Standing upon the shoulders of those with incredible faith

It has always been the same work that Sister Antonella introduced to me long ago. Her's is a friendship that inspires me still.

In the early 80s, I was a regular at services at Saint Michael's parish Sunday services. When Father Fitzgerald asked me to meet with Sister Antonelle Chunka, a Franciscan Sister with Patrica Gordon who opened an office to help move young people out of Gang Life. They called their office "The Promise." Father Fitzgerald knew young people in the community knew and respected the Hawk's story, (me) the young man who grew up on the same streets and used education and his faith to steer his way out of trouble. No one grew up in our community without being on the edge of trouble. Faith, school, and sports kept me from falling into trouble. My mother was a member of a Rosary group that prayed for all of us boys. I like to think those prayers save many of their sons from falling. I felt a call to meet these two women who sought to help our young men in danger of falling. You might say God called me to their work.

These two women hung out at the Jersey City's Juvenile Court House meeting, advocating and mentoring young men away from gang life. They would walk the streets talking with young gang members, invite them to their office, read scripture, offer to help them find jobs, and get their GEDs. Their work caught the eyes of the NY Times and other press.

Father Fitzgerald knew I was politically active, a respected community member, a college graduate, a Catholic Charities Counselor, and a small businessman. I was different in a community where people mainly stuck with their own kind. I was an Irish kid whose friends were diverse. In high school and college, my circle of friends looked like America. I was praised in our parish and criticized by those who thought I should stick with others who looked like me. Those who criticized me had no clue as to who I am. My faith calls me to welcome all. My faith is stronger than the divisional hate that has always sought to divide America.

When God calls you, you show up. I visited Sister Antonlle and Patrica Gordon, and five minutes later, I was on board with the mission. The mission was worthy, and although I did not think it would steer many away from gang life, the mission was worthyAlthough. I join their crusade to mentor young men away from gang life in the community. I was wrong about not steering many young gang members away from gang life. Sister Antonelle somehow had gang members reading, discussing scripture, and linking it to possible transformative changes in their own lives. I became an unpaid counselor, a member of this do-gooder quest to save our young men from gang life. I was given more than I ever gave. I loved my time helping at The Promise. Could not believe my eyes as young gang members who struggle with reading painstakingly read and share scripture together. I would come to learn that the message matters more than a person's academic skills. It is learning that drives my literacy work as the Central Connecticut Literacy Center Director.

At the time, downtown Jersey City was in the early Gentrification process. These Gentrifiers gave Sister a hard time. The Promise exposed an ugly truth about the neighborhood they were seeking to gentrify. They felt Sister's work would drive away investors. They wanted them to stop. They put pressure on local leaders. They arranged for a large community meeting to close them down. They approach Father Fitzgerald to stop it.

Anthony Cruz and I would become their defenders at that meeting. Sister and Father Fitzgerlad stood their ground, this was the work of the church, and no one was going to shut that work down. While I thought I was helping and mentoring others, I found something transformative growing in me. My work with Sister Antonelle became my youth ministry, and more than anything else, it transformed me. Nearly 40-years later, I have used that time of service to define my work as an activist and a university professor. Sister Antonelle planted in me a simple understanding. All are worthy, and no one is beyond God's promise. My youth ministry would point me back time and time again to seeking to enhance my education as an educator. It was the first seed of my Ph.D. Sometimes, I look at where I am today, and I can't see the path from there to here. But, I always can find the seeds that took me to who I am today.

I have been blessed and mentored many times over by my friendship with Sister Antonelle Chunka. Who by the way well into her 80's is still ministering to those in need today at New Jersey ICE Detention Centers.

I stand on the shoulders of incredible of those with incredible faith,

Dr. Jesse P. Turner

Uniting to Save Our Schools

If you like to listen to the tune that inspired me 40 years ago and on my walk this morning? It is Cat Stevens "Where Do The Children Play" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBCJhNiKhFE

Grandfather, knew the value of field tips

 

“When a caterpillar bursts from its cocoon and discovers it has wings, it does not sit idly, hoping to one day turn back. It flies.” ~ Kelseyleigh Reber

For over a hundred years, the men in my family dug New York’s tunnels, walked the steel beams of the skyscrapers, painted the bridges, and cleaned chemical tanks in Jersey. This was my father. These men did these jobs with little or no protection. They drank hard, and many died early. My father would not see 63. He died of Tuberculosis, like so many others he knew.

