My Youth Pastor from high school has a blog and sometimes he entitles his blogs "Today I am thinking". In attempt to blog more and to capture what I am thinking today I am going to use his method. I didn't go about asking him....so I hope its ok!

Today I am thinking:
1. That it is super cool that one of my old students asked me to go to his basketball game last Saturday. It was the best Saturday morning that I have had in a long time.

2. That while I was at the basketball game, his father asked if I was going to have kids of my own one day. I smiled and said biological? He smiled back and we continued to watch the game.

3. That Sunday was the best SUPER BOWL EVER! I spend the first part of the day going to an all black church with my boys, followed by some home cooking and some football in the local park in their neighborhood. I spent the evening with my fellow TFA family.

4. That I took my boys on a field trip today and afterward we went out to eat. I am still wondering (I mean their faces said a lot) what all those people thought of me walking in with ten African American Boys. But the best part, was how well mannered they were and how the conversation and laughs continued through the entire dinner.

5. That this Saturday Program kicking off in two weeks is going to impact a lot of families...well I hope at least! There has been a lot of time and effort put into it and I am honored that my principle asked me to design and run it.

6. That my after-school program is draining in a good way. I love that my "babies"( K-6th graders) have somewhere to go besides the streets and I am also SUPER THANKFUL that I am now only at school till 4:30ish and NOT seven thanks to a great servant!

7. That it really does take a village to raise a child. If you don't believe me, come to my school/community that I work in for a day. PLEASE COME!

8. That my teachers assistance (YES we are in compliance this year and I have an aid) is a true example of number 7. Every second and fourth Monday she brings in her combs, brushes and grease and braids (corn rolls) my ten boys hair. She knows their moms do not have the time to do it themselves and do not have the money to send them to a barbershop. It takes her 45mins to an hour for each boy, which makes for interesting teaching sessions!

9. That I am in my last semester of GRADUATE SCHOOL! I have my senior portfolio, my senior thesis, and a extremely difficult web design class. I am thinking it is going to be a hard term, but the reward will be a HOOD and a MASTERS!!!!

10. That I have a fantastic boyfriend who can pull me aside and tell me in a loving way that he supports everything I do, but that I need to slow down a bit so I don't get burned out and sick.

11. Of the 13 million children growing up in poverty, about half will graduate from high school. Those that do graduate will perform on average at an eighth-grade level. AND THAT IS WHY I DO MY JOB!

I haven't blogged for ages...and I don't know why. If anything I have plenty to write about,I work in the inner city and have daily mishaps (always good for a laugh) or views on certain situations that are taking place. Anyways, my biggest question from family and friends is why did I stay last year and why do I continued to do what I do. I hope this helps.

Why I stayed and did not quiet last year…

The Friday that opened my eyes:

I threw the teachers edition on the floor and screamed. “ I am NOT dealing with you anymore, I give up.” My class of 24 sixth graders (I was pulling in for reading giving myself 14 extra students on top of my 10 emotional disturbed boys) looked at me surprised, three gasped, and 21 started to laugh. Not snickering. Full out, hold your stomach, mouth open, laughing.

“Great! We don’t like you anyway and this class is booooorrrining! “

“Miss you be turning kind of red.”

“Miss you be ballin and you be Hype.”

“Miss we told you, you wouldn’t last.”

I gritted my teeth, turned around and wrote on the board…page 27 (1-35). “Do it if you want,” I said. The three gasping students opened their books and started working. The rest swiveled in their seats and talked to friends, doodled, or put their heads down and went to sleep.

I walked to my desk, biting my lip and trying not to cry. What was I doing here? The kids would rather anyone (or no one) be in this room, parents were yelling at me as I fumbled through IEP meetings, the administration had spoken to me about my excessive referrals to the office, my “mentor teacher” refused to speak to me and I hated every second of the day.

