mentor

Young men today need our help and guidance on their journey to manhood. They need to understand responsibilities and duties of manhood. Its not about how many women you have(or had), how many men you can outdrink,how many children you can produce. It is about handling responsibities thrust upon us (wanted or not)in a way that benefits all concerned. The old saying “Your Word is Your Bond” so true. It is about” being a player in your own destiny” and handling your business. It is about motivation, caring, sharing, helping,respecting, learning, teaching, understanding,listening,praying.

After working for AmeriCorps in a ghetto high school for a year and a half, I realized that black teenage men (and women) are being left behind—far behind—by our school system. (No Child Left Behind should be retitled: “No White Child Left Behind.”)

As a professional writer (advertising, short stories, essays, movie reviews) and a voracious reader, I feel that being unable to read and communicate is an appalling tragedy. I don’t think you can fulfill your potential in this country and become truly yourself without these skills. I want to open up these new worlds of possibility to young black males. I want to work with males because I also want to be their mentor.

At 71, I want to devote the rest of life to this task.

The irony is that although I have been a volunteer at the Center for Literacy since 1995 and have done volunteer tutoring in our public schools, I cannot get a job with the School District of Philadelphia because I don’t have a college degree. In other words, I’m qualified to be a tutor until it’s a question of being paid for it; then I’m suddenly unqualified.