Op-Ed: Beyond First Impressions

Tom Couri

In 0.25 seconds a Google News Search of “Woodlawn Chicago” generates the following hits near the top of the page: “Man Critically Hurt In Woodlawn Drive-By”; Cops: Gunman kills 1, fires on police, no officers hurt”; Teen shot in gang-related attack in Woodlawn neighborhood”. There are about 1,100 results but I don’t bother to sift through them. How often do we look beyond the first few hits in an online search? What we first see is usually what sticks with us, and for Woodlawn, what sticks isn’t anything positive. Violence, murders, drive-bys. But this summer I saw with my own eyes many of the assets and great things going on in Woodlawn that are all too often glossed over or ignored in the media.

I worked with a fellow medical student, an undergraduate, and three high school students from Woodlawn this summer in the Summer Service Partnership, a program dedicated to community engagement, volunteering, and community health in different South Side neighborhoods. We explored Woodlawn, focusing on the assets of the community, not the negatives and downsides we hear about incessantly.

I remember vividly the first day I spent with the high school students. I asked them what their impressions of Woodlawn were. They said things like violence, murders, drive-bys. I don’t recall any positive things said, any mention of neighborhood assets that made them proud to call Woodlawn home. Honestly, their descriptions matched what I had in mind. In the entire academic year I had just completed at the University of Chicago, I had visited Woodlawn once. Woodlawn borders my neighborhood, Hyde Park, and a fifteen-minute walk from my apartment takes me to Woodlawn. Yet the Google searches, rumors, and news stories scared me enough to barely set foot in Woodlawn.

This summer changed my mistaken notions. Exploring and volunteering in Woodlawn exposed us all to the vibrant community that is Woodlawn. We met with Joyce and Rudy Nimocks, two longtime Woodlawn residents who are passionately committed to the future of Woodlawn and are modeling Woodlawn after the Harlem Children’s Zone. We met and took a cooking class with Gabrielle Darvassy, the tireless owner of the restaurant B’Gabs Goodies. She offers free healthy cooking classes to children in the community and working to end Woodlawn’s status as a food desert. We volunteered at 1^st Presbyterian Church in the soup kitchen and food pantry. The church partners with a community garden across the street to give free, locally-grown produce to those visiting the food pantry. The list of great people and places we learned about is endless. One of the best moments of the summer was hearing the high school students say, “We didn’t know about all of these resources in Woodlawn.” I thought the same thing.

Woodlawn does have serious issues with violence. But we can’t let violence overshadow all of the wonderful people and places in this great community.

Final Presentations

Esther Schoenfeld

The highlight of this week was, of course, the presentations. It was incredible to see all the hard work everyone has done. Some highlights for me were hearing Team Greater Grand Crossing’s awesome audio documentary, and seeing the pictures of Tiara, Marissa, and Diamond going door to door to recruit seniors for STEP. Team South Chicago’s sexual health pamphlet was both chock full of important information, and (due to its hilarious use of chat speak) teen-friendly. It was a real pleasure to see the high school students speaking with such confidence, pride, and enthusiasm about their accomplishments. Last but not least, my own team’s high school students did a fantastic job and I’m so proud of them. The highlight of the night was when Mr. Kemp (from the Woodlawn Charter School) came with his wife. We had met with him earlier that week and discovered, to our great relief, that he was completely on board with our project. When we talked at the presentation, he gave us even better news. Not only will our curriculum definitely be used, but he is planning to implement a month long anti-bullying campaign at the high school! I’ve mentioned that I have had my doubts about our project, but I now feel like it couldn’t have gone any better.

At this point in the program, I want to experience first-hand the accomplishments of SSP. On Friday, Team Woodlawn went out to Hoops in the Hood to support our colleagues. We watched thrilling basketball games, ate Betty Jo Nichols’ delicious banana pudding, and, most excitingly, saw youth with embarrassed faces take the pamphlets and free condoms. I hope to attend Team Greater Grand Crossing’s STEP event this Thursday! (Sadly, I will be out of the country during Team Woodlawn’s Health Fair.)