I literally counted down the minutes left to teach; at the beginning of the day I had 250 minutes that felt endless, after lunch, I was thrilled to be down to 150 minutes. I just had to make it to 3:09pm.
Unfortunately, ending the school day didn’t end the feelings of dread and failure, the constant questioning of how to get better and the misery of thinking everyone else could do this but me.

Some days I couldn’t figure out why I was at Richard Wright Elementary in North Philadelphia. The students didn’t want me there, the administration didn’t want me there, the only people who
wanted me there were the teachers but I was miserable. People told me this would be rewarding, but I didn’t even like my students. People said that it wasn’t that rough, but nothing could happen in my room expect fights, back talking and defiance. They told me I could make a difference and I didn’t know how. But, I stayed. Against my better judgment, I stayed. Against any hope of success, I stayed. And, against any choice that would make life easier, I stayed. I’ve told this story to friends, family, corps members, and even strangers. Everyone asks the same question: WHY? Why did you do that to yourself? Why did you stay?

I always try to quantify all of my answers into neat numbered lists. Depending on my audience, I would choose one of the following answers, although they all rang very deeply true.

1. I really believed it could be done. As students swore at me, I recalled the inspiring opening speeches at institute the summer of 2006: Kids learning to read, teachers creating amazing systems, and classrooms running themselves. I didn’t really know how, but if they could do it I could do it. If their kids could do it, then my kids could definitely do it. I just had to figure out how. I wasn’t ready to give up on my kids or myself.

2. Commitment. I signed up for this (Lets be honest giving up is NOT in my blood) I already made the decision. I was the same person that labored over my application and was excited (that I got into a VERY competitive program consisting of mostly IV league students and top notch University’s) to open the letter containing my placement. My initial inspiration, passion and commitment had to be somewhere.

3. The realization that social change isn’t easy. If closing the achievement gap were quick and fun then it wouldn’t exist anymore. I reminded myself that my frustrating day (or month) with bad classroom management was nothing compared to civil rights workers being harassed and lynched for registering voters or even the daily struggles of my own students. This was hard, but people had sacrificed so much more to make the world right and I couldn’t walk away because I wasn’t having fun. What if everyone had done that? Where would our county be? Whose rights would have ever been protected?

4. I stayed for the glimmers. One day when a student did well on a test, when someone read their first words (NO JOKE), when someone raised there had to participate, or when the whole class finally understood what an inference was. I knew if I increased the glimmers from one a day to two a day to four, eventually the whole day would be solid. Hopefully, I would end with only glimpses of the out of control classroom I once had. I know getting to the other side might be a slow process (but hey I am used to slow process right?) and that I would just have to grit my teeth and fight.

5. I stayed because I know the feeling: Sure I wasn’t a kid with emotional disturbance. But I was a kid who knew what it was like to want to throw in the books. I knew what it was like to fail time after time. I knew what it was like to have such vast challenges ahead that I didn’t even know where to start. I knew what it was like to go to speech therapy. I knew what it was like to finally have the guts to read aloud only to stutter the whole way threw and ended up crying and losing all confidence in myself. I knew what it was like to study really hard for a test to only find out I failed. I knew what it was like feeling as though the light bulb would never click on. I knew what it was like to be labeled. I knew what it was like to feel like no matter how hard I worked I was never going to succeed. I knew what it was like when your very much younger brother was smarter then you. I knew what it was like…

I also knew what it was like when mountains turned into success!

6. I stayed for: Gregory, Haneef, Khiry, Jakeem, Yahseer, Julian and Hasson. Kids who had the power to make me angry, frustrated, shocked, scared, and ultimately proud.

7. I also stayed for my parents who made sure I was in the best schools in the best school districts, who encouraged and supported me know matter what, and who sacrificed thousands upon thousands of hours studying with me and NOT getting frustrated after the tenth time of going over the SAME problem.

The reason to stay, all of which would come and go by the hour, weren’t enough. With the shaky rationale behind me, I had to make the final leap. I had to just decided to commit. I had to say to myself this is it; I don’t have an option anymore. I’m not going to drive to school and think about walking away. I am not going to call my father crying at 3:15pm in the school parking lot anymore. I’m not going to talk about it with my friends anymore. I am staying and now I have much bigger and more purposeful things to worry about: how can I get better, how can I engage my students and how can I make my pre institute ideal happen.

