Spartans Prepare for Eternal Glory

 

And the battle's just begun, There's many lost, but tell me who has won
The trench is dug within our hearts, And mothers, children, brothers, sisters
Torn apart, Sunday, Bloody Sunday, Sunday, Bloody Sunday

- U2 

  This morning 5:15 a.m. I set off for Asheboro, NC, where Rugged Maniac   was being hosted this month. For those that have never heard of rugged maniac, its okay.. I didn't know what it was prior to seeing it over on the panel of advertisement that Facebook has. Anyhow... it is one of the most intense 5k races out there.
Below is a map of the obstacle course and the list of things one needs to surpass in order to gain Eternal Glory

1. Army crawls underneath Barbed-wire in mud

2.  Overcome a Labyrinth of Pipes that obstruct your path 

3.  Jump over and climb under 3ft walls 

4.  Army crawl through a metal man hole 

5. High step through tires and run through a maze of hanging swinging tires 

6. Climb up Cargo Net 

7. Walk the Plank across a pool of muddy water

8.Climb 5ft walls

9. Jump over two large camp fires 

10. Climb 7ft walls 

11 Army crawl under barbed wire 

12. Walk the plank again 

13. Climb up to the top of the slide that sends you into 4.5 ft of dirty ass water 

14. Get over 6 barriers in the water 

15. climb the slippery yet steep mountain of mud 

16. Finish 

I didn't prepare as much as I should have for the race. My legs and stamina went within the first mile. Running in mud is exhausting... then having to lift yourself  and do all these crazy things it was nuts.  It was a lot of fun though..... except for the part at the end when I thought I was going to drown!!

Two Stories of Courage

Yes here comes the story of the Hurricane. The man the authorities came to blame

For something that he never done. Put in a prison cell but one time he could-a been The champion of the world. 

- Bob Dylan - The Hurricane

Meet Ivan. 6th grader from HMS. This was his first time in a swimming pool. He is a part of the Swimming apprenticeship this semester. Ivan and his sister have never been in a pool nor have they even swam before. On Saturday April 2, at Aycock Recreational Center, the Marlins of Raleigh  came to Henderson to host a swim clinic for students in the Water Safety/ Swimming apprenticeship.  I'm always excited about the on goings of this partnership with Aycock, because its the only swimming apprenticeship in the National Network. By the end of this semester almost 40 students will have learned about water safety and basic swimming fundamentals.

Power Kicks

Back to Ivan.....  at the end of the swimming clinic each student had an opportunity to jump off the big diving board at the pool.  As most of the students headed to the diving board... there were a couple of students who were intimidated and took their time getting over there.  Ivan was one of them. The thought of jumping off the board became bearable for most as they watched their peers jump off, but not Ivan.  He was over to the side shivering from the water and thought of having to dive off this board. While most students needed an encouraging word or two.... Ivan didn't... he was over to the side trying to pump himself up to jump off the diving board. He worked his way up to the diving board by practicing scooting himself off the edge into deep end of the pool.. After doing this a couple of times, he willed himself to walk on to the Diving Board, where four Marlins of Raleigh coaches awaited his entry into the water.

Angelo  & Kyle @ Papa Mojo's 

 Meet Angelo Cross and Kyle Taperek. Both are Citizen Schools staff members that push students to overcome obstacles, take positive risk, and put fear behind them to accomplish amazing feats. On this evening, Angelo and Kyle had to put their teachings to practice. Every Wednesday night there is Open Mic at Papa Mojo Roadhouse Both Angelo and Kyle are beginning guitarists who wanted to test their craft at an open mic event. Angelo, who is 28 years old, has composed a 30 for 30 list (30 things to do before you turn 30). On that list is performing at an Open Mic.After work the two musicians headed down Highway 85 to Durham to perform at the open mic.  When they arrived the venue was packed. Everyone there was there to see the music talent performing that evening.

