Unfixable

Today we had a guest speaker, but before I get into that I called NFL YET today and they have some of the most unprofessional staff members I have ever come across. I asked the receptionist to transfer me to Dan in the computer lab and she transferred my call to a woman named "Hope" I'm like "okkay". Then I called back again and I'm like can I talk to Bobby Johnson please, she seemed to not know who I was talking about for the first 20 seconds, plus she had a attitude. Why the hell do they even hire these people? One thing I found strange at the center too was that they complain that they are short staffed and can't hire people or afford certain things, but they get funds from like 4 different organizations INCLUDING the NFL, yet the dance teacher charges her students $600/week and the students pay her salary...to be continued

2/25/2010

I don't know if that is legal, but I am curious to find out how that works. How does Mr. Johnson earn his salary if the program is free? Something is not right with that. So, we had a guest speaker, Vanessa Buyers of blogging black Miami. She told us that her daughter was murdered while attending college and instead of resorting to drinking or fighting people she decided to start blogging. I can tell that although she seeks healing, she is still very hurt and her child being killed is still very fresh and raw in her mind. When you lose a child I don't think anyone gets healed we just push it all the way to the back of our minds. It turned out that Buyers knows Michelle Spence-Jones and it seemed like she knew all the details about her latest scandal, but she wanted to be tight-lipped about it because Jones is a personal friend of hers. In a nutshell, I believe that the $3 million dollar project Buyers told us Jones wanted to make happen that would revitalize Liberty City through a African culture project is what really landed Jones in the hot seat. I think that although Jones is greedy ultimately, she still wants to help the impoverished community and there are plenty of people who don't want to see that happen. It is such a shame. Liberty City needs help. If they don't get the funds they desperately need it is going to continue to be a "bad" neighborhood. For example, I went to Booker T. Washington High. Terrible school. It started as a middle school and eventually became a high school. Before it became a high school. That school was consumed by violence, gangs, you name it. Kids used to come to school just to rob people. Take their chains, even their shoes and don't even get me started on the grades. So, fast forward to 1999 things started to change. Bill Gates donated computers, the buildings got expanded we got new staff members even lockers and much later, it became mandatory to wear uniforms. And guess what? The students changed. The grades went up, there weren't as many fights and I actually believe that it was the funds that helped. When you treat people like trash, prisoners, they will act like it, but then again there are always those people who can't be changed. That's what L.C needs though. There are too many people in the community who are computer illiterate and so many who don't have a high school diploma. That ignorance is what kills the community and the lack of resources. Maybe the community needs to over free ged classes in their own backyards. I don't I'm just throwing ideas out there, but at the same time what do you do about those who don't want help. The people who only want to depend on the system and continue to have baby after baby. When I was living in Overtown which wasn't too long ago, there were people who woke up every morning to drink beer, smoke crack/weed and crank up the music. They had no ambition. Their only ambition was to hop on their bikes to go around the corner for another fix. The point is that some people don't want to see a better future. The problem with L.C is that the range of people is too wide! There are a few youngsters going to college, some shooting and selling weed, coke and beans, then there are the younger working class people and the retired citizens. On the contrary, I've talked to some drug dealers who are very intelligent, some even have degrees. Not a B.A or anything like that, but it shows their capabilities. Hey, maybe they'll pick up the South Florida Times and read our section.

NFL YET has YET to come through

I went to the NFL Yet Center yesterday on 70th street and 22nd ave with Jessica and we spoke to "Mr. Dan", I don't remember his last name right now, he's the head of the computer literacy program at the center. We looked at some of thier programs in the computer. They teach grades k-2 and 7-12. I spoke to Benjamin Charles who is the site coordinator he AND "Mr. Dan" told us that today the NFL sponsors and some players were coming to the center today. It would be the last of a string of superbowl events at the center this week. So, me and Jessica were like "yes, we have a great event to cover"!! So, I go there today and come to find out the event wasnt being held there, it was at edison instead! Jay Z was there, so was Pharell and we missed the entire thing!!! I'm like how come these people don't know what's going on??!?!? Jessica had been trying to contact the director of the program, Mr. Johnson, and he hasn't been around and doesn't answer the phone or emails either. Today he was there, but there were some NFL exec's there and I walked into one of their very important meetings. Luckily I wasn't completely humiliated because they thought I was a part of it for some odd reason lmao! I dressed nice, but not in a suit or anything so that was kind of wierd...and funny. Anyway, we missed a huge event :(
After that, I went to Charles Hadley Park again and I spoke to some of the people about the tournament. There were about 6 senior citizens there one was a (mother- daughter). I found out that they will have a tournament tomorrow at 3p.m. It's a pretty big deal, so I know that this story isn't in the budget yet, but it is something that is interesting to me and I think I can cover it well. I took some pix while I was there