So what happened when I stayed? Did I change the lives of children? Did I drag kids though six grade, who would have dropped out? Did I learn that there is nothing I would rather dedicate my life to than ensuring that children have choices? Yes, yes and yes!!!

So how did the change happen? I left work one Friday night went straight to staples and picked up loads of poster board, markers, glitter, color tape and anything colorful that I could get my hands on. I made posters all weekend with my friend Aaron and redid my lesson plans that basically excluded any educational (reading, writing or math) learning for three weeks.

Monday morning Aaron and I got to my school at 630am. We put tape outside my door, rearranged the classroom and hung everything on the walls. I picked my “kids” up in the yard at 830am…

“Fuck that bitch… she is so JOE why won’t she just roll”

“ Yea she be nothing but a White Ass Cracker anyways”

I just waited till all 10 of my boys got in line. We walked upstairs and I made them stand against the wall outside my door. I explained that the tape is a divider between the halls of Richard R Wright and Ms Lagos’s class. When you cross that tape you are in my classroom and you must follow my rules. For the next three weeks I did not let my “kids” breathe without me. We all went to the bathroom together, I gave up my prep and went with them to prep (music, gym, computer lab and science) I went with them to lunch and recess. For the next three weeks we did the TRIBE book. We worked on community building activities. We worked on NOT throwing desk when we were mad (and going to the peace corner instead), not cursing, not putting our classmates down, (your mom is a CRACK WHORE) not thinking negatively and following directions which sometimes meant taking 45mins just to line up correctly.

I started calling all my kids on my way to work, to make sure they were up and heading to school for breakfast to show them that I cared. I started being real with my kids and letting them know about the struggles and adversity that I faced growing up. I started letting them know that my parents cared about them. Ellie and my Dad bought the Magic Tree House Series (a second grade reading level…but my boys had no idea) and I started giving them out as rewards (they loved these books and treated them like gold) to take home and read. Mom and Dave sent a box full of snowcaps, gloves, and other stuff that I slowly gave out for good behavior.

Before long we become a family! Like any family thought, we had continual problems and outbursts. It was funny because my “kids” would treat me like garbage some days, but if an outside student came in and said shit to me…they would be all over that student.

Some Student Quotes that have stuck with me:
• Yo Yongebo you can’t say that in Ms Lagos’s class
• Don’t be drawl with Ms Lagos…she be raping with us
• Don’t be Salty to Ms Lagos she be really believing in us
• Ms Lagos might be Hype but she be giving us cool Jawns and trying to bust a Wu Tang
• Ms Lagos I think you’re the WORST teacher ever….PSYCH NAW…(and it a very humble and quite voice) thanks for believing that we can do anything.

My 10 boys (and 14 other students who pulled in for reading) and I had a love hate relationship. There were many good days that out weighed the bad ones. Like when we came up with the president’s rap (Now lets get down to some presidential learning, will start with George Washington straight from Mount Vernon) and my boys shouted in the halls that Ms Lagos and her white self could rap. Or when we went to the park and had water ice on Saturdays as a reward for good behavior. Or when my boys would call me and say that they were sorry for their bad behavior, and Haneeff calling me on Thanksgiving and Christmas to say hello!

So to all the folks that have asked what last year was about or why I do what I do, I hope that this gives you some insight to why I am doing what I am doing.

I've Learned: A poem of what I have learned over the past 9 months in Philly

I've learned
that you cannot make someone love you.
All you can do is
be someone who can be loved.
The rest is up to them.

I've learned -
that no matter how much I care,
some people just don't care back.

I've learned -
that it takes years to build up trust,
and only seconds to destroy it.

I've learned -
that it's not what you have in your life
but who you have in your life that counts.

I've learned -
that it's not what happens to people
that's important. It's what they do about it.