Most of the talent there were professionals whom come to try and get booked by the restaurant.  Angelo and Kyle were neither professionals nor trying to get booked. When the two saw the talent that had sign up for the event, Angelo, like Ivan became engulfed with fear. As each musicians performed, Angelo became more nervous. After 8 acts,  it was Angelo and Kyle's turn.  As Kyle set up, Angelo tried to cut the tension with an introduction and some jokes, but everyone at the restaurant were focus on two things.
1. Who were these two new guys performing at Papa Mojos
2. Could they perform?

Kyle Taperek on acoustic guitar 

Kyle began to strum Wonderwall by Oasis   and Angelo closed his eyes and just began to sing.... 4 minutes later... they had officially played their first song at a live musical venue. While most would think that should have made Angelo a bit more comfortable; it didn't. The hardest was yet to come.   Their final song of the evening was a tough one!  It was one that the two had just worked on recently and Angelo probably should had realized  was of an intermediate level of difficulty.  Angelo leads Kyle into the song and then Kyle begins to strum Cupid by 112 . Anyone that listens to 112 or at least that song know the high notes that Slim hits. As the two played, they eventually settle down and just perform to the best of their ability.

The open mic performance really parallels Ivan adventure to jump off the diving board. Courage isn't one of those things that you simple develop as a youth. There are many obstacles, daunting challenges, and adventures that will really test your "mettle." I believe that your ability to cope with those obstacles is highly contingent upon  whether you are exposed to experience such as jumping off a dive board, singing or speaking in front of a huge audience of strangers. The moment Kyle and I jumped on stage, I really felt like Ivan did, scared yet I was excited about doing an "impossible feat."

As I told another student, "What separates a leader from other people is the amount of people that watch you do what they can't do!

We could learn a lot from Ivan.... I know I did!!!

Behind the Scenes with the Big Chill!

With time much deserved off for the holiday vacation, I've turned my attention to my side hobby of film. Part of the film school application process is to create a portfolio with projects that I have worked on!  At the moment I have 1 project. Citizen Schools Summer Institute Video  But I just begin work on a video/documentary for a Music group here in North Carolina called the Big Chill! They are a Alternative Hip Hop group in the Raleigh/Durham area.  Last night was my first filming take with the group! About 4 to 5 hours in the studio as the group work on tracks on their Sophomore album currently titled TMZ... which is named after a celebrity gossip website that talks about all the dumb trouble celebs get into. Each track is currently named after a celeb that has had a sudden misfortune (i.e. Wesley Snipes.... though one track  is name Columbus Short... which is funny but I don't know if he's had any trouble. Anyhow....

Following this first filming day... I spent today loading footage on to my hard drive and actually looking at the footage I had gotten.. This project is kind of organic and is forming as I go, I plan to go next week for another session with the group! 

But for all you On the Move followers here are some goodies for you: 

1. The Link to The Big Chill first album:  My Mix Tape Ran Away

2. Below is a sample of the Intro to the Film Documentary we're working on.. its about 25 seconds but kind of exciting because its progress lol!!!  Enjoy

Damn it Vanessa Zalapa you had me at Dear Citizen Schools

As I type this post... I find myself laughing at the fact that my emotions are on a delayed timer! It takes me a while to really let things soak and to really understand the depth of a moment. I don't know why I can't just express everything in one single swoop and get all those hard feelings out at the time they are needed, but needless to say it makes for awkward moments sometimes!

Example: Had a hard break-up once that took me forever to get over... had not really dealt with the emotions aspect of it as fast as I thought!  One night (a very long time afterwards) I watched the movie Vanilla Sky and at the end... when Tom Cruise has to make the decision to either continue to live in a fantasy where he had captured his soulmate or  he has to wake up and deal with the reality that he missed his chance to be with her... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTb95TxUc2M
( my eyes started to tear up and I began crying ! ( HAVE YOU EVER HEARD A GROWN MAN CRY!)

I know friends are going to let me have it for that part but it lead me to this part!

Today, I had a 6th grader name Vanessa make the entire staff cry.. she's legally blind, so she has a Braille machine... she wrote a letter to the Citizen Schools staff in Braille and read it during our staff meeting about how we supported her and how she loves each of the staff memebers... and how we help her during her Tuesday Apprenticeship!



