Chester EVENTS Update!

AUGUST 31st - 2010

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SEPTEMBER 10th &11th

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MORE EVENTS

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September is Family Literacy Month at Crozer Library

Chester, PA —  Crozer Library will be celebrating Family Literacy Month this September. Studies have shown that reading with your children is an ideal way to encourage early literacy and makes a real difference in your child's success in school and in life. Getting the best for your family doesn't have to cost a lot of money: it can be as simple as spending some quality time at your local library! The J. Lewis Crozer Library in Chester is where learning starts with a variety of free programs and services to encourage literacy.

Special programs during September include a Pajama Storytime for children ages 3-6 on Monday evening, September 20th at 6:30p.m. Children ages 7-12 can participate in Storytelling on Wednesday, September 22nd from 1:00-2:00p.m. where they can create "round robin" stories and write, share, and act out their very own stories. Teens ages 13-17 will get their chance to shine at Storytelling II on Wednesday, September 22nd from 3:00 – 4:00p.m., where teens can share short stories and poems written by their favorite author – or themselves!

During the month of September, Crozer Library offers free library card applications for first-time patrons and free library card replacements. The library will also unveil its new children's listening center, which helps to make reading more attractive for reluctant readers, inspiring a love of reading at an early age.

To encourage increased family literacy, Crozer Library will award incentives to the family who reads the most books during family Literacy Month. All participants will be responsible for filling out log sheets available at the library to document how many books are read. The winner(s) will be announced on Friday, October 1st.

For more information about Family Literacy Month, please contact Ms. LaKesha Logan at (610) 494-3454, x203.

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LaKesha Logan

Head of Youth Services

J. Lewis Crozer Library

620 Engle Street

Chester, PA 19013

(610) 494-3454, x203

(610) 494-8954 fax

Email: crcsd@delcolibraries.org

www.crozerlibrary.org

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FREE TUITION SCHOLARSHIP

Greetings All,

Enrollment is now open for the new school year beginning in a few short weeks - September 9th and 10th.

Remember - there is a FREE TUITION SCHOLARSHIP for all Pastors, Overseers, and Bishops!


The first night of class (enrollment / registration / orientation) will be as follows:

Philadelphia Campus: Thursday 9/9/10 @ 7pm
Wilmington Campus: Friday 9/10/10 @ 7pm


We also have some good news!

We are now able to accept credit card paymentsonline.

You can go to our website and click on the right hand side menu item “Payments”

Or click here: http://www.fgbbi.org/store.asp

This will allow you to select the type of payment you would like to make.
The choices are:

1) A 50% tuition payment of $50 (plus a $2 processing fee)
2) A 100% tuition payment of $100 (plus a $4 processing fee)
3) A textbook payment of $16 (includes a $1 processing fee)


You will need to enter your contact information (referred to as “Billing” or “Shipping” information)
After you checkout, our website will connect you to our PayPalsite where payment can be made.

Thank You,

Pastor Cohen
215-847-3979


Rev. J.T. Cohen, Th.M.
President, FGBBI
P.O. Box 307
Upper Darby, PA 19082
(800) 787-5309 

Chester GREEN - Rev Hilda Campbell - Youth Violence and Materialism

The hard truth isn't easy for anyone to stomach. The collective responsibility of the community is at an all time low throughout the Nation. Chester City seems to be the product of our American culture. A culture of false wealth, false progress and false equality. Both the rich and poor are plagued with delusional thinking. We seem to believe that all things can be bought and should be bought with the all mighty dollar. And to make it scarier we also believe that all social problems should be fixed by money and can only be fixed by money. This is why I believe that the solution to social issues are often times measured by money rather than by effective involvement of the people to change it.

