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(02/24/92 10:00am)
Every Tuesday, Nursing student Jennifer Miller takes a 20-minute trek to the West Philadelphia Community Center to be a teacher. The Nursing School junior spends 45 minutes each week preparing teen mothers for the General Equivalency Degree exam, which gives students the equivalent of a high school degree. As Nursing Student Forum Community Chairperson, Miller coordinates the one year-old program, which was initiated by Ellen Marie Whelan, a clinical instructor in the Nursing School. The teen moms in the program are between 18 and 22 years old, and will begin taking their tests in early March. "Most are from the Mantua Hall area, but some come from South Philadelphia," Miller said. And because the program is one of few of its kind, one participant from Olney came to participate, Miller said. During the program, the six nursing students who participate tutor the students mainly in essay writing. "On the GED they give a topic, and the students have to write about it," Miller said. Miller said they also tutor math, specifically geometry and metric conversions. The teen moms seem to like the Nursing students, Miller said. And due to the popularity of the program, Miller is negotiating for the Nursing students to tutor another day a week. "They know they have an added support person that they can't usually get from a teacher," Miller said. And Miller said 20 other Nursing students want to participate in the tutoring program, but do not have time in their schedules. Nursing School Media Relations Coordinator Constance Gillespie said the program is very good, adding that "the students have been doing this for some time." Additional programs, which are not run by the Nursing School, make up a seven-and-a-half hour day for the mothers. In addition to the tutoring services provided by the Nursing students, Miller said, "the moms also go to a parenting class, and learn other things, from good nutrition to how to handle their anger."
(02/20/92 10:00am)
In Houston Hall, people all over are bustling about, checking microphones, screaming problems from backstage and somewhere, a director is tearing her own -- and probably someone else's -- hair out. It is just another dress rehearsal, same as any other before opening night -- with one exception. Out of all of these people, there are no men. This is what makes Bloomers . . . Bloomers, the University's only all-female comedy troupe. However this year's spring show is not their typical show. "Our humor is richer this year," College senior Carrie Kitchen, the group's director said . "We're relying a lot less on cheap laughs." Producer Catharine Michaud, also a College senior, added that it is not what people might be expecting. "It's not a show just for women. Everyone will be able to identify with it," she said. This show, entitled Come On Baby, Light My Satire, will feature skits satirizing fields ranging from the Olympics to teen talk-shows to a geriatric Madonna. It dwells on situations of real life and stereotypes at the University, in addition to timely events like the Olympics. There will also be a full cast parody of 42nd Street. In order to prepare for this, the one member who knew how to tap dance taught the rest of the cast. "It takes place on 42nd Street West Philadelphia. It's kind of West Philly on tap," College junior Deborah Brown, a performer and assistant director said. "A lot of people think that since we're a women's group, we just cover women's issues. But we cover the world," College sophomore Allison Greenspan, a member said. "We sing, we dance, we do everything." The show is an accumulation of work begun in the fall and is written and choreographed by the 11 members of Bloomers. "It's difficult, but it's very worthwhile to see your own stuff out there," Greenspan said. Come On Baby, Light My Satire opens tonight at 8 p.m. in the Houston Hall Auditorium. Performances are also at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday night. Tickets are $5 and can be bought on Locust Walk or at the door.
(02/17/92 10:00am)
In the United States, one million teenagers are homeless at any given hour, over two million incidents of child abuse occur annually, and teenage drug use is the highest of any nation. These are the reasons that Covenant House, a homeless shelter for teens, has a door that never closes. Yesterday University students attended a discussion at the Newman Center led by former Covenant House volunteer John Pileggi focusing on the rising need for Covenant House. This rising neeed was the focus of a short but informative video that opened the hour-long discussion. After the video, Pileggi summarized the commitment one makes when becoming a full-time volunteer for "The Faith Community," a segment of Covenant House. "Working with kids in a community setting and two hours of daily prayer are necessary commitmnents," Pileggi said. Pileggi highlighted the reponses one can make to alleviate the homeless problem. He stressed responding to newsletters, attending discussion, and volunteering time in shelters. Several audience members said the reason they came to the discussion was that they wanted to increase their knowledge of Covenant House. "My reason for coming was that homelessness is so different than my suburban life," Bob Cardie, assistant director of the Newman Center said. In the video, poverty, prostitution, and drugs were marked as facts of street life, and teens commented on the realities of homelessness. "Its terrible, drugs are everywhere. I don't want to be subjected to that again," a formerly homeless teen said. Another teen said, "If there were no Covenant House, we would be lost." On a typical night, a teen is assigned a social worker and a nurse. This is followed by either drug rehabilitation or job employment -- which ever is applicable. If the child receives employment, the focus is then placed on his or her savings and finding a place to live. Covenant House has started a mother and child program to deal with the rise in teen pregnancy, family counseling, and GED classes. As long as the child maintains the desire to change, their is no concern for how long it takes for him or her to improve. Volunteers in this program agreed that helping homeless children has enriched their lives. "The children have made such a difference in my life," one volunteer said. "It remains to be one of the most rewarding things I've ever done." The Newman Center is organizing a program in which University students can volunteer their time in a crisis shelter in New York City for a week with students fom Georgetown and Penn State Universities during spring break.