Of course, Friday was also sad for us, because it was Rebecca’s last day of the program. We decided that we didn’t really have to say good bye because we are going to get together again as soon as everyone’s back. Maybe we’ll shave another “W” into Tom’s face…

Goodbye, First Presbyterian

Tom Couri

We volunteered for the last time at the First Presbyterian Church last week. After volunteering at several different sites in Woodlawn, from a homeless shelter to a children’s day camp, what was constant was the soup kitchen and food pantry at First Presbyterian. Two aspects of our experience there made First Presbyterian the ideal choice for service learning: how our help was really needed and the great people with whom we worked. The soup kitchen is held weekly, on Tuesdays, but we came on every other Tuesday, when no other church group would send volunteers. Because of this lack of personnel, we were busy and felt useful to the church. From making the food, preparing the plates, passing out the dishes, and cleaning up, we participated in all facets of the soup kitchen experience.

Leaving last Tuesday and saying good bye to our fellow soup kitchen volunteers reminded me of how great First Presbyterian really is. I got to know one volunteer in particular. He’s a member of a different church in Woodlawn, one with many more members and a higher profile, but he decided to come to First Presbyterian and help out because he admired how they reached out to the community and, with limited resources, made a difference through programs like the soup kitchen, food pantry, and senior exercise. We were both equally sad to see our time ending at First Presbyterian. We exchanged contact information and said we would see each other again. Will we? I hope so. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the everyday of school, classes, and studying once fall starts. But First Presbyterian’s mission of service really resonated with me. Either on my own or with a group such as a Day of Service from the medical school, I’ll be back.

           

Chinatown Adventures

Olivia Singleton


This week was super hot. Wednesday was pretty fun. I got to experience Yoga. Personally, I don't like yoga because the positions are awkward, and I don't find it relaxing. After the yoga session, we did some sort of mental meditation, in which was very interesting. Later, we left for Chinatown. We went to Joy Yee's restaurant for lunch. Since the food was so good, I had seconds. After lunch, we explored Chinatown in the sweltering heat. Even though I was extremely hot, I had fun looking at the different shops. I thought the photo scavenger hunt was a bit tricky and annoying, because the owners kept saying No Pictures, No Pictures! I found that quite funny because we took pictures anyway. Overall I had a fun experience at Chinatown.

Learning to Relax

Aliyah Singleton


This Wednesday was designed by team GGC and based around de-stressing and integrative medicine. It was such a relaxing day in which we started out with yoga and meditation. The yoga was nice, but I didn't enjoy all of it. I did find the breathing techniques relaxing and calming and I believe that I could incorporate those techniques into my daily life. Also, I was excited to receive a new yoga mat. Later in the day we went to Chinatown and ate a very delicious lunch at Joy Yee's. I really enjoyed the chicken and lettuce wraps as the appetizer. After lunch we all had our own smoothies with tapioca pearls at the bottom of the cup. I had a strawberry-banana smoothie with tapioca pearls and the tapioca was disgusting. Rebecca laughed at me because of my very disgusted face and reaction to the tapioca. We also explored the rest of Chinatown during a scavenger hunt. I did not enjoy the scavenger hunt because it was scorchingly hot outside and in each store the owners did not allow pictures to be taken. Overall, the day was fun and I learned about some Chinese culture and relaxation methods. 

Wrapping Up

Sierra James


Tuesday, my team went to volunteer for the last time at the soup Kitchen. I enjoyed the time we spent at the soup kitchen and was very sad our time had to come to an end. Later that day we went to go to put our posters on glossy paper at Fedex. My poster didn't come out the way I had planned. My hand writing messes up my poster of twitter badly. My hand drawn poster looked like a kindergartener did it. Some of my lines weren't straight and my boxes looked like rectangles. Olivia and Aliyah's posters came out amazing. I liked how the glossy paper made the colors shine on the posters. While the posters were printing my group stopped by many places we have before. Some people didn't turn in the information we needed for our resource book of Woodlawn. Most of the community members filled the information packet right then and there. Our project was finally coming to an end and looking very good. I am proud of the work I have done over the summer.   