I've learned -
that you can do something in an instant
that will give you heartache for life.

I've learned -
that no matter how thin you slice it,
there are always two sides.

I've learned -
that it's taking me a long time
to become the person I want to be.

I've learned -
that it's a lot easier
to react than it is to think.

I've learned -
that you should always leave
loved ones with loving words.
It may be the last time you see them.

I've learned -
that you can keep going
long after you think you can't.

I've learned -
that we are responsible for what we do,
no matter how we feel.

I've learned -
that either you control your attitude
or it controls you.

I've learned -
that heroes are the people
who do what has to be done
when it needs to be done,
regardless of the consequences.

I've learned -
that learning to forgive takes practice.

I've learned -
that there are people who love you dearly,
but just don't know how to show it.

I've learned -
that my best friend and I can do anything
or nothing and have the best time.

I've learned -
that sometimes the people you expect
to kick you when you're down
will be the ones to help you get back up.

I've learned -
that sometimes when I'm angry
I have the right to be angry,
but that doesn't give me
the right to be cruel.

I've learned -
that true friendship continues to grow,
even over the longest distance.

I've learned -
that just because someone doesn't love you
the way you want them to, doesn't mean
they don't love you with all they have.

I've learned -
that maturity has more to do with
what types of experiences you've had
and what you've learned from them
and less to do with how many
birthdays you've celebrated.

I've learned _
that you should never tell a child
their dreams are unlikely or outlandish.
Few things are more humiliating, and
what a tragedy it would be
if they believed it.

I've learned -
that your family won't always
be there for you. It may seem funny,
but people you aren't related to
can take care of you and love you
and teach you to trust people again.
Families aren't biological.

I've learned -
that no matter how good a friend is,
they're going to hurt you
every once in a while
and you must forgive them for that.

I've learned -
that it isn't always enough
to be forgiven by others.
Sometimes you have to learn
to forgive yourself.

I've learned -
that no matter how bad
your heart is broken
the world doesn't stop for your grief.

I've learned -
that our background and circumstances
may have influenced who we are,
but we are responsible for who we become.



I've learned -
that sometimes you have to put
the individual ahead of their actions.

I've learned -
that we don't have to change friends
if we understand that friends change.

I've learned -
that two people can look
at the exact same thing
and see something totally different.

I've learned -
that no matter how you try to protect
your children (my students), they will eventually get hurt
and you will hurt in the process.

I've learned -
that no matter the consequences,
those who are honest with themselves
get farther in life.

I've learned -
that no matter how many friends you have,
if you are their pillar you will feel lonely
and lost at the times you need them most.

I've learned -
that your life can be changed
in a matter of hours
by people who don't even know you.

I've learned -
that even when you think
you have no more to give,
when a friend cries out to you,
you will find the strength to help.

I've learned -
that writing, as well as talking,
can ease emotional pains.

I've learned -
that the paradigm we live in
is not all that is offered to us.

I've learned -
that credentials on the wall
do not make you a decent human being.

I've learned -
that the people you care most about in life
are taken from you too soon.

I've learned -
that although the word "love"
can have many different meanings,
it loses value when overly used.

I've learned -
that it's hard to determine
where to draw the line
between being nice and
not hurting people's feelings
and standing up for what you believe.

In The Mail: Had to share

I had an extremely busy weekend as my Best Friend Ali came in for a long weekend visit. The weekend was glorious! I now just took the chance to check my mail cubbie and found a postcard from one of my students and a early birthday card from my dad and Ellie. Both were a breath of fresh air as the anxiety for the up coming week sets in on Sunday night.

The postcard read this:

MY Favorite Thing About My Teacher Is...
"That she teach alot of things everyday. She's nice and calm. Sometimes she do fun things. So that's what I like about her and she do the best she can." _One of my sixth grade student's_

A Day In Reivew

7:30 – It begins. Park the car, lock it securely. Narrowly miss being mowed down by one of Septa’s finest as I dash across the street juggling bags, a cookie sheet of cupcakes and what feels like 11 liquid pounds of 100% juice (apple – kids love apple juice, right??)