Vanessa is the young lady in the middle!

 Immediately the staff, one by one, just peeled over! Even the Iron Man himself, had to step out of the Office and wipe his eyes!  But as amazing as that was, and how moved I was, I didn't cry!  I know its coming.... sometime soon... it could be while I'm chilling with you.. I just might tear up for no damn reason or cry Vanessa's name out!  Just warning you!

But, Vanessa we are so proud of you and are excited that you are in program! Keep up the work

SIX DEGREES OF CULLEN JONES

Here is my latest blog post for the Citizen Schools Second Shift Blog! Check it out and let me know what you think!!!

6th Degrees of Cullen Jones

In January 23 of my 8th Grade students will put the concept of “6 degrees of separation” to the test. They will host a huge networking fair that will help them realize the power of communication. Although the seniors of Citizen Schools have been learning about networking, we have group of 6th and 7th graders who are actually putting the “6 degrees” idea to the test.

Citizen Teacher Lauren Harris is teaching our apprentices how to swim

These 6th & 7th graders are part of an apprenticeship led by Aycock Recreation Aquatics Manager Lauren Harris and supported by second year Teaching Fellow Sara Kelleher. Their mission is to learn about water safety and the mechanics of swimming so that they can successfully compete in a relay race for their WOW.

This apprenticeship was created as part of a sustainability leadership project that Sara Kelleher was working on for her Master's degree at Lesley University. According to the research, the drowning rate of black children ages 5 to 14 is 3.1 times the rate compared to white children of the same age. During conversations with Sara, we've come to realize that unless our children have access to the Recreation Center and make sure that parents really push for them to learn, many of our kids will go through life not developing a survival l skill like swimming. I informed Sara that I was a prime example of someone who, as a child, didn't have much access to a pool or the beach. Sara saw a problem that is both a community and national issue, and found a way to have a large impact on it.

What does this have to do with 6 degrees?” Well, I’m glad you asked! Our students are attempting to reach out to Olympic Swimmer, Gold Medalist, and former NC State student Cullen Jones.

They all wrote letters to the Olympic Swimmer:

We are trying to go viral with facebook, twitter, tumblr... the works! But we need your help.

We need you to post this entry to any and every social media page you have... we need to actually put the “6 Degrees” concept into action between now and December 9th, so that we can communicate to Mr. Cullen Jones how meaningful it would be if he came and supported (or even swam a lap with the kids) at their WOW! Will you help us in our mission? Pass this article on to all your contacts and networks!!

Olympic Swimmer and Gold Medalist Cullen Jones is a
former member of the NC State Swim Team. We're trying to get him to our
WOW and we need your help

Gearing Up for Greatness

I’m On The Pursuit Of Happiness/ And I Know Everything 

That Shines Ain’t Always Gonna Be Gold/ I’ll Be Fine Once I Get It; I’ll Be Good

- Kid Cudi 

Our goals this year: 

* Retain at least 75 students from Fall to Spring

* Improve attendance 4 points to 91% 

*  Push Literacy in all aspects of our program ( improve from 56% in ELA)

* 1/4 of our students in the Junior Honor Society

* Celebrate our children success at every opportune moment! 
* Plan a huge end of the year trip to Boston, MA    

So after being away for two weeks in Boston for Summer Institute. We return back to Henderson to set up our office and begin our campaign of another Citizen Schools School year.  Summer Institute is an annual conference that Citizen Schools has in Boston, MA where all the leadership of the organization meets to recommit to the organization's goals and do some professional development. The week was very inspirational and allowed for us to see where we need to get to in order to run a very high quality program.  Check out this video (made by yours truly). 

So we get back to HMS.. and our office was cleaned and furniture out of placed. We realized that we needed to change the office up so that it breathes and feels welcoming, its clean and we take ownership of it. The classroom is messed up... the Chalk boards were unusable and wall near the windows is falling apart and is probably asbestos ridden.  Ants nest are in all parts of the wall... need I say more....

