Front Lines Tour Day 3

As Andrea (Student from the "Nex 2 Be Read Club KHS Chapter") would say OMG!

    I'm (Latin) typing away on my keyboard as I take in some of the views to reminisce over what's happened over the past two days. To the left of me I see Cuttz giving Free some guitar lessons. Outside the window (past the curtains ala Moa we put up last night) I see congested traffic full of drivers that let us know their disapproval of our being parked on the side of the road by making sure they slow down and snare at us with every pass. Past the angry drivers is the Washington Memorial. Out the window on my right I see tents pitched up for a previous event that was held over the weekend not far from the White House. Directly in front of me I see Free attentively listening to Cuttz's lesson. Past Free is the windshield and out it I see DJ H2O, Decora and J working on installing the new engine fan belt that some of us picked up this morning. To my rear (not my butt my rear) I see a white Kia Rio that we rented from the airport last night. Above us is a power that has somehow prevented us from crashing, (someone did crash into us though) being towed, fighting with each other, starving, going without showers, dehydrating, being harassed, and arrested for having a bus with curtains and the words "Stop The War" spray painted on the side of our bus a few yards from the White House. Here we are.
    A day ago we thanked Decora's Aunt for the warm meals, showers and safe place to sleep in. Her house was beautiful and she opened it up to us as if we'd been living there for years. After our goodbyes we packed up the bus and headed to the headquarters of the Philadelphia Student Union. There we planned on presenting our scheduled workshop. When we arrived we immediately began unpacking DJ' H20's equipment and walked in to a center full of eager High School students. Wassup's were said, the bathroom (with a door that didn't close and only scolding hot water in the sink) was used and equipment was prepped. We presented our workshop and through our mouths flowed lessons of history, self knowledge, the importance of self-worth, writing, speaking, the role of music as a tool for change, the role of female Hip Hop artists and much more. At the end of the workshop we gave pounds to a group of grateful leaders and thanked them for having us. These Youths' were wise beyond their years and deserve to known. Be sure to check out philadelphiastudentunion.org for more information on these power houses of change.
    After the workshop we walked over to Dana's house to have some good ole organic foods. She put together a spread of fruits, turkey, breads, tuna, veggies, juice and even cookies for us. We all enjoyed each others company, the food and the laughs while we talked about co-op housing Mac's, the new Zipcar phenomenon and Cutt'z slow motion eating. While everyone else began talking about the road ahead I began a discussion with Dana about some of the social problems that Philly is dealing with. She mentioned that one of them was the issue of Public being threatened to privatize and be more concerned with numbers and money than with the actual quality of teachers and the overall educational experience. From there the conversation led into a discussion about gentrication in Philly.
    Philadelphia is predominantly a homeowner city. Although the majority of the people that live there are homeowners the taxes are low. With low taxes there isn't much money reserved for public education. Which explains why some want the schools to be privatized. They also don't have much money left over for fixing up some of the inner city neighborhoods. What is the politicians solution to the problem you ask. Why Gentrification of course you silly billy. Gentrification in the Oxford Dictionary is defined as "renovate and improve so that it conforms to middle class taste". In real life it means to kick people out of neighborhoods they've been living in for years by use of shady tactics. This creates cheap real estate for developers that sell off land to corporations. These corporations then buy   cheap land like babies would buy Similac formula...if they had better motor skills...and money...and could talk. They then put up large multinational corporations like Wal-Mart, Supermarkets and others. Or they build restaurants, clubs and entertainment spaces (such as the Newburgh waterfront). These are just a few ways that Gentrification takes place. The bottom line is that they leave the poor without housing when they've had housing of their own for years. For more info on Gentrification type it into Google. You'll find plenty of info.
    After leaving Dana's house we drove to a Hip Hop Theater event in D.C. We saw a group out of NYC called the UniVerses. If you don't know about them be sure to check them out because they epitomize Spoken Word Poetry and all that it is. When the show was done we had to the bus for a regrouping session and planned the rest of the night and day. By this time we were all hungry so we decided to make food the next mission. After walking around 14th st. searching for food we decided to just get some pizza slices. In the process of searching for food Free realized she left her ID at Decora's aunt's house. Decora didn't eat because he's lactose intolerant so he decided to wait and see if there was something else in the area. By this time only bars were open so we figured we'd just head to the Hip Hop Theatre After Party. There we danced the night away to some of the best old school Hip Hop and dance music we knew. Every other song would have the crowd yell out (Oohhhhh!). The DJ was playing old school video's with a projector as the music blasted throughout the night. We danced till we couldn't dance anymore and then went back to the bus for some much needed rest. Decora got some food at the after party so we were all good to go. We stopped for some water at a gas station and headed home (the bus).
    The bus was parked on the side of a road with reaaaaalllyy nice houses. A road that Decora, J, DJ H20 and myself (Latin) had previously raced on...J won...I was last....SO WHAT! Due to sleep deprivation and exhaustion we all had the giggles. After laughing and joking for an hour or two we all found a space on the bus to fall asleep. The next morning...allllll the drama began. I'll soon write  about the engine fan belt snapping, the woman that ran her car into the bus, and how Decora cut his hand. At the moment I'm exhausted so I'll be signing off and hoping that the Mexican food I had a few minutes ago stays in for a little longer.
- Latin

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