(02/17/92 10:00am)
Many University students voluntarily give their time to help the West Philadelphia community. For University dental students, it has become a requirement. Beginning in July, third and fourth year dental students will be required to participate in some form of community service. Currently, seniors have the option of performing the service as one of their senior selectives, an elective requirement which can be a course or a seminar. Assistant Dean for Community Relations Herman Segal said that in the past, students often volunteered their services, but were never given credit from the school. Students will be given credit for volunteering and must perform 35 hours of service during their junior and senior years. "We have a new mission statement," Segal said. "We want to help graduate a more rounded student." And Segal said he feels that if students interact more with the community, they will be better able to relate to their patients after college. He added that he hopes the new program will break down any possible prejudices and stereotypes students may have about the West Philadelphia community and that community members will get to know students better. The Dental School is in the process of applying for a Kellogg Foundation grant, part of which Segal said would be used to conduct before and after attitudinal tests on students and within the community to ascertain whether or not the new program has been effective. Dental students will be allowed to participate in any form of community service they want. Their hours and service will be recorded by a Dental school administrative assistant and the agency or project they worked for. Segal said that students would be on the honor system, but that there would be random checking. "Besides, I go to a lot of them," he added. "I'll be there, so how can they lie to me?" Second year student Karen Sonnone was a community service representative for her class last year. The representatives found projects for students to work on and reported them to the Dental School's student council. Sonnone said that when she heard about the new requirement, she was instantly interested in helping out. "There are literally tons of community service projects that people are working on right now," she said. "The requirement makes it more formalized." She added that projects can consist of everything from teaching teen mothers how to take care of their child's teeth to taking the handicapped to football games. "Our community service doesn't always relate to dentistry," Sonnone said. Segal also said the service does not have to be dental-related, saying he does not care how students fulfill their requirement. "They can deal with the elderly or with children," he said. "They can work in a soup kitchen, as long as it involves the community." The Dental School has participated in community service projects jointly with the University Medical School and with University nursing students. Dental school senior class president Ivy Simms said she supports the new requirement, adding that she has already been involved in the community through local efforts. "I think it's a great idea, especially in this community," she said. "There's so much volunteering you can do."
(02/06/92 10:00am)
Three weeks ago, Tracy Lawrence and Jennifer Miller had a great idea. It involved the West Philadelphia community and it allowed them to use the skills they had learned as students in the Nursing School. Last Friday afternoon, at the West Philadelphia Community Center, Nursing senior Lawrence and Nursing sophomore Miller lead a forum to teach West Philadelphians about important health issues. "We used some of the teaching projects we made in class," Lawrence said, adding that some of the topics included foods low in sodium and exercises for new moms. Clinical instructor in the Nursing School and nurse practicioner Ellen Whelan helped Lawrence and Miller with the project. Upon arriving at the forum, people received folders which briefed them on each stop of the forum, contained pamphlets, and provided a place to write down the results of the various tests they took. Several educational and health groups participated in the forum, including Blacks Educating Blacks About Sexual Health Issues, a health insurance company called Health Pass and a Children's Hospital of Philadelphia emergency room nurse, who came to talk about safety. Forum participants were also able to have their blood pressure, height and weight tested, watch a CPR demonstration, and receive information about feeding babies and infant safety. The forum also featured a breast cancer stop where a model breast was used to show women how to do a monthly Breast Self Exam. But Lawrence said the hit of the day was the smoking table. The display showed healthy lung tissue and smoker's lung tissue, in order to impress upon the watchers the detrimental effects of cigarette smoking. "The [smoker's] lungs were black and nasty and crunchy," Miller said. Some displays interested certain groups of people more than others. "The adults went straight to blood pressure," Lawrence said. Miller added that the children primarily enjoyed the height and weight tests and the nutrition table because, "it had cookies on it." The nursing students approximated that about 70 people came to the forum and 40 nursing students volunteered. Both Miller and Lawrence felt the forum was successful. On a personal level, Miller said the forum helped develop her organizational skills, and "taught her how to delegate authority." Miller said the students wished that "teen moms" had come to the forum, since "BEBASHI was targeted for" them. And she said they also wanted people to take cholesterol and blood sugar tests, but Mercy Catholic Hospital, which would have offered the exams, could not participate in the forum. Despite these disappointments, Lawrence said the forum gave freshman and sophmore nursing students the opportunity to become a part of the community. "Penn isn't the world," Miller said, "and people can use the knowledge we're gaining. Anything like this always has a good outcome." Next year, since Lawrence is graduating in May, Miller will have to enlist others to help her with another forum. Lawrence suggested that the forum next year have small group discussions, instead of just handing out fliers. "This forum was mostly informational," said Lawrence.