Chester and ME: Heavenly Politics

ARTIST'S NOTE: 

I'm very much aware that my expectations of politicians and politics are very high. Maybe my standards are sitting somewhere high up on a cloud playing a harp before the throne of God. :) And it is due to this that I have not been able to stomach political back pedaling on doing what is right for the community. But I also have come to realize that good leaders need good followers and even the best leaders cannot lead a bunch of DO NOTHING followers. Unfortunately, Chester leaders are not in sync with each other. Over the years I get the sense that everyone who has leadership potential is guarded and protective of their social capital in the city. Each one wants his/her recognition or perceived power to be realized continuously. But the community is at fault as well. Completely in la la land is where they want to stay until the worst of the worst happens. I've come to respect this reality even though I do not like it. 

I have watched people try to push their way into power/politics and I have not at all been impressed. The potential authority that comes with being a politician seems to get the best of their wisdom. In other words, as the lure of POWER draws closer they lose themselves to the game. And a game it is people. Politics is a game. A corruptive one at best.

Now of course this is not true of everyone who pursues this route. There are some exceptions, but these exceptions are very very very few. And can we blame them for being so faulty? Because in many ways, their limitations are a reflection of our shortcomings as a society. We permit their shady practices because one day we too want to take advantage of being the one on top. To become the politician holding the purse strings. To be the Fortune 500 Wall Street money handler raping the working/middle class. So we don't push for TRUE reform. Instead we settle for reform that is SYMBOLIC as opposed to effective. We like reform that is well written on the books but despised in the court room. We are just as dirty as the dust we have come from it seems.

Actually after that last line I realize just how depressing my tone sounds so I better stop here and go get some ice cream :)

ABOUT GHETTOPRINT...

HELLO MY name is Desire Grover and I am a frustrated resident of Chester, PA. Frustrated because the place has a lot of potential but always finds a way to shoot itself in the foot. And that illustration can be taken literally if you consider the blasted level of gun violence that currently plagues the city.

THIS BLOG is an absolute product of my frustration with Chester. I've been frustrated for about five years now. Before then I was too ignorant about the doings in the city or county to know that I SHOULD be frustrated. But now I am out of the woods. In my pursuit of understanding Chester I've become way too aware of what is WRONG with Chester. 

YES I SHOULD move out and find another place to worry about but I don't have the funds and honestly even if I did I would only be able to remove myself physically but not so much spiritually. I have come to care about what happens in the city because Chester is a microcosm of what is happening to "poor and undereducated" people all over the world. Chester is everywhere. You can even find Chester in Brookhaven, Parkside, Media, Eddystone and maybe even North Korea (Although I've never been there no matter what Glenn Beck tells you.) In short we are all Chester folk. None of us are able to prove ourselves better than anyone in Chester becuase we would first have to walk completely in their shoes and I doubt that any of us have that much life to live without approval from the "Almighty One". <--Meaning "God" for anyone who is confused. 

IN THIS BLOG I'm sharing snap shots of events in the city from here on without much commentary on camera. I just don't have the financial time to give. And when I did have the time it never paid off really because I found that most humans in America don't really care what the issues are until it hits them square in the eyes personally. It is a sad condition to be in but we are in it none the less. Therefore, I'm not so much interested in sharing some really in depth opinion about how things are in the city/county these days.

AFTER YEARS of following what's going on and being engaged in some fruitful way you learn that the players in the great scheme of things have always been playing and they will continue to play so why waste your time talking logic when you can just be plain cynical all the time :) It's much more fun. And besides there are enough voices out there and advocates in the city to say what needs to be said and do what needs to be done. But not many of them get to write a cheeky comic strip and update the community about real events rather than spread dingbat RUMORS. So enjoy as I share snap shots of events and conversations I have collected over my "citizen journalism" years in Chester City, PA 19013. - Desire G

Chester GREEN - Chester Native and Activist Richard Carter

VENDOR# cg-ss-082310d

Richard Carter is a longtime activist who works hard at finding "at risk" youth jobs between Chester and Philadelphia. He is also the founder of the Human Rights Coalition...an organization that pushes for prison reform.

CHESTER FACTS:
Chester is home to the SCI-Chester Prison. It was opened in April 1998 as the state's first facility designed to treat inmates with substance abuse problems. It is also the state's first tobacco-free facility. It holds about 1,000 men.