Devon to India

Olivia Singleton

This week was great. Wednesday was Team Woodlawn's field trip. It was very interesting to see the different Indian things. We talked to Indian immigrants. They explained the many great aspect of their life and why they came to America.  most importantly they came for better opportunities. Later we explored Devon Ave. it was filled with color and culture. The shops we went in, the owners were nice. The shops were filled with saris and jewelry. Leaving the shops, we went to Hema's Kitchen. Arriving I had mixed feelings about eating Indian food. I expected it to be very spicy and gross. As soon as I got my first plate it was shocking to say that I actually liked it.  The naan, chicken, and rice was very good. I very happy that I liked the food. The most anticipated aspect of the day for me was the henna tattoo. I received one and it was so pretty. Visiting Devon Ave, gave me another reason to visit India once I'm older.

Cultural appreciation

Aliyah Singleton

Aliyah, Olivia, Rebecca, Wujun, Sierra, and
Esther getting their henna tattoos!

Wednesday was a very cultural and exciting day for me. Team Woodlawn planned the entire day to explore Indian culture on Devon Ave. In the morning, three Indian women from different parts of India explained their migration and their life in America. It was interesting to hear about how most Indians move to America to find better business and educational opportunities, rather than to escape persecution, violence, or poverty. I loved how the women said that even though they chose to stay in America they still stick to their respective cultures by wearing traditional Indian clothing, eating Indian food, teaching their children their native languages, and practicing their religious traditions. They also told us of some cool places to check out on Devon, which happened to be very fun. Later in the day we ate at a famous Indian restaurant, "Hema's Kitchen". The food there was delicious and my favorite was the garlic naan. We explored many clothing and jewelry shops where I bought some pretty blue and gold colored bangles. Its very common to see mangos at many of the grocery stores and food shops. I don't like mangos at all, but Tom encouraged me to try a mango lassi when he bought one and it was surprisingly good. Although trying lots of Indian foods was fun and new, my favorite part of the day was getting a henna tattoo. It was very quick and fun and pretty. I plan on going back to Devon to try more exciting things related to Indian culture.

Superpower: Nurturing healthy relationships

Sierra James

If I had a super power, my power would be to be able to help people with their relationships.  Relationships are what make up the atmosphere and tension in the room.  If you and another person do not get along with one another then it would create an awkward moment or start a fight.  That’s when my super power comes in to help.  My community has lots of violence which is created by how people communicate with one another.  Some people feel disrespected or hurt by things people do.  Gangs fight over respect of people, places, and things.  If someone in a gang feels you disrespected them in any way, then a never ending war is created.  With my super power, I would help them reach an understanding so the violence rate would go down.  

Since my power deals with relationships, I would help the people in my community develop healthy relationships.  Not just with people they know but with people they don’t know.  These are people I believe they have more in common with than they seem to think. People would start coming together to become one and not separate cliques.  Most people stay in different parts of the community and stay away from one another because they don’t know how to develop healthy relationships.  Having healthy relationships in the community gives time to focus on more important things, like bettering the community with jobs, health, housing and entertainment.  Then more people want to come live in Woodlawn.  This would mean a better looking community and more healthy connections.

Healthy Surprises

Olivia Singleton


This week, Wednesday was a fun day! We had the opportunity to visit a cooking class with Chef Betty.  She made lasagna with no meat or salt. In all actuality, I imagined it to be gross and bland. Turns out it was pretty good.  Healthy eating seems to be restricted to only fruits and vegetables, nothing more or less. That being said, many people only know healthy foods being fruits and vegetables, so most doesn't want to eat it. I learned that healthy eating is more than what I may see or hear about. Healthy eating can have meat, dairy, and other things. If children or adults realize that healthy eating isn't hard, most people will try to look and feel better.