7:32 – Signing in. Greet Ms. Tart, secretary extraordinaire, various teachers and principal #2. (Richard Wright is a living contradiction to the age-old ‘two heads are better than one.’ It ought to be qualified to suggest that at least one head, though preferably both, must be moderately functional for the advice to hold water. But I digress…) After signing in I get asked to sign some forms from a psych evaluation from one of my students. Then the staff laughs and jokes with me as I say YES maim and NO sir, and remind me yet again how Southern I really am. I believe a true day at Wright has started.

8:09 – My 5th and 6th grade students, anxious for the party they have earned by 6 consecutive days of avoiding attempted manslaughter inside the walls of my classroom, wander into my classroom to chat and get a heads up on the surprise I’ve prepared. I hold my secretive ground, planning to hold the party over their heads to maintain their attention later in class, and send them back to the cafeteria.

8:15 – 8:30 – Various Things? I spend this time (usually 730ish to 830) each day doing the following: ushering students out of my classroom, getting my classroom ready for my students and running off copies. Today was spent on numbers 1 & 2. I wrote our agenda and homework on the board, stashed the cupcakes and got our Do Now folders ready.

8:30-900-: I finally get my 8 students into my classroom. I reminded them to hang coats and backpacks up and to hand in their blue homework folders. I keep my voice soft and calm, hoping that it can stay this way all day. The DO NOW is up on the board and every one of my students actually starts without having to be prompted. This is NOT how the case usually is. As the students are working on their DO NOW I walk around and quietly check in with each student and make sure that meds were taking before school and how each one is doing. I make any notes on my clipboard (which I have with me at all times) and circulate around the room.

900am-930:Writing Time. Let’s just say that this is not the token hour of the day. It’s more or less the pulling teeth, slamming heads, and wanting to kill everyone of my student’s hour. Today’s assignment involves planning a Problem-Centered Circle Story using a graphic organizer. The assignment asked for a title, opening sentence, and filling in the circles for two characters and the setting. That’s it, nothing more, nothing less. Within 5 minutes I had students sliding down in their chairs, throwing pencils, banging on desks and telling me to “get out of their face” (which can be said at any given moment and usually happens when I am across the room) …As I look up at the clock I realize it’s going to be a rocky one if things don’t get turned around quickly. My voice gets a little louder.

935-1030: Math Hour. Math hour is usually an enjoyable hour. Two of my students are extremely below grade level and are working on single digit subtraction, but the other five are working on 4th grade math and are only one or two grade levels behind. Today’s assignment: Metric Units of Length. I knew that this was going to be a stretch for my kiddos to grasp, but I was hoping that the hands on activities that were planned would help. The lesson went pretty well and we only had two episodes of rulers and calculators being chucked across the room due to frustration, which is a vast improvement to most days. The voice got a little softer.

10:30-1045 Down Time: This time is a must with EMOTIONAL SUPPORT and EMOTIONALLY DISTRUDED STUDENTS. I use this time to get to know my students and build relationships with them. What we do during this time varies on the moods and attitudes in the room. On any particular day we could play cards, look up interesting facts on the internet (two days ago we looked up the Amazon River and learned about what kind of creatures live there and other various facts), have my students teach me various dance moves and slang terms, and read. To my surprise my students have been on a reading kick! Before Christmas we finished reading Harry Potter: Volume One and watched the movie. The mood has continued and now we are on the second book! As “grown-up” as my students are, they turn into little boys when I start reading. Just staring at me and begging for me to keep reading!

1045-1130: Prep. This is the time of day when my students go to Tech, Science, Gym or music, it’s my time to do what needs to get done. Or have a scream!