(02/05/92 10:00am)
From Andrew Sernovitz's "Mall Rats With Big Hair," Spring '92. I actually sat through an entire meeting, hoping to find something charming to say about them. But they just sat around scratching each other's balls and babbling about old, irrelevant topics. The first order of business was the University Council Safety and Security Committee's proposal to ban bicycles from Locust Walk. As the UA started to talk about it, I realized I had a confession to make. I'm sorry. It's all my fault. They are probably still pissed because I drove right into Dr. Von Vorys last semester. It was no big deal -- he was well padded. They are also going to remove all of the bike racks on campus and put a five mile per hour speed limit on bikes on other campus property. I can see it now. University cops are going to be hiding behind the trees on Smith Walk with radar guns. If you're going too fast, they'll send a squad car after you. "License and registration, please." "Sorry officer, I don't have a license. I lost it for Biking Under The Influence." "Well, son, I'm going to have to ground you. You can't watch TV or ride your bike for 3 days." The Safety and Security Committee should get their head out of their ass. We're going to ride our bikes around campus whether they like it or not. If they take away the bike racks on campus, we're just going to have to start locking our bikes to our TA's. Students travel by bike. It's not a safety hazard. It's a necessity. When they stop putting my classes in DRL, maybe I'll consider walking to class. We live here. We have no parking. Bikes are the only realistic way to get around. The faculty live in the suburbs. They get to drive to Penn and park in nice little parking garages right on campus. If they take away our bike racks, we should blow up the parking lots. Then they can walk to class, too. From Ardmore. I can't believe the Safety and Security Committee has nothing better to worry about. While they were busy arguing about Schwinn etiquette, someone was getting shot at a movie in a Penn-owned building. But the administration has really perfected the art of wasting time. I lost my PennCard a while ago, and someone used it to get into a football game. Apparently this is a major offense that warrants serious attention. Elton, the Dean of Athletics, called to talk to me about the evils of letting someone else use my PennCard. What the hell? I have trouble believing that the intercollegiate athletics department doesn't have more important things to worry about. Like winning games. Elton never actually got to speak to me in person, so he referred me to the JIO. Wow. Apparently the JIO has enough free time to follow up on PennCard offenders. What possible punishment could be in store for me? Will I have to wear "The Scarlet P" on campus? Will I be forced to go back on dining service? Luckily, the JIO's office will have more serious issues to contend with in the near future. Like prosecuting bicycle offenders. Back to the UA meeting . . . This week's new business was to pass a motion on the Oriental Studies Department. Actually, they wanted to re-pass the same motion that they passed last year. Unfortunately, they ended up tabling it for further discussion. Next week they hope to pass a motion to form a committee to discuss the option of talking about something. Good luck. The following is not a joke: UTV (Useless TeenyVision) is starting a daily music video show. They need VJ's. So some Einstein over there decided to ask Undergraduate Assembly reps to host the show. No kidding. The UA is going to do it. They have decided that the show is a good way to "express our views to the community and show everyone that UA reps are normal people." Someone's smoking crack. I can see it now, Mitch Winston on the air with his new show, "Totally Mitchy": "Wow guys, that was a totally buff vid. Did you catch the nugs on that babe? Next up we've got Nirvana with 'Smells Like Teen Spirit.' Speaking of spirit, don't forget to go to the next University Council meeting to support your UA Reps. Go Team!" Luckily, the UA is taking measures to pick up school spirit at Penn. Rep Ethan Youderian took serious steps yesterday. He printed 100 flyers to ask us to go to the basketball game today. Balls-out move, dude. With that kind of effort, we're gonna have to expand the Palestra. If you have any further questions on what the UA is up to, just check out the next issue of "Penn News and Views." This is the publication that the UA uses to tell us what they're up to. It would be a lot easier if they just gave us each a roll of toilet paper. Yeah, I said it. They ain't doing crap. The UA spends $1500 a semester of our money to print this rag. I'm sure it will have a detailed report on the re-passing of the Oriental Studies motion. I can't believe they can't find a better use for the money. Maybe they could buy Von Vorys a bike. Andy Sernovitz is a senior Marketing and Political Science major from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Mall Rats with Big Hair appears alternate Wednesdays.
(12/04/91 10:00am)
Janis Somerville does not want to have her picture taken. And interviewing makes her uneasy. She is anything but self-promoting. "I didn't realize it was that long ago," says Somerville. She smirks, turns over the paper, and inconspicuously pushes it away, trying to change the subject. Seeing her own name in bold print bothers her more than the passage of time. The last thing Janis Somerville wants to do is call attention to herself. She would prefer not to make it into the news. Instead, Somerville takes pleasure in dedicating herself to her work. But as she heads up an "arrogant" effort to change Philadelphia's high schools, her attempts at avoiding self-promotion are futile. The spotlight shines on her as her dynamic presence and her important educational accomplishments routinely turn heads. · Now touted as the city's "champion of school reform," Somerville heads up the Philadelphia Schools Collaborative, an independent team housed in the Board of Education building at 21st Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Her job is to get Philadelphia public high schools back on track. Somerville intends to do it by overhauling the entire system. "What we're doing here borders on arrogant if not impossible," says Somerville. "But nothing less will do. You really have to take on the whole system or you can't help anyone. But if everybody does the small things, then it all adds up." Taking on the whole system involves changing the way people look at education. This overhaul means implementing programs akin to modern management techniques, such as team teaching and Schools-Within-A-School. Teachers are encouraged to integrate subjects by teaching interdisciplinary lessons, requiring much more planning and teamwork from the teachers than most are accustomed to. But it results in students gaining depth rather than breadth from the material. Large, impersonal high schools are broken down into smaller Schools-Within-A-School, or "charters," and an interdisciplinary team of teachers is assigned to a specific group of students. The teachers and students will be together for four years, tracking students' long-term progress and paying special attention to student needs. Teachers become engaged again in the teaching process, and students respond positively to the curriculum. "I've never been so excited in the 23 years I've been teaching," says Ron Stohloff, a Social Studies teacher and chair of the restructuring council at Edison-Fareira High School. "I'm busy as hell." Self-governance is the other cornerstone of school reform. It puts teachers and other school staff on par with the principal, giving them just as much input into school matters. To get the new system to work, teachers -- many of whom have been teaching in Philadelphia over twenty years -- must commit to new ways. This transition can be difficult to those that are used to following orders and etched-in-stone curricula. "These teachers have been burned [by unsuccessful reform attempts] too many times," says Stohloff. "Janis Somerville's biggest job is to convince the staff that we're serious. She's gotten a lot of people to commit." The public schools have been facing a Catch-22. Staggering poverty is one reason for the district's decline although it also signals the necessity for infusion of major additional funding -- money which is not forthcoming from strapped city and state governments. "Poverty is intensifying, and there are budget problems," Somerville said. "Philadelphia has poverty