SCHOOL TO PRISON PIPELINE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2Kjq_qtRTE

RELATED NEWS:
Chester Gun Ordinance

Snap Shots of Chester Education : Young Voices

VENDOR# cg-ss-082010d

A young man by the name of Alonzo emailed me one day explaining that he was a soon to be college grad and had come across GhettoPRINT and wanted to know if he could participate in capturing some of the voices of Chester residents on the blog. So he and I went about interviewing locals that he had talked into being documented. It was fun and fast. Unfortunately, the summer ended quickly and he had to go back to school.

One of the conversations that I found to be the most raw and true was the one you see above. Shake is his name and he is a local rap artist who independently produced and sold his music at the time. He also worked in a shoe store "overtown". (He might still be there. I'm not sure.) His take on Chester and the schooling he received while growing up was unpolished and refreshing to say the least. I have to give Alonzo credit in that his presence as an interviewer seemed to allow people to be relaxed and very unguarded from the start.



VENDOR# cg-ss-082410d

Vaniah was a friend of Alonzo's and she had come back to town while off from school. She had the experience of living between social worlds when it came to growing up in Chester City.

I have often wondered about how most Chester folks would feel about their school system if they had another standard of schooling to compare it to. I don't think it would make most of us feel to good. Not at all with the way things are going.

Chester GREEN Snap Shots: Education : Dr.Gregory Thornton

VENDOR#CG-SS-082010c

Well being that the school year is starting very soon I thought it would be appropriate to upload some past clips that deal with the state of Chester's Education system. Myself and some young people I was training to do citizen journalism got a chance to talk with the previous superintendent about some of the fiscal challenges that the school district had to confront. At the time Dr.Thornton was in the process of cleaning house when it came to vendors that he felt were exploiting the school district financially. It appears this is still a problem.

But since then Dr.Thornton has moved on to Milwaukee where he is now a Superintendent in in one of their districts. Now as the acting superintendent is Dr.Joyce Wells, a longtime Chester native, and she is rather happy about her newly found position.

LAST WEEK'S CHESTER GREEN QUIZ

Which of these environmental disasters happened in Chester City and changed the way we regulate contaminated sites forever?

A.)The Erye Park Flood of 1971

B.)An underground gas fire in 1978 called "The Gas Fire"

C.)A chemical fire in 1978 called "The Wade Fire"

ANSWER: C

Back in 1978 Chester Fire Fighters and other first responders hurried to the Commodore Barry Bridge in order to put out an enormous fire underneath it. Firemen thought they were heading to a rubber reclamation plant but no one told them that they would be running into one of the worst chemical fires in the nation at an illegal chemical dump called The Wade Dump. Out of 45 of the fire fighters who responded 28 of them died soon after the fire due to serious illnesses such as cancer,neuromuscular disorders,kidney failure and vascular disorders. It was this fire that was one of the key catalyst to the "Superfund" process that we use today in order to block off and clean contaminated sites that can harm the communities that they are in.

In order to learn more visit this site: www.thetoxicfireof1978.com

Chester, PA: Strip 002

Chester GREEN Snap Shots: Education

VENDOR# CG-SS-082010a

This is a forum that was put together by Nicola T. Jefferson. She is the Director of a College Ready program called TAP. A very successful program that has gotten at least 95% of their students into college. Well the point of this forum was to bring a number of local educators,community leaders and students together to brainstorm about what needs to happen to improve the school system called Chester Upland. The honorable guest was Alberto Retana who is a US State Dept. of Education Rep. Meaning that he is mighty important.



VENDOR# CG-SS-082010b

Okay... this interaction, I must admit, was much more fruitless than I anticipated. I was hoping for a less cookie cut response.

Yes, poverty is not an excuse for why one does not do well in school but it is a very formidable reason. And then when one talks about poverty I often wonder what side of poverty they are referring to.

It is one thing to say that just because you are FINANCIALLY impoverished you should not allow yourself to be hindered in school because education is a way out of poverty (theoretically). But it is another thing to say "poverty is not an excuse" without considering the more destructive side of poverty, which is "social poverty". When you are not rich in "safe spaces".

