“How does the appearance of Rage affect your retirement as Commissioner?” asked journalist, Stephanie Miller.

“It doesn’t affect me at all, I believe myself to have done some good in Philadelphia without the help of Rage.” Answered Police Commissioner Bale.

“Sources say that you have been coaching on Lieutenant Catherine Pressley to run for your position as the next Commissioner of Philadelphia’s police force.”

“I have been in conversation with the lieutenant; she has done a fine job in her current position and will do so as the next commissioner. When first hearing that she showed interest in becoming the next Commissioner I was thrilled, but I never ‘coached’ her on as you say.”

 “I have a question about Rage.” Asked journalist, Larry Sox.

Police commissioner Bale stood at the podium in Love Park, an officer on either side of him. He was feeling up with anger, glaring at the reporter who had just asked that question. It had been over a month since the costumed figure known as Rage arrived in Philadelphia, cleaning up its crime ridden streets. The first sighting being made of this…vigilante in Fairmount Park.

There were now rumors circulating throughout the city that the sudden arrival of Rage meant that Philadelphia police had suddenly unleashed some kind of secret weapon upon criminals because they themselves could not stop the overwhelming crime. The secondary rumor was that in someway Rage was connected with the sudden arrival of the mass murderer, Crow.

The Philadelphia police had not been able to bring the criminal to justice where as Rage had been able to stop a number of his crimes, generating more heat on Commissioner Bale. Answering questions about Rage was the last thing he wanted to do right now.

“Why not form an alliance with Rage?” Larry continued.

“As I’ve said previously,” Bale began “The Philadelphia Police do not form alliances with individuals who take the law into their own hands. We do not have any connections with the sudden appearance of Rage or any knowledge of his whereabouts.”

“You say that you do not form alliances with individuals who take the law into their own hands Commissioner,” added journalist, Tony Harris. “Yet statistics state that over the past few weeks’ crime has slowly declined because of Rage.”

“Just because Philadelphia has some…vigilante now jumping from building to building does not mean that it will be safe. This Rage character has done nothing but bring about more crime in the city.”

“So are you saying that you believe that in someway both Crow and Rage are connected?” Tony continued.

“I am not saying that at all…” Commissioner Bale took a moment to squint at the journalist’s name, “Tony. I am merely stating that two wrongs do not make a right. Having someone taking the law into their own hands and manipulating it as they see fit will only encourage others to do the same.”

“Well if it will stop people from killing each other, I’m glad Rage is here.” Cried a citizen.

“You shouldn’t be sir because the kind of inspiration that I am talking about will only influence the wrong kinds of people. You think Philadelphia has it bad now with criminals running around and killing innocent individuals, just wait until they start imitating Rage. All of you are cheering now, but Philadelphia will only get worst when at last you will wish you have had listened to me.”

“So you believe that the appearance of Rage will influence some…supervillians to try and rival him?” commented Lary, holding back a small laugh.

“I only believe that things will become even harder.”

“It seems that the citizens of Philadelphia have two huge options then Commissioner,” added Tony, “seek the help that Rage is given or watch as things fall apart even more and become harder.”

The commissioner said nothing and started to back away from the podium when no more questions were flying at him.

“Before you go Commissioner, do you and your officers have a plan to stop Crow, he has already killed 10 people within the last 2 weeks and it seems that he slips right through your fingers.”

“My men and I are trying our best to apprehend Crow; you must remember that 2 of those men were police officers…”

Silver Bailey turned off his television.

Not really sure if you would consider this a spoiler or not, don’t think I’m really going to get into the needy greedy. Then again I may. This entry is so late because I got deeply involved with the newspaper and am proud to say that it is coming along nicely. Also, for those who have voted on teenink for me, thanks, planning on submitting part 2 before I turn 19.

Anywho, the Dark Knight is the best hero movie this summer. There’s nothing else to really say.  It comes in at first place within my books, beating my viewing of Prince Caspian and the Spiderwick Chronicles. When me and my friends arrived at the theater last Tuesday (it was 6.00 discount) we weren’t expecting the line for tickets to stretch out the theater though we did expect the consession stan to be a mess. I nearly fell down while trying to find four seats…

Yeah, as in some movie theaters there were talkers but once Batman started playing and you got entangled in all of the twists and turns you quickly became silent. Commissioner Gordon made a triumphant return, Two-Face made an unexpected appearance, and the Joker was just a pure nut case…which was excellent.

There wasn’t a lot of fighting, but the Dark Knight didn’t need it, why? The movie made you think. How far can you go before you start or the people you are trying to protect see you as a villian? How far will you go to apprehend the Joker when he has killed so many in the past few hours, days, or just recently your daughter? (the killing joke) If there are two boats floating in the river with one being filled with good natured outstanding citizens and the other with ruthless criminals and you can save yourself by blowing the other ship up, would you do it?