at its core. Two-thirds of the children served in Philadelphia public schools are at poverty level." "I will never fully appreciate the devastating conditions that most of the students come from. And from what I hear from teachers and counselors, it is getting worse," she added. Somerville concludes, "This system is educating 200,000 students. It just has to be made to work." Things started improving for the school system in 1988. Pew Charitable Trusts, the nation's second largest foundation, sought to resuscitate the flow of minority teens into higher education. They gave Philadelphia a $447,000 planning grant, and followed up with a package totalling $8.3 million on the condition that the School Board overhaul its entire system. "So far the [collaborative schools] program is meeting its objectives well," says Thomas Langfitt, president of Pew. Somerville is not working alone. While trumpeting her own efforts does not suit her, she offers mounds of praise for everyone with whom she works. "[Superintendent of Schools] Constance Clayton's absolutely compassionate commitment to children and poverty" sets the stage for success, Somerville said. If Somerville will not sing her own praises, the leader of the School District is effusive in her comments. "Janis Somerville is the catalytic agent to bring about necessary restructuring, reform and revitalization," Clayton said. "She is a very good idea person and brings a wide range of skills to the school system. "I want to blend people who are not in public education who aren't involved in what has been, but rather what could be" with the more experienced district staff, Clayton says. Clayton has been recruiting a lot of outsiders to the school district, many of them associated with the University, to infuse new blood into the schools with less traditional, more pragmatic solutions to educational issues. · Somerville's departure from the University almost a decade ago raised concern that with her vacancy, progressivism at the University would be in peril. "I think it's a blow to the progressive stance the University has taken recently," a student said when she left in 1982. In her former position, now held by Kim Morrisson, Somerville was known as an advocate for student and minority rights. After leaving the vice provost post at the University, Somerville accepted the same position at Temple University, where she was re-introduced to the realm of public education -- though at the university level. While working at the North Philadelphia school, Somerville was introduced to Clayton. "Connie Clayton had formed lots of committees to draw people from the outside. She cornered me and said, 'So, when are you coming here?' " Somerville said. Temple gave Somerville one year off from her duties as vice provost so she could head a "management development committee." Somerville's goal was to develop a plan that would overhaul the school system, being primarily concerned with reducing the District's dropout rate. Somerville designed the schools' original restructuring plan, and was expecting to return to her position at Temple. Then Clayton asked for more. "I said, 'Okay, Jan. You've written it, now implement it,' " recalls Clayton. Three years later she is still at 21st and the Parkway, making sure the Pew grants are indeed used to make the school system work. Somerville has always had an affinity for high school and college-aged students, starting with her first job as a public high school teacher in Trenton, New Jersey. She derives great pleasure from knowing that her work is directly affecting kids. But Somerville expected her stint with the School District to last only a short time. "You just get hooked," she says.
(12/03/91 10:00am)
Hail to the Redskins, hail V-I-C-T-O-R-Y. Braves on the warpath, fight for all D.C. I'll let you guys hum the rest. Even though I am from Memphis, Tennessee, I have lived in Washington, D.C. for the last several years and, thus, have adopted the 'Skins as my football team. And because I am a Redskins fan and have lived and worked with countless New York natives and fans since being at the University, I take great pride in boasting about the defending Super Bowl Champion New York Giants dismal season. Even with your beloved Phil at the helm, you guys couldn't even beat the Bengals. You might as well face it. · Now back to your regularly scheduled column: We have a tremendous void in leadership in America. I know that President Bush thinks that John Sununu's resignation symbolizes all the change that he (and America for that matter) needs to tackle the tough domestic problems and the campaign that lie ahead, but Sununu's departure alone won't cut it. What is wrong with the politicos in this country that we have school superintendents and city administrators categorically endorsing plans to distribute condoms in public junior high schools as a mechanism to battle teenage pregnancy, AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases? After months of blue-chip panels and committees investigating the social danger of teen-age pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, the best solution these idiots could come up with after spending all this money "to isolate and study the problem" was to hand condoms out randomly to 13-, 14- and 15-year olds. Now I am not saying that the distribution of condoms is not a decent idea considering the enormity of the problem, but distributing condoms to junior high school kids seems a bit problematic and insane to me. But hell, if we're going to distribute condoms why not also just have a class on how to put them on, how to actually use them and then how to properly remove them without causing pain? Two weeks ago, a mayor of a big eastern city, that is presently being held hostage by the drug culture, unveiled a crime plan to escalate the war on drugs and all its side effects. The plan included, among other things, a call for more police on the streets and a lowering of the age -- from 15 to 14 -- in which minors could be tried as adults in a court of law. Now there's a plan that'll get right at the heart of the problem if I've ever heard one. We have a Justice Department, formerly headed by Dick "damn I got waxed, what I'm I gonna do now, maybe I'll call John Sununu" Thornburgh, that is basing its entire crime plan on building more prisons. Now here's another idea bleeding with innovation and potential. Can't these idiots see that none of this has, or will, work. America needs ideas that will attack crime and teen-age pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases and the rest of the menu of social ills head on and not at the periphery. We need leadership. Lowering the age in which minors can be tried as adults will do nothing to curtail the gross number of killings and drug dealing in the streets. But decreasing the size of junior high and high school classrooms from 40 to 15 might have a more systematic impact. If we had real leadership, we might get some proposals calling for guaranteed summer or year round jobs for any teenager, particularly 14- and 15- year olds, who wants one. With real leadership, we might finally get programs aimed at city youth that are tailored for humans and not re-election campaigns. Why can't we get a program from our President, congressmen, state legislatures, mayors, city councilmen and school superintendents that calls for a combination of government and private money that guarantees the financing of any eligible student's college education. We could literally use the money that we would otherwise spend to send people to jail and build more prisons. Real leadership, instead of calling for a capital-gains tax cut, would call for a complete elimination of taxes for those earning minimum wage. Then, maybe we could reinstitute a progressive tax code. America is in desperate need of leadership. We can ill afford any more band-aid solutions to cancerous and infectious societal ills. Just recently, I read an article that implied that the trend of teen-age girls having babies isn't really that bad because their teenage bodies are fit, and are, thus, able to bear the brunt of carrying and delivering the baby more so than an older woman. I guess the battle against teen-age pregnancy has overwhelmed us so that we are now crafting justifications for our surrender. At the rate leader(surrender-)ship is going in America, we just might see the day when Jesse Jackson might actually utter, "Keep Hope and Dope Alive." Harold Ford is a senior History major from Memphis, Tennessee. Say it Loud has appeared alternate Thursdays.