11:35 – 1:00 – Welcome to the Circus! I have 16 5th and 6th grade boys who come to me for reading. I cannot recall a day where they all showed up (do to suspension, in-school suspension or absent) to my classroom. These guys are wild, and the lack of any sense of consistent discipline in the 5th and 6th grade goes far to encourage their wanton ways. They spent last year in a self-contained classroom running amuck, terrorizing a string of subs ( and various teachers who came and went) and generally digressing academically at warp speed. Their ability levels are dramatically different from what their work suggests, due to behavior problems, a mortally wounding lack of focus and a general air of disinterest. They are not convinced that school is worthwhile, and that is what I am working to correct. I want them to want to learn. They can do it, but I can’t do it for them, try though I do. Today was not a stellar day. One of our vocabulary words this week is “wily,” and if the broken-record technique is a successful teaching tool, my students are likely to never forget the word. In the past two days (the entirety of our week thus far), I have had opportunity to point out dozens of examples of wily-ness for my students. Their cunning attempts at trickery are not often well executed, but what they lack in sophistication they make up for in spirit. Their wily-ness alone is enough to convince anyone of their innate intelligence, criminally intentions not withstanding. Our routine (which I’m struggling to institute) is as follows: walk into classroom (do not run, jump, dance or fight), pick up green Do Now folder (your own, and please don’t hide, tear, throw or mutilate anyone else’s in the process), follow the Do Now prompt on the board (raise your hand with questions, do not shriek, flip out, run around or storm out of class). After that, our agenda is written on the board, and we’ll give it a valiant effort to stay somewhere in the same galaxy as our plan.

Today’s Do Now was to brainstorm 5 sentences from our 5 vocabulary words. We did the first one together, and that went well. Some students were in their seats (a welcome change from the days when they were throwing their seats) and participating. They are getting the “raise your hand” game down, but the “and wait to be called on” is proving more complicated for them. At this point shouting that doesn’t involve “your mom”, “crack baby” or various choice expletives and is actually related to the subject matter seems like a victory rather than an example of a broken rule. Our Do Now took about 20 minutes, during which time 2 separate shoving matches took place. My boys are wimps. They want to act tough, but, when it comes down to the nitty-gritty, they’re all too scared to do any real damage to each other. Eventually everyone calmed down enough not to punch anybody else, or even threaten people, and we were able to accomplish our activity. The boys had earned enough class points for a party the week before, and I’d brought in the cupcakes and juice for them. They kept asking what we were having, and my crafty reply was “just wait. The sooner we finish our work they sooner you’ll find out.” This worked until the Do Now was over and we began to review summaries. At this point Jahlil, the goliath of the classroom who towers well above my head and far outweighs his scant 12 years, found the hidden treat. He immediately, and in opposition to my request to the contrary, lifted the foil and exposed my treat to the rest of the boys. Let’s just say it was hard to keep the troops focused after that little reconnaissance mission. Eventually the clock struck 12:30, “party time,” and boys who had previously shown little ability to read a digital clock, let alone the analog wall mounted classroom clock, began to clamor for their treat. I dished out the cupcakes and apple juice (amid whines and complaints of “where’s the soda!?” Are they kidding? Not for all the tea in china, kiddos. Sugar and caffeine? Do I look masochistic to you?) We listened to music, and my students were once again shocked that I knew some of the songs on the radio. They harbor fantasies that I a. live in a cave, b. am pop culture immune due to being white, and c. I’m too old to listen to “their” music. We broke out the disco-dancing-80’s-flashback light ball. It was a good time!

100-145: Lunch and Recess: My students barged into the hallway (Sadly enough we have digressed to the first days of school since Winter Break and they seem to have forgot how to walk in the halls), carrying juice and jeering at their classmates who were not so lucky as to be in my class, and had missed out on the party. A teacher from down the hall came storming into my classroom to inform me that one of my students had – horror of horrors in her eyes – apple juice! In a cup! In the hall! Evidently this woman is violently opposed to apple juice. To hear her rant you’d have thought I’d given the boy an arsenic milkshake and asked him to share it with all his friends. I had to elbow my way through the gladiator-knock off style fighting in the hallway to demand that my student “finish it! Just chug it.” Flashbacks of undergrad were impossible to ignore…