  

 

            We've made several complaints and it seems that the school can't get the maintenance crew to fix anything... so we are taking matters into our own hands... The pictures below are what I would like to say is apart of Operation: Inside Man.... We are planning to fixed the Chalk boards and work on that side wall.

Last year I think we were all new to Henderson and were trying to get adjusted and figure out running program.. but this is our year to do big things. Along with Classroom repairs, we are also trying to recruit Citizen Teachers so fill our Apprenticeship roster.... 

                                         

"Do you want to give back?" or " Do you want to expose middle school students to what you do for a living in fun and exciting ways?"  Share your passions and interests and become a Citizen Teacher!!! More Information on Volunteering

We are all Witnesses to the Exodus of Lebron from Cleveland!!

 Here is an article/ note I posted on Facebook, about 24 hours after Lebron had made his decision to leave Cleveland and head to Miami

Dear Facebook,
I want to publicly apologize to Lebron for my several hundred hateful and spiteful comments yesterday. I'm not mad at Lebron... I guess I'm mad at the sport of basketball and the harsh ushering in of a new generation. I would like to consider myself a basketball purist (though I probably halted in skill after 7th grade). I hated the Lakers when they got all those guys back in the day to win a NBA (Championship) Malone, Horry, Payton, etc, or the Boston 3 Party! This just seems like teams would rather just assemble players like Voltron than develop the players that are there. While this takes time and years, I guess I'm just fearful of the Yankee syndrome hitting the NBA...

I'm also fearful... of the lack of loyalty that is in sports these days! To me it it all started when Deion Sanders made his debut with Dallas against the Falcons (anybody remember that!) or when Horace Grant left the Bulls to go play for the Magic!( I'm sure we can dated the oldest move back to the Babe Ruth Trade (lol) ) Or the more recent stab in the back... Johnny Damon going to the Yanks.

Sports Loyalty along with ideas of "Love" have been twisted and misinterpreted by movies and popular culture! We watch movies like Any Given Sunday, Major League (though its a comedy), 61, Field of Dreams.. and in these movies there's a theme of loyalty... you have fan favorites stars whom stay with their team for a lifetime. You had Capt. Rooney, Jake Taylor, Roger Maris, and all the great baseball players that haunt Kevin Costner.

Remove

As I look at the list of movies I just rattled off I realize that there isn't a basketball movie that I can put there.. Hoosiers is a college basketball movie. Could it be that basketball is the only sport where that type of loyalty isn't the norm? We have living examples of it, Jordan, Magic, Bird, Ewing, Erving, Robinson, Olajuwon, etc... While all on this list for exception of Ewing have NBA championships, most of these players made their career in one place.

While people HATE Kobe..and I did too for a hot minute, you gotta appreciate what Kobe does. Kobe waited!! I'm sure "JUST" like Jordan he probably year end and year out gave management an earful about the talent on the team... It's his team! Everyone dissed him when Shaq got traded.. but then again if its his team.. why are people heated!! But he helped develop those players. During LA's off years, while we looked at the San Antonio's and Boston's and Detroit,the Lakers were getting their shit together! That's the loyalty and the leadership that I believe is lacking in the NBA today. Some would Argue that D.Wade understands that which is why we have this trifecta heading to Miami... but does he? Being the Franchise player means that you have to do more than hit buzzer beaters and dunk on everybody in the NBA (which is nice and forces me to waste valuable time on you tube), but you force your organization to build around you! Why couldn't D.Wade go to Cleveland? Because he's the franchise in Miami, Why didn't Kobe get traded to Miami, because he's the franchise in LA. Lebron you gotta make pieces fit around you not vice-versa!

Am I just writing because I'm little upset that he didn't come to Chicago... a little who wouldn't be?? But, I'm more upset for the fans of Cleveland who thought they had a leader who could return the game of basketball to its once glory! Now I guess the people of Ohio will have to root solely for the Buckeyes again and pray that their state doesn't become the country's saving grace for an election like it did in '04!

Lebron I'm disappointed...but then again who am I, and I'm sure I'll buy a ticket to see you, Wade, and the other guy you picked up in this fiasco free agency draft...


Sincerely,

Angelo Cross