Cooking Class

Aliyah Singleton

This past Wednesday was another day of trying new foods, and in my opinion it was the best new food experience so far. We went to Chicago Family Health Center up participate in a cooking class led by Chef Betty Nichols. Chef Betty was very funny, exciting, and ready to teach us her delicious vegetarian lasagna recipe. I loved how she got everyone involved with the class by having volunteers chop and stir vegetables. She also got her audience engaged in talking about different vegetables and what they do for the body. What I found vey interesting about Chef Betty is that she doesn't cook with salt or many seasonings and oils because she uses the natural properties of vegetables to give food flavor and moisture. 


I think her ideas are very healthy and smart because it's unnecessary to add fats, salts, and oils to foods that are meant to be healthy. When she and the volunteers finished prepping the lasagna and put it in the oven, she let us serve ourselves the vegetarian lasagna that she had already cooked. I can admit that I was a little hesitant to eat it because of all the squash, sweet potatoes, and broccoli, but when I ate it, it was really good. The lasagna was better than most meat lasagnas I've tried before, and I was so excited to learn this because I'm pretty sure I would even be able to cook this. I am also very scared to cook meat because I think I will get salmonella, but after learning this I now know a recipe for a delicious, vegetarian home-cooked meal.

Stories from the soup kitchen

Rebecca Harris

On Tuesday, Team Woodlawn volunteered at the soup kitchen at First Presbyterian Church on 64th and Kimbark.  The church is very active in the community and has many different programs to help feed the needy. The kitchen is open for members of the community to come in and have a full lunch on Tuesdays.  On Thursdays, the church also prepares bagged lunches to hand out.  Produce from the garden across the street (which we volunteered at on Thursday) is often dispensed in these lunches.  The Reverend and other church members are also working on ways to develop a kitchen based on Panera's pay-what-you-can locations, in which a person can come in to eat a nice dinner and do what the name suggests: pay what they can.  Those who can afford to pay can pay, and those who cannot do not have to.

For the soup kitchen on Tuesday, our team arrived in the late morning to start preparing lunches.  After setting the tables, cutting up watermelons, and making coleslaw, we set up an assembly line to put together plates of food for people to eat.  When the doors open, everyone comes in, sits down, and says grace, and then the volunteers serve the lunches.  The room is filled with men, women, and children alike.  This week, there was ample food, so it felt good to serve seconds and thirds and fourths as everyone filled their bellies.

Fireworks as seen from Promontory Point. 

One of the most interesting parts of volunteering at the soup kitchen for me has been talking with the volunteers and listening to their stories.  In particular, I was discussing with one volunteer what we had done to celebrate the fourth of July.  When I asked her if she had watched any fireworks, she responded, “Oh nooo.”  She explained that she always stayed inside for fireworks because they scare her; she never knows if the loud noises are fireworks or gunshots.  The picture that she painted in my mind of her two young grandchildren clinging to her as the fireworks exploded outside is a picture that I will never forget.  

The Abundance Project

Tom Couri 

One of my favorite aspects of the community exploration that we’ve done this summer has been really delving into Woodlawn and seeing how so many of the resources are linked together. There’s a sense of commonality and shared knowledge and resources. This has never been more evident to me than at our volunteer site this week, the 64^th and Kimbark community garden.

The garden is located on vacant land owned by the 1^st Presbyterian Church. The garden is part of the Abundance Project, a Woodlawn community project aiming to unite the community as a whole and improve access to jobs, education, and general quality of life. The Abundance Project, much like SSP, strives to focus on the assest of the community, the good things that are in abundance, as opposed to the needs. Meg works for the Abundance Project and is the head gardener, and she led us on a tour throughout the garden. 

