fire fighters who have given their lives to save others.

The memorial took place at 11 a.m. Thursday, May 29th. A cleared out fire truck bay served as the sanctuary.

Father John Delendick prepared an altar at the front of the garage, placing a cross made of steal from the wreckage of Ground Zero at the forefront of the altar. He leads one or two memorial services every month.

A list of fallen fire fighters’ names lay on the altar among Bible, candle and cross.

“Today we celebrate those who have died,” said Delendick, “but we also celebrate the living.”

Names read to honor their memory: Donald Clarke, Philip Martin, John Devaney, Robert Sammon, Joseph McDevitt, Mario Starace, Charles Sanchez, Capt. James Savage, Thomas F. Taylor.
Those lost on 9/11: Lt. Anthony Jovic, Ronnie Henderson, Christian Regenhard, Michael Ragusa, Anthony Rodriguez.

Firemen from Battalion 3-2 (engines 279, 202, 224 and 205), gathered in remembrance of their fallen brothers.

“They shared knowledge and experience by example — the best way to be,” said Edward Kuohn of Ladder 131 of the men being honored, “they were wonderful to have around.”

Faith in the Firehouse (Part 2)

NEW YORK — In a job as dangerous as fighting fires, support and spiritual influence play a large role. Like the daily mission of New York City’s firehouse chaplains, another mission for the individuals in the FDNY is Fire Fighters for Christ.

Lt. Jerry Sillcocks leads the New York City branch of this national organization. They are an organization of firefighters reaching out to firefighters.

After 9/11, firehouses were bombarded with Christian people who wanted to help. A lot of the time the fire fighters’ response was to close the door and turn away, because the people, although compassionate, could not speak with fire fighters truly knowing what they’ve experienced.

“Being a fire fighter witnessing to firefighters is all the difference,” said Sillcocks, “if we’re going down a smoky hallway later on tonight, they know I’m going to be right next to them.”

“If I’m not living my faith out every second of my time here, my witness is ruined for these guys,” said Sillcocks, “I have no time knowing that tomorrow may be their death. It’s a serious thing, living like a Christian in a firehouse, when my influence might be the last influence they have.”

The road to Sillcocks’ mission was painful. “In 1997, I had a daughter pass away and it really inspired me to figure out what I was going to do with my faith and if I was going to be serious about it. Or if I was going to be a nominal Christian who went to church on Sunday and it didn’t matter the rest of the week.”

Through his tragedy and conviction to live a Christian life, he has been blessed by the faith and hope in others around him.

He realized that going through a tragedy opens doors for people with similar tragedies to seek him out to get help and answers.

One of Sillcocks’ friends had a daughter who was very sick and in the hospital. “One of the people who could go and talk to him while he was in the hospital with his daughter dying was me because he knew I lived through it and I had an answer for him because I know the Bible, because I read the Bible. Because I was the Christian, he sought me out to get answers from me.”

Another experience where Sillcocks witnessed someone’s faith was when one of his friends who had been transferred to his fire house for a year died on 9/11.

“We always argued in the fire truck cab about God and heaven and hell,” said Sillcocks, “but before he went to his death on 9/11, he accepted Christ as his savior. That’s the difference living your faith out can make in a firehouse.”

Faith in the Firehouse (Part 1)

NEW YORK — Monsignor John Delendick stood in front of an auditorium filled with a class of 300 individuals about to be sworn in to become members of the Fire Department of New York.

Three hundred was a large class, but not a surprise to Delendick as it was the first class after the attack of 9/11.

Delendick asked them to stand and look about the auditorium at all the people around them. “You have 300 students here studying to become fire fighters,” said Delendick, “we lost 343 fire fighters on 9/11, more than there are in this auditorium. It’s important that you have faith. Maybe it’s time to look at yourself and see what it is you believe.”

“There’s a good chance, if you look around this room, many of you are going to die, many in this exact room,” said Delendick, “it’s a good time to evaluate what we believe in.”

“Do we believe in a God,” asked Delendick, “do we believe in an afterlife, do we believe in Jesus who takes care of us, especially in the worst of times, he is there with us. Do we believe that? If we don’t, we should start working on that.”

Reflecting on his experience in front of that auditorium and the time that has passed since, Delendick said spirituality is often witnessed in firemen’s widows. One particular instance that stuck in Delendick’s mind was the faith he witnessed during Scott Pedra’s month in the hospital after being terribly burned. “His wife had such a fantastic spirit,” said Delendick. She kept talking about how she expected God to give them a miracle and spoke with relentless faith and confidence.

Pedra died after struggling through a month in the hospital.

“I remember talking to her afterward,” said Delendick, “I wanted to be clear that God always sends miracles even though they may not be the miracles we’re looking for. I think that her faith was the true miracle.”

Delendick became the chaplain coordinator of New York City in 1996. He pastors St. Jude’s Church in Canarsie, New York.

While Delendick sat at the large table in the dining room of Ladder 123 in Brooklyn, he explained the duty and purpose of a chaplain. The mission of the six chaplains that serve New York City is not to create parishes in the Fire Department, but rather to take care of the needs of the fire fighters. The chaplains act as mentors and spiritual directors in times of trouble and grief.

Making a presence and being a supportive influence greatly affects the firemen no matter what they believe. As Delendick walked through the fire house, every fire fighter who walked by stopped and shook his hand to say hello and ask how he was doing.

“You still smiling?” Delendick asked fireman John Millatono with a grin.

“Of course,” said Millatono, returning the smile, “I’m still here.”

A cross welded out of metal from Ground Zero stands with bell and hydrant, symbolizing faith, hope and the duty of FDNY.

Songs from a stranger in the park

Miguel Ulloa sings a Spanish song about may day in Madison Square Park. He is homeless now, but in the past took extensive voice lessons.

After receiving the results from a recent M.R.I., Ulloa stopped to feed the squirrels.

Ulloa said he is concerned about his health, but is thankful for the small pleasures in life, even if it’s a song or a walk through the park.

Ha ha’s under the overcast

WJI Assignment: Walk the block around the Empire State Building and ask someone on the street to make you laugh or make you cry.

NEW YORK — Rainy, dismal and zero visibility at the Empire State Building. Despite the conditions, the men selling the tours for the tower can still find things to laugh about.
“Yesterday I was on the 2 train and I saw this dude trying to talk up these two ladies,” said Diego Mup, dressed in his blue and black uniform and eager to tell his story, “so this guy was giving ‘em compliments and acting all suave and I’m just sitting back, watching him. As he’s talking to them, he passes gas really loud. It was loud, man. Really loud.”
“The ladies were trapped in the train so he tried to keep talkin’ and be cool, but they got up and moved.”
His hands in his pockets, Diego shook his head side to side, smiling and chuckling.

Words for a changing digital world

“In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”

– Eric Hoffer, historian and philosopher

Photo journalism instructor Kenny Irby, from the Poynter Institute, shared the advancements of photography with the WJI students. Irby illustrated photographic progress in the convergent and digital world with videos of a Kodak “come back” and a new photo technology called Microsoft Photosynth.
“It all goes back to the image — that powerful decisive moment,” said Irby.

PHOTOS: Up on the rooftop (NYC)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is full of wonderful things.
And the rooftop is no exception.
Like a giant silver branch fallen from the sky, Roxy Paine’s Maelstrom graces the rooftop of the MET. The largest sculpture ever on the rooftop garden, Maelstrom measures 130-feet-long by 45-feet-wide, is stainless steel and hand-welded. Visitors are encouraged to wander through the monstrous, winding metal branches.

Peeking through Maelstrom's arms

Stretching toward the sky

Sprawling tendrils

The view from under the branches