(11/27/91 10:00am)
The Philadelphia School Board got a quick reminder on how it feels to be a student when members of ACT UP presented Superintendent of Schools Constance Clayton with a report card at last week's Board of Education meeting. "The report card was based on what she has or has not done in the past five months. She failed everything," said AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power member Norman Baker, who has addressed the school board at its past two meetings. ACT UP is "an organization united in anger commited to taking direct action to end the AIDS crisis," said Baker, who was a member of the committee which made recommendations to the school board about the policy last spring. Two weeks ago, Baker appealed to the school board to begin implementation of a high school condom availability program which was adopted by the board last June. He told Clayton to "perform a little magic" and begin implementation within two weeks. The policy has not been implemented yet. "Within the next two to four weeks it is my estimate [that the condoms will begin to be available]," Director of Health Services Herbert Hazan said last week. His current projection is that at least some high schools will begin distribution before Christmas recess. However, other school board officials are not sure that this is possible. Hazan added that the school board has been working vigorously to implement the policy and does not consider Baker's speech an ultimatum. He equated ACT UP's report card tactic with a school "giving a student a report card three or four weeks into a school year." "A fair segment feels we're on the right track, including parents," Hazan said, after Tuesday's meeting, when a dozen people spoke out on both sides of the distribution issue. "I don't believe that ACT UP is speaking for the entire Philadelphia community." In order to begin the distribution of condoms throughout the approximately 30 public high schools in Philadelphia, each individual school must establish a partnership with a community health organization such as a hospital or medical school. Representatives from the health care organization will then hand out the condoms. According to a spokesperson in the superintendent's office, the program "also includes the right of parents to veto their child's right to participate in the program." The number of high schools that currently have partnerships is unknown, according to a spokesperson for the Department of Health Services. The new policy includes the enhancement of the human sexuality curriculum in grades kindergarten through 12, though AIDS education is already taught at every grade level. New topics to be stressed will include adolescent sexuality, prevention of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. New York City, Chicago and Baltimore currently have similiar programs for the distribution of condoms. Los Angeles began hearings about a possible policy this week.
(10/25/91 9:00am)
Dobies, a junior in both the Nursing School and the College, will recieve the Jeanne Frances Hopkins Award which goes to "a sophomore or junior who embarked on a uniquely Penn curricular opportunity," according to Naylor. Perreault will be awarded the Diane O. McGiven Award for her work as a research assistant and volunteer in the Teen Parent Program at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Naylor said the award is given to a freshman, sophomore, or junior who has made "a significant contribution in the area of health policy issues." "There are very few opportunities we have to provide recognition to our students, so we are really delighted with the opportunity," Naylor added. The reception will be held at 5:30 p.m. in the street-level reception area of the Nursing Education Building. -- Heidi Gleit
(10/22/91 9:00am)
Officers Gary Cooper and Carnell Thomas responded to a report at 11:38 a.m. yesterday of juveniles selling narcotics at the Divinity School to find five male teenagers -- who are not University students -- on the 4200 block of Locust Street. The juveniles were frisked by the University officers, who found a .22 caliber, loaded revolver on one teenager and a 12-inch hunting knife on a second juvenile. Both teenagers were arrested and taken to Philadelphia Police West Detective division for processing. The revolver was sent to Philadelphia Ballistics Division to be examined to see if it has been used in any previous crimes. Holmes said the arrest was a "good" one. University Police also responded to a report Monday of a woman threatening students with a bat on the corner of 40th and Locust streets, according to Holmes. At 2:54 p.m. Monday, police officers disarmed the woman, who told police that the students had stolen her dog. University Police also responded to a report of a burglary at the University's Leidy Laboratories -- the biology building -- at 11:32 a.m. yesterday, according to Holmes. Police found a door forced open and a Fischer Electronic Balance, valued at $1345, missing, Holmes said. -- Damon Chetson
(10/03/91 9:00am)
Donna Suratt had her first child when she was 15 years old. Now, four years later, she is the mother of three children, Donna, Yvonne and Jeffrey. Suratt left school before the oldest was born and has not returned -- yet. Her experience is not that unusual. Three babies are born to mothers under 15 every week in Philadelphia. But Ann O'Sullivan, an associate nursing professor, is working with Suratt and other teen mothers to encourage them to return to school, to delay having more children, and to provide the children they already have with proper medical care. O'Sullivan began to work with teen mothers at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in 1979. In her work she noticed that "some mothers did really well and some had a hard time." She also found that mothers who received closer personal attention were the ones that did better, so O'Sullivan decided to study the effects of guidance and personal care on the mothers. Pediatrician Donald Schwartz, registered nurse Terry Tesoro and social worker Ruth Low make up the team which works with the mothers at the clinic. "Dr. Schwartz and Anne O'Sullivan really care about the kids who come here," said Evelyn Reed, whose child will turn three this month. The mothers make appointments for their babies to receive medical care and shots at the clinic according to a schedule devised by the American Pediatric Association. "We've already had such positive results," O'Sullivan said. "I know we made a difference in immunizations already." After the baby's appointment, the mother can meet with social worker Low to discuss options for returning to school or work and to receive health insurance. Sonya Rembert, who started in the program in August 1989, said she successfully returned to school immediately. But others did not fare as well. Kea Jordan said she returned to school but left because of "family problems." Before the mothers leave the clinic, staffers will schedule appointments for them at a family planning center if one is needed. The mothers also receive reminders of their family planning and doctor's appointments as well as phone calls when they do not show up. "They call you before your appointment so you won't forget it. They do everything for you," mother Tamika Elmore said. Only half of the mothers O'Sullivan works with receive the extensive aid and guidance described above. The other half form the control group in O'Sullivan's study. Low and Tesoro visit members of both groups at the beginning and end of the study. During the visits, the mothers and grandmothers fill out the questionnaires the study is based on. The mothers answer questions on their academic progress and history, sources of income, family situation, living arrangements, use of controlled substances, sexual habits and the medical care their babies received. The grandmothers' questionnaire asks about health insurance and sources of income, the grandmother's level of education and her age when she had children. O'Sullivan is currently conducting her third study since she began researching in 1983. The first two did not include grandmothers. The statistics from the second study are still being processed, but the first study found that only 12 percent of the mothers in the experimental group had a second child during the 18-month study compared to 28 percent in the control group. Although only 33 percent of the babies in the control group were fully immunized, even less -- 18 percent -- were immunized in the control group. "We know at the end of 18 months half go back [to school] no matter what we do," said O'Sullivan. The clinic is open to women from the past studies on Friday afternoons. About 14 of them show up each week. The current study is partially funded by $12,000 from the Collaborative Grant Program of the Nursing School. The participants in the intervention group all pay for their care with insurance. All teen mothers are eligible for this insurance through Medicaid. "Some places make you feel low, here they make you feel special," said mother Nyree Bennett. "I'm comfortable here because they're all teens."
