Group Audio

Lcollier and Tmorales sing Chris Brown's song.

See the students' reflections here.

This is a story of a group of men who wantd to cross the entire continent of antarctica. they started on the south side an d were planning on ending on the norht side. However, their ship was destroyed and their mission changed. instead of an exploration mission it was now a mission of survival.

We read the Blindside, by Michael Lewis. It was about one of the top college football prospects in the nation. It tells of his journey out of poverty and how his physical build is changing the evolution of the game itself.

    We read The Perfect Storm. THis book is about a rescue helicopter team that is focred to bailout because they ran out of fuel. They were attempting to rescue others but instead they wound up needing to be rescued.

The book my group read was "Educating Esme."  Esme was a first year teacher in a elementary school in Chicago Illinois. She learns the true value of teaching, overcomes many obstacles, and shares her gifts with those whom she cares about the most.

We read the book, High Exposure by David Breashears.  It's an adventurous tale about a man who loved to climb, and the hardships along the way.  However, there were also many fun and exciting times too.  Here is an excerpt from the book that we narrated for our readers theater.

My group read the book "Nickled and Dimed"  about a jounalist who goes undercover as a average low wage worker. the book is about her struggles living as the average American. We hope you enjoy!

<a href="http://drop.io/YouthVoices/asset/rt1-nd" title="rt1-nd">View rt1-nd</a> 

My friend sent this song to me, it's one of her friends who created the whole song with his band!

Where I'm From

I am from the birds
and the oak trees, and the
fresh rain that evaporates to head back home
I am form the long street crowded with trees, and bushed on the side
from the orange sky with a dying star, on the horizon
and a brand new light that takes its place
The smell of wheat, and sweet,
the energy house for people in the morning
In between Flushing, and Jackson Heights,
My place of 10 years, and 6 years
For as I age my home town grows older
The place where people scream secrets
and whisper comments
the place where the train soars up in the sky,
but never touches the clouds
Where the sky is bluer, and the air fresher
where your surrounded by blue
and defended by hills
I stare at this place and see the tallest point
it soars higher than everything
and everything higher than me
I am from the first place to get dark
and also the first to see light
the noise that travels through windows, and walls
the garage where everything lays in the dark,
pencils, pictures, clothes, and thoughts
secrets, sins, guilt and betrayals
I am from the house that's dark in the day
and bright at night
I am the forgotten and also the missed
the place where your dreams can exist.

I am from basement and studio apartments.
A place where friends and family are welcome.
 I am from respect all,.. except those who
disrespect. From play fights with friends and family;
to new york 1 and obituary's.  

Where drugs run the streets all the way to kings of
the block.Where houses and cars get broken into
when daddy and mommy is never home, Where brothers
and sisters had no one but each other.

I am from a time where older brothers are in jail
and older sisters constantly gone. From way back
when three o'clock fights was a must...(never in class)
and when you got home with a fight lost your siblings
would beet that ass.

From a place where every one knows everyone
where Spanish and soul food mixed. When bricks
where thrown at windows. And groups of twenty sat
waiting for kids to get out of schools.

From a time when shows like lam chop and the big comfy
couch was the best thing on t.v. when biggy and tupacs
feud ran the streets. Where LL's grand ma lived 5 blocks from
me.

Peter: Hey man
Henry: Whats going on pete
Peter: Nothing much Nothing much, just have A lot on my mind
Henry: Oh?
Peter: Yeah um.....can i ask you a question?
Henry: Shoot
Peter: You ever....you ever sometimes get a little plhegmatic of the world? like you ever just get sick and tired of everything thats going on? Dont you ever want answers?
Henry: Wait....what do you mean?
Peter: Like you ever feel like people can do better but....they don,t? they just limit themselves. You ever think about peoples personalities???
Henry: Wow well this is pretty uh "out there" man,is this why you have been spacing out in class?
Peter: I guess but anyways(henry interposes)
Henry: most definitely,most definitely, i mean i understand that humans naturally want to be figured out,they yearn to be understood but.......there is not much i can do.
Peter: What??!! You can do something; as a matter of fact,there is a lot you can do. We all have the power to change  people,even in the smallest ways.
Henry: What are you some kind of prophet??!! Stop it,just accept things as they are,be cliched and commonplace like everybody else and quit the whole superman act.
Peter: You are  the most callow,dubious person ive ever met. I cant beleive you. The world will go round and round and we will die and other people will fill our spaces and history will repeat itself. Banal generations...ugh sickens me!
Henry........we have to do something!
Peter: Then go on!! "do" something!! Quit pesting me,i have my own life to live!!!
Peter:...........That is exactly what I am talking about
Peter: You know,I was reading a wikipedia article online and you Know I saw a quote that really made me think, it said "which contributes to a personality,its length or its width?"
Peter: They were talking about personalities there and i was just amazed!!
Peter: They also said "The group’s next study will delve deeper into the description of the neurochemistry of human personality and expand study sample sizes" I was just so glad that they would Keep on going with this.
Henry: Let me ask you a question......why do you care so much??
Peter:........peter gets up and walKs away.....

Uploaded on September 6, 2008
by Simple People #20 Rui Palha

Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed, talks about poverty in America.