There are so many things I like about this movie that it is worth the hype going to see it this summer, way better than Hellboy which I also saw. Hellboy was just good, a bit boring, a bit funny, and a bit predictable.

Batman:The Kiling Joke is an alright comic, I liked it and next to The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller its one of the best Batman comics I’ve read. If you were to read this comic right after seeing the Dark Knight it would fit perfectly. The Joker pulls off his most dangerous off all jokes, he cripples Barbara Gordon and humiliates her father. The ending, however, is a joke.

 I was talking to a co-worker of mine this past Saturday about it, he believes and I do also that Philadelphia is the real Gotham City. Give you any ideas about what my next story is going to be about after I finish the book series? Funny enough this one is already at the library of Congress, have to check on it.

I remember the day, when I was in my 10th grade Biology class that The Girl Who Could Fly was written. I’ve only have an imaginative feeling like that every so often, this past weekend after watching Avatar I had began the writing process for a being or commonly known as a Book-Keeper, this is what Shanika is.  Soon after writing Shanika’s first story and after a little bit of dragging on my end I wrote the continuations of her stories which now presently are the middle for my book, though this may change. Now all I have to do it get working on the begining and the end.

So far Zachary, Samantha, Byron, and Shanika have only made appearances within the pages of the North Philly Metropolis and a brief appearance in The Cap Literacy Magazine from the Community College of Philadelphia. WIth their story ending, at least their NPM chapters, I thought it would be appropriate to try and get them known, myself also, in other publications.

 A few months ago I had submitted The Girl Who Could Fly to Teen Ink, actually this is my second time submitting. Anyhow, today was the day that I received an email saying thet my recent submission had been read by the editors and was chosen for publication on teeninkraw. How exciting! I’ve been reading and re-reading the letter, but here’s a segment from the letter that I want you all to pay attention to”

Teen Ink RAW is our new website for unedited, unfiltered teen-generated poetry, fiction, articles, reviews, opinions, artwork, etc., that allows you and others to rate your work and provide feedback. Highest rated stories in each section will be prominently displayed on the site. Your work could be among them, so vote often and send the link to all your friends and family and ask them to vote too. (Up to one vote per article per day)

So if you all don’t mind, please vote for me. I really would appreciate it. This is one step closer for me and my writing to become known, not to mention I might be able to add this to my resume’. The link to my story will respectively be in ‘the book series’ section of the site, please visit there and remember to vote.

I hope that when letters about the NPM go out that people become as excited as I am now and for those of you who are wondering about my ‘Dark Knight’ entry, its coming. I went yesterday with a couple of friends, it was very good so go see it.

And for those of you who are wondering when I’m putting the NPM chapters together into one big volume, don’t worry I’m working on it. It shall be called, The Bundle Thus Far. Well off to finishing the paper I go

Peace 

Editor’s Note:Yeah I know. I was in the bookstore not too long ago and noticed a book entitled The Girl Who Could Fly. Clearly when writing the story in the 10th grade I had no knowledge that the title aready existed or was in the works. Oh well, at least my entire series isn’t titled the Girl Who Could Fly like it was going to be at one point.

Here it is, the Gen.Is.Us trailer, I’m going to work on being more involved in the fall, still a behind the scenes guy though…

I’ve been kind of busy over the last week, sorry. For the past two weeks I’ve been visiting the Inquirer (my dream place) and sharing my office with Dentists (another story for another entry). If reading the previous post you should have guessed that I am now going to start posting some of articles up, I’m excited about that. I’m also working on getting the pdf versions of the npm uploaded on my north philly metropolis page and I’ll be beefing up the blog site real soon. Tomorrow, by the way, I’m going to see ‘The Dark Knight.’ Sure, all of you have probably seen it already but not all of us like to see movies on opening day weekend. I also brought, Batman:The Killing Joke, very good Batman comic and explains a lot about the nut case Joker. The ending is strange though. I’ll explain everything tomorrow with synopsis, spoilers of the two, yeah I’m mean. I’ll also tell you a little about my Inquirer advantures (hope I spelled this right, if not forgive me its been a long day with the kiddies).

My mother found two kittens yesterday morning in front of our door and I’ve been taking care of them ever since. Trying to find them a good home and such. A lot of good and bad news is brewing for Peak, let’s hope the good outweighs the bad.

It seems readers that our desperate hope for a peaceful city, unfortunately, is still only a dream. Why? Because if I were to talk to your girlfriend or if I had mistakenly bumped into you while trying to make it to class on time, it is likely that I would get hurt, though not with fists. It becomes so difficult to understand how someone can pull the trigger of a gun ending a person’s life.