(09/30/91 9:00am)
A second person told me about a college student who opened his window to freshen his stuffy, third-story dorm room. The window was uncooperative and slid closed under its own weight. Looking around his room for something to wedge under it, he spotted his bowling ball. I bet you can guess the rest. Yes, the ball slipped out of the window and cracked some unsuspecting dupe square in the frontal lobe sending a viscous, glossy liquid (similar to the compound in a Cocker Spaniel's eyes) all over the freshly groomed lawn. The quintessential tale of morbidity seems to be revived every year around prom time. I believe it to be the invention of a disturbed parent. It seems a waxen teen wanted to properly tan herself for the senior prom. Well, the darn tanning salon would only allow her a maximum 30-minute session. She outsmarted them, she did! She made appointments with four different tanning salons. When she returned home she fell ill. The doctor said the over-exposure had cooked her ovaries. Where do these stories come from? Are they true? When I ask these scandalmongers to substantiate their claims I get, "Well ah, it happened to my brother-in-law's aunt's paperboy's Scout leader." Oh, then it must be true. But, even if they are true, it certainly makes a sinister statement about our society if a person as detached from the victim as myself, can listen to the tale, as the narrator smiles with glee. Our entertainment is riddled with calamity. The best news I heard last week is that Freddy's Dead and that this is his Final Nightmare. How many sequels has it been? Could stories like these be fabricated out of our own deranged appetites for gore? Is it psychological? Why do so many of us stretch to see roadkill? Or could these stories be a reaction to the strange, criminal events of the United States? Indeed, there were 23,438 non-negligent, willful murders in 1990. Ya' think we'll top it in 1991? As everyone knows, Philadelphia is going strong this year in the race for the Crime Pennant. David Lynch once said, "Welcome to the most corrupt, fear-ridden city in America. Welcome to Philadelphia." Isn't this brutally accurate when people are gunned down for paltry sums of money, when cars are driven wildly into convenience stores filled with customers? I'm not trying to be funny. Does anyone know where I can pick up a suit of armor? I have a night class. A year ago I heard a story of human oddity. It was a tale involving a hapless skydiver. Yes, his chute didn't open. As bored as I was I continued to listen, but then the talebearer tried to contend that the skydiver was unharmed. He said, "The guy dropped 3000 feet and landed on his face at 80 miles an hour . . . and he walked away!" I said, "Oh right, and then he had lunch with Wily Coyote, Super Genius." This angered my acquaintance, so the next day he showed me the book where he had read it. It was entitled 2201 Fascinating Facts. His account was in that book in black and white. I apologized to him to keep peace, but I was still skeptical. A week later, plastered on the front of The Daily News was the twisted picture of a man whose parachute failed after he leaped illegally from the Liberty II building. He didn't make it. Gregg Ventello is a masters student studying for a degree in Liberal Arts from Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Odi Et Amo appears alternate Mondays.
(09/26/91 9:00am)
A Children's Hospital of Philadelphia female employee was beaten with a baseball bat and then robbed by three 13-year-old males just west of campus Tuesday, University Police reported yesterday. According to University Police Lieutenant Susan Holmes, the woman was beaten at the corner of 43rd and Locust streets around 10:30 p.m., suffering a broken left leg and lacerations to her face. The woman was escorted home by the University Police officers, according to Holmes. Holmes did not know what, if anything, was stolen from the woman and said the three attackers were last seen fleeing north on 43rd Street. The bat-wielding attacker was last seen wearing a black t-shirt and a black jacket. A second attacker also wore a black t-shirt, but had on a burgundy jacket. There was no description for the third assailant. Holmes said the University Police will beef up patrols in the area of the attack, and added that the University Police's Crime Abatement Team has been apprised of the situation. In other incidents, a vagrant reported being assaulted by a University employee behind Vance Hall at 8:06 a.m. yesterday, according to Holmes. University Police questioned the unidentified janitor, who denied assaulting the vagrant. Holmes said the janitor accused the vagrant of assaulting him. In a separate and unrelated incident, a videocassette recorder, reportedly valued at $400, was stolen from a secure office in the Clinical Research Building, Holmes said. Police also reported that a window of College Pizza, a new store on the 3900 block of Walnut Street, was found broken at 3:59 a.m. yesterday. Police notified maintenance personnel.