As I walked through the front entrance, I passed Mr. Sterling, a Woodlawn resident who farms half of the garden himself and is very good at it, as evidenced by his plentiful crops and tall plants. I later learned that he buries fish underneath his plants to enrich the soil. In Meg’s part of the garden she showed us all of the different crops she’s growing: cucumbers, tomatoes, greens, lettuce, and a corner of apple trees. She pointed across the street to 1^st Presbyterian Church, where a group of people milled around the entrance listening to jazz music. She explained that they were waiting in line for the food pantry (where we will be volunteering next week). 

What she said next amazed me: some of the produce grown in her garden goes into the food packages given away at the food pantry. The intersection of partnerships in the community, continual local re-investment back into the community, and the implications on community health of locally grown, organic fruit and vegetables is an inspiration. As if on cue, the commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health waltzed into the garden to hear about the project. We worked the garden for the rest of the morning. Before we left I spoke to Mr. Sterling, who confirmed the effectiveness of fish burials by pointing to his overflowing plots. It seemed an appropriate sight at a garden run by the Abundance Project.

Behavioral Change

Esther Schoenfeld

On Wednesday, Michael Quinn, a researcher at the University of Chicago’s Department of Medicine, gave our group a lecture on behavioral change. The lecture was meant to get us to think about how to effectively persuade people to change their behavior, and how to incorporate this information into our projects.

As Dr. Quinn pointed out, people don’t generally change their ways when bullied or nagged into it. They need to want it. They need, as Dr. Quinn put it in his presentation, conviction, confidence, and self-determination. Not only that, but there are many steps in a process of change: pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance, and identification. When trying to change someone’s behavior, it is important to know which stage he or she is at. If you want to convince someone to stop smoking tobacco, for example, but the person is at the pre-contemplation phase--he or she hasn’t started thinking about quitting--then it is ineffective, and even counterproductive, to start by providing the person with a plan to quit. It is better to gently offer the person some literature about the issue, so that he or she can move to the contemplation phase.

Personally, I am most interested in the contemplation phase, the phase in which a person has begun to think about changing, and isn’t sure whether or not they want to change. Dr. Quinn said that this is a stage that provokes ambivalence, discomfort, and anxiety. This struck a chord with me. In my own experience of trying to change a bad hair-pulling habit, I have come across this anxiety many times. For me, it is two-fold. The first source of anxiety is that I might, as I have in the past, try to change but fail. Second, and more irrationally, I don’t want to address the problem for fear that I’ll find out that I have already done deep and irreparable damage to my body.

Pulling hair is relatively benign. But my experience with it gives me empathy for people who are trying to change unhealthy behaviors. The process is not a completely rational one; there is a lot of complicated emotion at play. A doctor cannot simply present a logical argument in favor of change, and expect a patient to do it. The doctor’s role is much more difficult and complex than that. Realizing this is going to be really important not only for our projects, but for most of my endeavors in the future--regardless of what career I pursue.

Gardening Woes

Sierra James

Today my group volunteered at a community garden. The garden is located at 64th and Kimbark. The front of the garden was very organized and pretty. Then the back was very different and that’s the part we worked on. Meg owned the back part. She planted pumpkins, tomatoes, corn, greens, and cucumbers. Part of my team went to go get barrels full of wood chips. They were supposed to pick up weeds then lay wood chips on top. The other half, including me watered plants. It may seem like it’s not a lot to do but it was. We constantly went back to fill the containers with water. On top of that it was very hot outside with many bugs. Mud constantly got on my legs, hands, and feet. This is, once again, something I wouldn’t want to do again. I wished I was working at the soup kitchen across the street, like on Tuesday. The whole outside nature thing is not for me. I am thankful for this experience because it helps me to learn that working outside isn’t for me. What I have learned from this experience is how to garden.