150-300 Social Studies and Science Block: Because my students get science twice a week for 45 mins we do not do Science during this time. Every other day we do Social Studies and the other days we work on IEP goals, (Individual Education Plans) which I am so formula with as I have had one since grade one (being in Sped myself). Right now in Social Studies we are down to the basics. How basic do you ask? We are learning that Philly is a city, in the state of PA and that PA is one of the 50 states and that the 50 states collectively is called The United States Of America and that the U.S.A is on a continent called North America and well you get the point.

305: I walk my kiddos out to the yard, watch them for awhile and walk up to the second floor being thankful that the day is over.

Placement:

On Friday I found out I was going to be teaching in North Philadelphia (which was NOT a surprise as it is the "rough" side of town) at a local elementary school. Here in Philadelphia they are slowly getting rid of Middle Schools and turning Elementary Schools into k-8, but making them smaller and more community like.

Today I meet the principle and the staff. The Elementary School is k-6 and it currently has 410 students. I found out I will be doing Learning Support/Emotional Support 4-6 grade for Special Ed. I will have about 8-10 students (right now it's 8 boys) and they are all LS and ES. I know that this is where I am needed and I am excited. It was hard hearing the staff tell me that NO teacher has stayed there longer then a year, that my students are uncontrollable and one teacher even went far enough to say that they were going to eat me alive (those are my nice words for what she said). From these short conversations I soon found out who were the positive teachers and whom were not. After that all went down a young lady named Caitlin pulled me aside and informed me that she was TEACH FOR AMERICA 03 (The Charter year) and we had a huge looong conversation and I left feeling extremely better. I felt better because she knew my training and how I will go about approaching the class. Don't get me wrong there is A LOT of work ahead of me, I am excited to have Caitlin there, I am also excited that TFA thought I would be the best person for this job and that I am going to be able to build an outstanding relationship with this school and get other TFA folks in there next year.

Here is a little about North Philadelphia

North Philadelphia is located just north of Center City, along Broad Street, and includes Fairmount, Hunting Park, Spring Garden, Strawberry Mansion and West Kensington. Also home to Temple University, North Philly is an area full of students, young families and a community rich in history and tradition, particularly Philadelphia's civil rights struggle in the '60s. A diverse group of ethnicities live in the area and the impact is reflected in bars, restaurants, shops and local culture. New homes and rental units are currently in development around the area, attracting a mix of low-income residents and middle-class families.

Philadelphia Neighborhoods:

The city of Philadelphia has welcomed me with open arms. Before arriving, I had always heard Philadelphia describe in relation to other cities, whether it was "New York Light" or "Big Pittsburgh". As it turns out, Philadelphia effortlessly accomplishes having more character and identity than any other city I have known. Each neighborhood has its own vibe, but all of them are welcoming. The city is hip while unpretentious, daunting yet quaint, an the pride of Philadelphia is contagious.

The main neighborhoods in Philadelphia are University City/West Philly, Center City, Art Museum Area, Old City, Antique Row, North Philly, Olney, Oak Lane, Germantown, Manayunk, High society, Queens, and South Philly! As I said before each neighborhood has its own vibe and it is fantastic having us all spread out across Philly, so we can get the "favor" of each neighborhood. A good majority of us live in High Society, Queens and South (or Irish Town) Philly which are all in walking distance of each other.

I moved to South Philly three weeks ago. I live in a row house (three stories and a basement) with two girls an a guy. The neighborhood is NOT lacking character and from the outside you might think it looks a bit rough, but the people here are great and have welcomed us with open arms. What I love about South Philly is that I walk everywhere! I walk to the Italian Market to get fresh veggies, fruits and meats. I walk to South Street (with is like 6 street in Austin) which is an ecliptic street with little boutiques, restaurants, pubs and bars. And I walk to the subway. The only time I really drive my car is to work and if I am going out of the city. I love it!!!