(04/10/91 9:00am)
Estelle Brookhouse had two children and was pregnant with another child when she was homeless about three years ago. She moved in and out of friends' homes and occasionally stayed in temporary shelters. Now, Brookhouse is working to solve the homelessness problem as the "teen coordinator" at the People's Emergency Center in West Philadelphia. "Of the shelters I've been at, this one is the best," Brookhouse said. She now lives in a private apartment on the third floor of PEC. For her, one of the more valuable resources that the center provided was childcare education. PEC started as an all-volunteer program staffed primarily with University and Drexel University students. At its beginning, the Center functioned from the first floor of the Asbury Methodist Church on 33rd and Chestnut Streets. It was only open on weekends and had beds for less than 10 people. In 1983, the facility underwent major renovations which allowed 25 to 30 people to be housed each night. But as the number of homeless families in Philadelphia increased, so did the demand for services beyond the traditional bed and meal. While the PEC provides emergency services that other shelters typically offer such as food and temporary housing, its strength lies in the implementation of transitional services which work to solve the causes of homelessness rather than simply dealing with its results. These services include case management, a parent-child day program, housing counseling and follow-up services. PEC also offers drug and alcohol counseling, health care and educational workshops which range from self-esteem building to life skills, and GED classes. PEC's parent-child day program is one of the first of its kind in the country. Mothers receive training in life skills, parenting skills, pre-employment, and academic training. During the last year, the service reached 56 mothers, 103 children, and 65 teenage girls. And the parent day care program teaches the women ways to discipline children other than hitting them, and gives them the tools and self-esteem necessary to make good parents. Seeing a need for continued services for homeless families who have been placed into permanent housing, PEC started a "follow-up service" this year. Case managers maintain contact with the families through visits, phone calls, and client visits to PEC. Of the 37 families that receive follow-up service, all are still in their permanent homes. · Through the cooperative efforts of city and state agencies, private foundations and individuals, the PEC moved into a $2.5 million facility on the 3900 block of Spring Garden Street last November. The building was converted from a three story carriage factory which the city sold to the PEC for $1. The first floor features a laundry room, emergency housing, and a restaurant style kitchen. The second floor contains space for administrative offices, classrooms, lounges, and 10 transitional housing rooms. The remaining floor contains nine apartments designated as permanent low-income housing. Seventeen different public and private agencies provided the money needed for the conversion. Often cited by housing officials as a national role model, the center is unique in the fact that it offers three types of housing under one roof -- emergency, transitional, and permanent. All residents at the shelter sign a contract and work towards reaching the goal of becoming self sufficient. "The others don't interact with their clients, they just serve them their meals," said volunteer Brookhouse. "PEC gets really involved -- the staff knew my children." The typical woman entering PEC is young and unmarried with two children, usually one infant and another young child, according to PEC Director of Development Susan Daily. The shelter has also seen an increasing demand for beds for homeless youth. Officials attribute the rise to an increase in substance abuse, especially crack cocaine, among Philadelphia families. Half of the homeless teens required shelter to escape abusive, drug-addicted parents. Daily said one of the more daunting issues facing shelters across the state is that government agencies are failing to place those who need low-income housing into appropriate facilities. "The women are being forced to remain in shelters for longer periods of time," Daily said. The average stay for a woman in the shelter is 46 days, an increase of six days from last year. Typically, the homeless women will stay on the first floor emergency housing for two to eight weeks. If they have made progress and have been working to help themselves, they will move into transitional housing on the second floor which features private family rooms. The women pay rent, maintain the condition of their family room, and enroll in an educational or employment program. After living in transitional housing for two to 18 months, the women move into their own apartments in public housing, Daily said. Last year, the emergency shelter section of PEC provided temporary housing for 68 women, teen and children per night, according to PEC's annual report. The transitional housing served 581 individuals, which included 304 children. Besides providing housing, PEC served 74,000 meals to shelter residents while an additional 12,000 meals were served to other homeless and hungry individuals. · The center manages all these services despite receiving only $10.50 from the city to shelter and feed each resident for a day. "There is a real hardship in the type of services that are able to be provided because all of the government services are very stressed," Daily said. But PEC, as a private agency, does not exclusively depend on public funding, and works to build a funding base of corporations and individuals. PEC has a paid administrative staff of 33 which includes the seven on-site case managers. Case managers work with their clients and help them to form and implement realistic goals. This service was utilized by 185 women and teens last year. The case managers also work with a number of dependent teens, those minors whose legal guardian is the Department of Human Services. Twice each week, a teacher comes to the PEC from another shelter to teach GED, or high school equivlency, classes. After living at the center, teens can move into supervised independent living situations, job corps or even group homes. Several University students can be counted among the over 100 volunteers who work at the PEC each week, according to Lorraine Latham, PEC's volunteer coordinator. Lisa deMello, a second year Social Work graduate student, works at the center 24 hours each week as part of her practicum. She said that she seeks to dispel "myths" about homeless people, such as those which attribute their status to laziness. "There are many factors that can lead to homelessness, such as substance abuse and domestic violence," deMello said. Colleen McCauley, a Nursing senior, choose to volunteer at the PEC for her clinical, a program required by the Nursing School. To McCauley, though, this experience has provided more than just a connection between academia and the real world. "It's a great education in itself just learning some of these women's life histories," McCauley said. "PEC has been very receptive towards using new energy."