St. Martin's

Rebecca Harris

This past Thursday, Team Woodlawn volunteered at St. Martin de Porres House of Hope, a homeless shelter for women and children affected by substance abuse.  We were fortunate to have the opportunity to work with Miss Amanda, who runs a daycare for the children of the shelter and the children of previous shelter residents.  When we arrived, all that was on our minds was the unbearable heat.  We walked into the classroom to find a few fans running, which hardly could stop the sweat from pouring down our faces.  But there was music blasting in the room, and we were greeted by seven happy little preschool children dancing and singing along.  Our moods quickly improved, and we spent the next few hours dancing around the room, singing songs, clapping hands, and reading stories.  The smiles and energy that the children had were contagious.

Perhaps my favorite part of the day was when we sat down to lunch with Miss Amanda.  Amidst serving the kids food and cleaning up spills, she told us her life’s story.  She was a mother to sixteen children and had been a heroin addict for twenty years when she first arrived at St. Martin’s.  But she finally decided that she wanted to turn her life around and got clean.  Now, in addition to working with the kids of the shelter, she is going back to school and has a 4.0 grade point average.  She has seven grandchildren, and her face beamed with pride as she introduced us to one of her grandsons.  Her story was truly inspirational, and it was an honor to be able to work with her.

B'Gabs Goodies

This is Team Woodlawn at B'Gabs Goodies, a raw vegan deli that many of us have mentioned in previous posts. The owner, Gabrielle (center), has supported us and our project so much!

B'Gabs Goodies is part of Experimental Station, an awesome institution in Woodlawn. From its mission statement:

"The Experimental Station is an independent, not-for-profit incubator of innovative cultural projects and small-scale enterprises. Its facilities provide essential resources enabling vulnerable initiatives to stabilize and flourish. These resources include: office, exhibition, and other workspace at discounted rents; information networks; tools and technical support. The Experimental Station seeks to maintain a diverse and interdisciplinary balance of participants and activities and to generate events, lectures, and exhibitions which are free and open to the public. Areas of primary interest include, but are not limited to, art, ecology, cultural criticism, independent publishing and alternative models of education."

Check it out at experimentalstation.org

Unexpected Discovery

Tom Couri

On a blistering hot Tuesday morning Team Woodlawn took the Cottage Grove bus south to the Woodlawn’s commercial district, the intersection of 63^rd Street and Cottage Grove. Longtime community activists told us of the businesses and establishments that radiated from this intersection decades ago, but even today many shops can still be found. Our goal was simple: enter several grocery stores, observe the type of foods sold in the store, and note the way these foods are advertised. I expected a simple, fun activity that would highlight the lack of fresh fruits and vegetables in Woodlawn grocery stores, and also to be bombarded with chips and soda advertisements (not only in Woodlawn, either—almost any store barring groceries specializing in fruits and vegetables will be the same. They have to make a profit after all). And we did encounter all of that, with the exception of Aldi. What surprised me most, however, were the employees.

Out of the several grocery stores we visited, almost all of the employees were Arabs. I noticed this in the first store, and as we were leaving I spoke with three of the employees. They were astonished that I could speak Arabic, and I asked them where they were from and how the business was. They told me that Arabs owned many of the stores around this part of Woodlawn. In the next two stores, once again, the employees were Arabs. In the latter shop I spoke with the employees, and after learning we lived near the same part of Amman, Jordan, they wouldn’t let me leave without showing me typical Arab hospitality and giving me something free.

The rest of the day I was thinking about the issue of a small minority owning many of the businesses in a largely homogenous community, or if it was even an issue at all. Is the money spent in the stores re-invested in the community? What is the relationship like between the two different peoples? Do the Arabs feel part of the Woodlawn community? I didn’t spend enough time talking to people or learning about the situation to discover the answers. Hopefully in the future I will.

Injuries Not Accidents

Esther Schoenfeld

This was a bit of a rough week, I think, but we got a lot done. The weather was oppressive and made everyone feel irritable. Because of both the weather and our assignments, we stayed inside more than usual, and did a lot of written work. It is hard to read and write for so many hours at a time, and Team Woodlawn deserves to feel proud for what we accomplished this week!