I don’t mean to ask such a cliché question, but isn’t this supposed to be the city of brotherly love? When did everything begin to fall apart in our fair city? Did the violence begin to escalate more when former mayor John F. Street was in office and Sylvester Johnson was commission or further back? 179 people aged 7-24 were killed in Philadelphia last year. Of those who were killed, 94% were killed with firearms. Philadelphia police have made major crime busts in recent months where “justice” has been served, however, why can’t this continue. With the sudden police deaths almost every officer could be found trying to find the individual responsible. Or they could be found on television abusing their power. Though what about the other countless murderers who are lose in the city, why aren’t they being looked for as drastically as the police killers were?

Questions like theses are starting to make people wonder if Mayor Michael Nutter and police commissioner Charles Ramsey are doing as they promised to protect the city. Though as of the first six months this year, homicides are down by 20% while violent crime is only down by 6%. Though Despite this, it does seem that the two are on their way to reducing crime in Philadelphia. One of the objectives listed in Police Commissioner Ramsey’s Crime Fighting Plan is to add 200 more police officers to the streets of Philly.

But I wonder if increasing police on the streets, will there be some kind of retaliation by the citizens of Philadelphia. My feelings are similar to the ones when first hearing about the “stop and frisk” policy. According to an article on philly.com entitled ‘Nutter seeks even lower crime rates’ Ramsey states that the policy is showing nothing but good results. Furthermore police have so far stopped 103,433 pedestrians during the first half of this year, a 58 percent increase, and 193,300 vehicles, a 17 percent increase. Police have so far seized 1,570 weapons which is a 2.3 percent increase over last year. A concern for some Philadelphians is trying to build better connections with Philadelphia Police and actually being able to talk to them.

Another point that Philadelphians bring up is that city officials should just stop ignoring the facts and stop releasing criminals early.Though when you think about it, why should we be the ones to judge Ramsey and Nutter when all they’re asking is for us, the citizens of Philadelphia, to help them. All we can do is be afraid of telling who hurt our next door neighbor, friend, cousin, sister, our brother. On June 17, 2008 Strawberry Mansion High School held their graduation at Temple University’s Liacouras Center. This day was supposed to be one of the best of days for Khiry Caldwell and all of his friends who were graduating and going on to college. Graduation day is supposed to be the best day for anyone who is graduation.

Graduation is not supposed to be filled with fear. It is not supposed to be filled with tears, and it is not supposed to be filled with gunfire and fights. On Khiry Caldwell day of graduation he did not only receive his diploma. He received an injury to the back by a gun that was fired as a result from a fight that was between a group of young men. Luckily the injury was not life threatening. Khiry only suffered a cracked rib and a bruised lung. Two days before this incident a 23 year old man who came from Minnesota with the dream of teaching in Philadelphia was shot and killed for his iPod.

There is a solution to this; we need to start looking out for one another. Let’s support one another and stop letting each other down. As stated by Mr. Wade Jackson, “we are all supposed to be as one, love each other as one, no matter what color you may be.” 

here we go

And it works!This is the video, “Keep Your Mind Wide Open” by Anna Sophia Robb. Currently this video is up somewhere on the NPM’s facebook page, but anywho the reason I put this up because Keep your mind wide open is the NPM’s motto, my motto, its what we all should live by. Now I can start putting up the niddy griddy video’s that you all should be paying attention to, next up will be the Genisus trailer. Once I can get a decent wireless connection that is. Oh and by the way, yes it was very simple to put this up yet it took me a week to figure it out, how sad.

This is going to be somewhat of a long post. So if you don’t have anything too important to do, then sit back, relax, and enjoy what I have to say.

First off, I did go see Hancock Saturday and it was funny and it had action in it. I could have wrote about it when I returned home but because of my rather weak wireless connection I can only do so much. Now if you are planning on going to see the movie then skip a few lines and move on to my Outstanding Parenting saga. I will not ruin the whole plot for you because you probably can figure it out for yourself by watching the trailer and previews, I’ll just mention some things about thats all.

In the begining of the movie Hancock is a jerk and a complete ass-hole which just so happens to be his least favorite thing to be called. He drinks, curses, destroys, and saves a lot of people in the process in his own special way. There is one part in the movie which iis very funny, something you would picture a guy like Hancock saying. After saving Ray (the guy who helps Hancock’s image) from the train a group of angry citizen surround him, one angry fat guy says something about sueing Hancock where Hancock replies, “Well you need to sue McDonalds because they f— you up.” Inappropriate and rude yes, but funny.

Then there’s the part of how Hancock is in jail and everyone he put there surrounds him. He kindly asks the guy who’s in front of him to move out of the way, however, he doesn’t. Hancock then does what he threatened to do a few minutes before shoves one guy head into another guys behing. Again, inappropriate, but funny.