(01/28/91 10:00am)
Two people were shot at in front of the Eric 3 on Campus theater Saturday night, but police do not know whether anyone was injured in the incident. University Police Lieutenant Susan Holmes said yesterday that one of the victims told police he and his girlfriend were shot at by two men in front of the movie theater, located at 220 S. 40th Street, at about 10:48 p.m. The two men then stole his car, he told police. The victim, 21-year-old Constantine Hurray, told police that he had not been hit by any of the bullets. Police said yesterday that they did not know the girlfriend's name or if she had been hit by a bullet. Holmes said Hurry, who is not a University student, went into the Eric 3 to pick up his girlfriend. When they exited the theater, the two got into an argument with two unidentified males, during which one pulled a gun and fired. Police said they have been unable to determine the number of shots fired. Holmes said yesterday that after interviewing Hurray, police suspect the assailants and the victims may know each other. A Philadelphia Police officer said yesterday the assailants, two black males, fled the scene in Hurray's car. One of the men was described as five foot, six inches tall, 19 years old, and wearing a red jacket while the other was described as five foot, one inch tall, 20 years old, and wearing a green jacket. Both men were said to be of thin build. The stolen automobile was a BMW, but University Police did not know what model or year. In an unrelated incident, University Police arrested a teenager for possessing an air gun at 10:34 p.m. that same evening. Police stopped him and two other teens outside of High Rise North and took them into custody. The three teenagers were 14, 16, and 17 years old. Police did not say which of the three had been arrested. Police also arrested a local man Saturday evening and charged him with the knifepoint robbery of local resident at 45th and Locust Streets. Holmes said University Police picked up a report at 6:25 p.m. of a robbery on the Philadelphia Police radio. Two plainclothes University Police officers apprehended the man at 42nd and Walnut Streets. Holmes said the the victim identified her assailant and her property was recovered. University Police would not release the name of the alleged assailant.
(10/03/90 9:00am)
High school junior Jonathan Chriswell has studied poetry, literature, and expository writing -- all part of his preparation, he said, to become a great rapper. And Chriswell is not alone in his belief that improving his reading and writing today will help him write better rap lyrics tomorrow. On September 25, Chriswell joined 11 others in the basement of the West Philadelphia Regional Library to hear a four-member panel discuss "Rap and its Impact on Literacy." Among the topics covered were the recent censorship of the rap group 2 Live Crew, rap and responsibility, and the question of how long rap will last. At 4 p.m., the panel, which included a poet, a young rapper, and both the president and music director of WPEB radio station, opened the talk with a serious debate about profanity in rap music. They questioned whether certain lyrics should be censored. Opinions were mixed. Poet and playwright Kummika Williams said that she was opposed to the "blatant way" in which profanity is "exposed to everyone." But rapper Jamal Miller, a senior in the high school program Bartram Motivation, disagreed, insisting that rap lyrics are not the only place one can find profane words. "If you're going to take this [profanity] out of rap, then you better take it out of cable, the movies, everything," he said. And audience members fueled the debate. Tim Williams, a junior in John Bartram High School, asked why the library's rap contest, scheduled for October, prohibited profanity. "I don't want to have to cut those words out because then I'm not going to feel good about the song," he said. Tuesday's presentation was the second of three rap-related events sponsored by the library and the West Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. The "Rap Attack" program seeks to encourage West Philadelphia teens to use the library's resources. After the hour-long discussion about profane lyrics, Kummika Williams brought the panel's talk back to literacy. Before rap, she said, it was not "cool" to study. "You were a geek if you read," she said. But many of Tuesday's audience members confessed to owning rhyming and regular dictionaries. "If they started changing the word 'bitch' in rap for 'cur', then maybe we would all look it up," Kummika Williams said. And Miller echoed her statement saying that rap music encourages people to learn new words. "When you don't know something in the song, you look it up," he said. Kummika Williams noted the potential of rap music for teaching students. "If only we could put one of Malcolm X's speeches to rap," she said. "Wouldn't that be intense?" By 6 p.m., most of the issues had been discussed, and both audience and panel members said they felt that they had come to an understanding of what rap was and what rap will be. A few participants even created on-the-spot verses to express their enthusiasm. "Rap is here, and it's here to stay, and it will boom in a positive way," sung Sister Atikah Hashim Bey, president of WPEB. Bruce Siebers, the librarian who created the "Rap Attack" program of which the panel discussion was part, said he realizes that a lot of people still don't understand what true rap is. "Everybody in Wisconsin, they think that the New Kids on the Block is a rap group," he said. Then he, too, rapped a verse. "I think it will reach the rest of the nation, and I think the key word is education," he sung. The October rap contest, with the theme "The Free Library of Philadelphia," will culminate the events.
(09/27/90 9:00am)
Campus gay-rights activist Darren Rosenblum was harassed and assaulted last night by a group of area teens, according to Rosenblum. Although other incidents may have been related to his activism, Rosenblum said his assailants were not students and probably did not know who he was. Rosenblum added he was walking toward campus on the 4000 block of Spruce Street about 8:30 p.m. when he saw a group of about seven Asian teens on the street, two of whom were "play-fighting." Rosenblum said he was wearing a sport jacket and a red scarf, adding that the scarf may have attracted the teens' attention. "As I walked past, one of them said 'pato,' which means 'faggot' in Spanish," he said. "I gave them a dirty look and he started following me and imitating my walk, saying, 'What's up, pussy? What's up?" He said the teen pushed him in the shoulder at the corner of 40th and Spruce streets. Rosenblum turned around and confronted him. He said people usually back down once he starts talking to them. He said the teen threatened him and continued following him. As he crossed the street, Rosenblum said, another teen on a bicycle rode up from behind and knocked him over. He said the two teens exchanged a high-five and kept yelling at him. Rosenblum went into Allegro's Pizza and waited for the teens to leave, and then went to Van Pelt House and called University Police. Rosenblum said police officers responded immediately and took him back to the spot where the teens had been standing. A group of Asian teens was still there but Rosenblum could not identify any of them, he said. He said police will likely classify the incident as harassment and not an assault since he has no injury. He said he is happy with the police's response but said that the University should have a separate classification for "hate crimes," like anti-gay, sexual or racial harassment.