We wrote our project proposal, read and discussed our chapter (“Injuries not Accidents”) of Prescription for a Healthy Nation (PfaHN), planned our Wednesday in Devon, wrote a questionnaire that we will give to local businesses in order to gather information for our resource manual, learned how to write resumes (and, in particular, how to convey to employers the awesomeness that is the SSP experience!), and began research for our bullying curriculum. Out of all of those things, I am most proud of our PfaHN discussion. Olivia and Aliyah did such a fantastic job explaining the chapter, leading a discussion, and bringing to light some of the complicated and philosophical issues that come into play.

“Injuries not Accidents” is about the toll injuries take on Americans, and how many of these injuries are easily prevented by making changes to the environment.

Here are some fascinating statistics:

- “Injuries are the number one killed in America for every age group from one to thirty-four” (191).

- “Among teenagers and young adults, the top three causes of all deaths are unintentional injury, homicide, and suicide, in that order” (191).

- Car crash is the number one cause of fatal injury, followed closely by firearms (191).

Some people think that injuries--whether accidental or purposeful--are the individual’s fault. This attitude is particularly prevalent in debates over gun laws, and is encapsulated in this slogan used by the gun industry and gun lobbyists: “Guns don’t kill people, people do.”

PfaHN questions this premise, arguing that a violent environment and the physical object of the gun itself can plan a huge role in whether or not someone dies. According to this argument, people don’t always make rational decisions, especially when they are angry or depressed. If a man kills another person with a gun in a moment of passion, it doesn’t follow, the book argues, that the man would still have been a killer had the gun not been there. If a person is feeling completely hopeless and depressed, and he has a gun, then he will use it on himself. But if the gun is not there, then it is unlikely that the person will choose a more difficult and painful method of suicide. In other words, people don’t just use guns to do things they would have done anyway; the presence of the gun itself, in many cases, affects us and causes us to kill.

This idea--the idea that changing the environment is the easiest and most effective way to change individual behavior--holds a lot of merit, in my opinion. This statistic, in particular, really seems to back it up: “In 1976, after the District of Columbia adopted a virtual ban on handgun sales, even though people could drive a few short miles to Virginia or Maryland to buy guns, gun suicides dropped by 23 percent, and suicides by other means did not rise to take their place” (202).

In response to our reading, our group began to think of ways to implement the concept of changing the environment into our own anti-bullying project. Our project includes a curriculum, which is meant to change the minds of individuals. However, the high school students pointed out, part of our project is to create an atmosphere, or environment, in which bullying is discouraged. One of the ways we plan to do this is to hold an anti-bullying poster contest at the high school. The winner will get a prize, and the posters will be hung up around the school.

What do you guys think? Should the focus be on changing the person or changing the environment? If changing the environment is important, what are some other ideas in that spirit that we can implement into our project?

Superpowers: to stop drug abuse

Olivia Singleton


If I had a superpower, it would be to stop the abuse of drugs and alcohol.  On Thursday we went to a shelter for women and their children, St. Margaret de Porres. We volunteered to help out with the kids, but we also heard the stories of some of the lives of the women.  Listening, I felt bad because they all talked about how their lives were messed up because of drugs and alcohol. If that were stopped, many people in the Woodlawn community would be a little happier and more successful.  


The church offered to help the women with their education and resumes. I thought that if more people can reach out to save others lives, then I can as well. Just knowing how addictions can turn from feeling like you're on Cloud 9 to feeling like you are in the lowest pit of the earth can stop one from even trying drugs and alcohol. Drugs and alcohol in Woodlawn are available all over. If my power would stop people from trying and using, many people would be cleaner. Lots of children around are neighborhood would stop doing stupid stuff, like smoking weed and skipping school. If I were a superhero, many people would have safer, healthier, and happier lives.