My family was very very poor growing up but I always came home to a safe place to live. Working with young people I've found that, most of the time, money is not the big problem for at risk youth. Usually, what is lacking is their need for a safe place to live. You can have all the money in the world but if you come home to drunkenness, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, depression and out right gun violence your chances of rising above it all becomes slimmer and slimmer. And not at any fault of your own. The saddest stories to me is when a good child comes from a bad home only to have their lives snuffed out by gun violence, rape or drug use. So when we talk about poverty let's consider which side of poverty we are referring to or at least try to make a distinction.

ABOUT THE BLOG UPDATES:

Now here's the news. I'm sharing snap shots of events in the city from here on without much commentary on camera. I just don't have the financial time to give. And when I did have the time it never paid off really because I found that most humans in America don't really care what the issues are until it hits them square in the eyes personally. It is a sad condition to be in but we are in it none the less. Therefore, I'm not so much interested in sharing some really in depth opinion about how things are in the city/county these days.

After years of following what's going on and being engaged in some fruitful way you learn that the players in the great scheme of things have always been playing and they will continue to play so why waste your time talking logic when you can just be plain cynical all the time :) It's much more fun. And besides there are enough voices out there and advocates in the city to say what needs to be said and do what needs to be done. But not many of them get to write a cheeky comic strip and update the community about real events rather than spread dingbat RUMORS. So enjoy as I share snap shots of events and conversations I have collected over my "citizen journalism" years in Chester City, PA 19013. - Desire G

Chester GREEN- Environmental Disasters

CHESTER, PA COMIC
Suggest a comic strip topic!

CHESTER GREEN QUIZ

Which of these environmental disasters happened in Chester City and changed the way we regulate contaminated sites forever?

A.)The Erye Park Flood of 1971

B.)An underground gas fire in 1978 called "The Gas Fire"

C.)A chemical fire in 1978 called "The Wade Fire"

DROP IN NEXT WEEK FOR THE ANSWER!


LAST WEEK'S CHESTER GREEN QUIZ & ANSWER:

From which body of water does Chester City get its drinking water from?

A.)Delaware River

B.)Octoraro Creek

C.)Susquehanna River

Answer: B

Before 1951 Chester City previously got its drinking water from the Delaware River but due to illegal dumping and heavy industrial use, the Delaware river became to contaminated for drinking and had become harder and harder to clean. At this point it was clear that there was need for a new water source. In the process of looking for a clean water source Octoraro Creek was found to be the most suitable. A dam and a Filtration Plant was then built to clean and pump the water along a 40 mile pipe line that was contruscted to carry the water all the way from the Oxford Summit to Chester City. By 1951 on Thanksgiving Day Chester began to get its drinking water from the Octoraro Creek in Pine Grove.

Unfortunately, the Delaware River has been slated as this year's most endangered rivers in America. Although it has taken many years to bring life back to the Delaware River it is being threatened yet again by Natural Gas Companies that would like to extract natural gas out of the ground using hundreds of toxic chemicals that could potentially seep into the Delaware River. Currently, the Delaware River Basin Commission is reviewing the process in hopes of not repeating the mistakes that were made in the Northeastern part of Pennsylvania, where natural gas drilling has been found to have contaminated a major source of drinking water in the rural town called Dimock PA. The story about of this town can be seen in a documentary called Gasland.

In order to learn more visit these sites: www.chesterwater.com , www.americanrivers.org & gaslandthemovie.com

Chester GREEN - Environmental Justice for Chester

On July 27th & 28th Chester hosted its first ever Environmental Conference at Widener University. Also up in Canton NY medical professionals continue to organize against the fluoridation of public drinking water.

Environmental Justice Resource Sites:


http://www.fluoridealert.org/
http://www.actionpa.org/fluoride/
http://www.ejnet.org/chester/
http://www.americanrivers.org/
http://www.chesterwater.com/
www.gaslandthemovie.com