There is a supposed twist in the movie, I really don’t consider it a twist because you can tell from certain looks. There is another super powered being in Hancock’s city that he knew nothing about. Its so obvious who it is and again you may already know from the trailer and previews. So in conclusion, yes Hancock may have wanted to change good a bit too quickly, yes there is a lot of cursing, yes it is funny, but I think its a good movie that deserves a A or B, not C like some critics have already given it. Though I’m not a very good movie critic.

Now to the Outstanding Parenting half of this. Hancock, like I said above is a very good movie but it has a lot of cursing and some scences that kids just shouldn’t see. For example, someone’s head getting shoved into someone’s butt, a persons hand getting cut off, you understand. But I can’t understand why parents continue to bring their kids to movies like these. I’m talking kids who are 3-7.  I know they are eager to see the movie and are disapointed that they have no one to watch their kids, but don’t bring them to a movie that will leave them to think that cursing is another form of speaking correctly. Also, its just rude for the other people who are trying to hear the movie but instead have to listen to your son/daughter crying.

But that’s outstanding parenting for you…yeah right.

I thought I understood people, but now I know I was wrong. People are always going to be a mystery to figure out. You can first view them as individuals who will not let you down and are honest to the fullest, but then you find out that you are wrong and that they have made you look like a fool. I was waiting for the bus on Saturday and this man was backing up to park, I didn’t hear him blowing his horn because I was looking to see if the bus was coming at the bus stop. Plus his horn was low. So he says “don’t you hear me blowing the horn man, what are you bionic?” I didn’t respond, I could have.

It just seems to me that with those rude remarks people are doing nothing but proving themselves to be society’s stereotypical product. Meaning what people say about African Americans are sometimes trube because we prove it to be.

Now friends, although I call them associates. I was actually able this past weekend to reconnect with some of my middle-school classmates on facebook. I’m really happy because in the eigth grade was when I had most of my fun and had plenty of my cushes, not high school though. High school was ok, but not as fun as middle-school. Middle-school was also where I found inspiration for some of my characters or where I borrowed some names. I’m still presently on the hunt for more of my associates, but so far I have 27 friends and counting. Sure most people have 320 or 537, but give me a break not many people know about Peak Johnson, hopefully they will soon.

As you all know, yesterday was the 4th of July. My co-worker had invited me over to her house for a small barbecue with family and friends. I had fun, her son is very funny. Anyway, I always asked the question ever since watching the John Adams series of whether or not the founding fathers would be proud of the way that America is today. I thought about this even more when watching the news yesterday and seeing our president at Thomas Jefferson’s home and saying that we are proud to keep to Jefferson’s legacy or something like that.

I know that I don’t know much about politics, and I have to read up on some of the old presidents, but didn’t Bush help cause some of the problems that we are facing today? So far in my young life I haven’t seen as much bad advertising or documentation about anyone like it has been for Bush.

Back when the nation was being formed Washington and the others really didn’t know what they were doing, but they were attempting to build up the nation the best way they believed to be fit. It seems that some of what they had set up way back then has either been changed or is still lingering. Though you don’t get the full effect of what they were trying to do or what they were all about until you realize what president Bush has done or is doing.

I could be wrong, but John Adams was disliked by some because he avoided a war. Yet we’re still in war with Iraq that costing so much and not just money, but life in general. Why are they still over there? I think that if the founding fathers were here, Ben Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and the rest I believe that they would be shocked to see what has become of their creation.

America doesn’t seem to be about peace or avoiding wars, but high gas prices, a low economy, spoiled and evil individuals, money, war, stupidity, fear, the list goes on.

This is all I have to say about the nations 232 birthday, hopefully I’ll have some interesting articles about Philadelphia in our next issue. I’ll be returning to facebook now to work on my page and the npm’s, then maybe a nap, followed by a trip to the theaters to watch Hancock. I’ll let you know what I thought of the movie.

If you are interested by the way of becoming friends with me or the North Philly Metropolis, please view the “Peak Johnson Happenings page” and the “North Philly Metropolis page”

It is now presently 1:37 a.m. and in a few hours I am do at work.Writers never sleep and for those of you who don’t know this then you’re obviously not a writer. It was a miracle, just a few hours ago I moved the rough draft of the NPM away from my computer and decided to turn him on(I like to believe my computer is a boy, thank you). Surprisingly enough everything turned on and was running perfectly, which means I can get back to my old habit of writing until the sun comes up. Its been pure hell having no functioning computer at home with deadline only a month away now.

There’s still one little glitch but hopefully I can fix it and hopefully my computer turns back on and I’m not jinxing it now. An added bonus, I have wireless internet. A friend of mine told me last Saturday that Feather was now free, it use to char

Edited to say: Feather use to charge but now is free, its a bit crappy but it works none the less. Writers do have to sleep by the way