My grandfather wanted something more, and he offered his grandson a universe of books. He walked me over to Steven’s College in Hoboken when I was 10 years old, doing poorly in school.

He took me inside, we went into an empty classroom, and he said, smell that. No paint, oils, or chemicals. It smells like a sweet clean, like a summer breeze. Are you taking this in Little Jess? Then we took a cold drink from a hallway fountain. Taste that, Little Jess, think about it; this water is always cold.

Little Jess, if I had my life to live over, I would walk and learn it all in these Ivy Walls. Then we went outside, found a spot on the perfectly manicured lawn, and laid back looking up at the sky. It was one of his most powerful, memorable lessons meant only for me.

We walked around the whole place, the sports fields, and every tree-lined path. He stopped at every status, read the names on every building. He said I have never been to Rome but made it to France during the war. I saw the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. There are many kinds of cathedrals. Universities are Catherfrals in some ways. They are my favorites.

We could see the New York Skyline from that college. He would point out the buildings and bridges he worked on, and say your father and Uncle Bill worked on that one with me.

As we left his cathedral that day, he turned us around to look back one last time. I had never walked on a college campus before. I had never seen anything like it, did not really understand most of it, but that old man planted a seed that day in his grandson. I learned about the value of field trips and cathedrals from him.

I love and deeply respect those laborers who built the bridges I ride on today. I learned about these Learning cathedrals from one of them. Not one of them ever stepped in my way. Instead, they encouraged the kid who loved books, the library and would learn to love school one day.

They were as proud of me as I am of them.

Here’s to the ones who built America,

Little Jess  

If you like to listen to the tune that inspired my morning walk today? Its Bruce Springsteen's " The River". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc6F47Z6PI4

Pandemic Teaching less than inspiring, but inequality always left Poor Children uninspired!

 

Jane Goodall said: “What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” A fellow academic at the end of the semester said he is extremely disappointed in his teachers' online lessons' quality. He said a majority of the lessons are uninspiring. I reminded him this is a pandemic crisis and then asked him about his lessons. Would he rate them as inspiring? I said my lessons are far from inspiring. At best, I am getting it done. He explained that he is getting it done. So, your lessons, my lessons, and most lessons being taught during this pandemic crisis are less inspiring and more about getting it done. I suggested that wasn't it really the same before COVID? I added how inspiring were lessons driven by testing and Common Core State Standards before the pandemic? Knowing he never ever challenged the negative influence of high-stakes testing and standards without equity. He has always been a status quo academic. He always ran to every policy workshop and never ever in the past 20-years questioned anything suggested. Our conversation ended with preach somewhere else, Jesse. I live in the real world. If there is one thing the real world does, my friend is leaving us uninspired. My inspiration comes from deciding not to merely teach the truth but to fight for it outside the schoolhouse world. How inspiring is it for poor children, their parents, and their teachers in knowing America spends less on their public education than the education of wealthy schools? Want inspired lessons, then give all public children all our children quality and equitable public education. Quality and equity are my cornerstones for inspiration in my book. Until then, the poor children and their teachers are on their own for inspiration. Inspiration in our public schools should not be something that children and teachers are on their own for. I do my best with my lessons, sometimes they get the job done, and sometimes they go beyond and may even inspire a few. Want inspiration in my lessons is often found when I share my battles outside the classroom for all children, all schools, and yes, all teachers. Inspiration requires teachers to fight the systemic and structural racism that supports this School to Prison Public School System. Inspiration requires more than teaching to get it done. Inspiration requires teachers to question injustice in the classroom, in the schoolhouse, and in the nation. Anything less is uninspiring, Dr. Jesse P. Turner Uniting to Save Our Schools

If you want to listen to the tune that inspired this walking man's morning walk today? Its Marvin Gaye's "What going on" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-kA3UtBj4M