The city of Philadelphia seems so…unhappy, I know there are a bunch of things to be unhappy about particularly in our city, but does anyone have the holiday spirit anymore or did it just go away with the many budget cuts that our mayor made last month? Despite the woes that we are in as a city and nation I do believe we can still spread a little Christmas spirit around, though while I was downtown a little while ago shopping even the people who were supposed to be spreading cheer looked glum. I am talking about the Salvation Army folks who are always out each year hoping that shoppers will donate to the cause.

I must admit that I was a bit skeptical at first about donating because of the recent report about a soldier going door to door to collect money “supposedly” for soldiers over in Iraq, but surprisingly he decided to use it on himself. However, I decided that I would not let that fact decline me from being able to help someone in need, so I dug into my wallet and pulled out a crisp $10.00 bill and shoved it into the bank. I know its not much but the guy ringing the bell said thanks and then went back to ringing looking gloomy once again. No thanks needed to be said I just want him and the others to keep ringing those bells.

A few blocks later I was passing another Salvation individual, who made anyone who passed not want to donate a dime. As I walked passed she said “happy holidays…,” gloomily mumbling the rest. But I guess if I had to stand outside all day in the cold I wouldn’t be happy either, but still.

This Christmas a lot of Philadelphians I believe will be thinking about politics, budget cuts, jobs, and other things that plague our unfortunate city, perhapes even our great country in general. Hell, even our beloved eagles owe us money, 8 million to be exact. I was reading last weeks Philadelphia Weekly when I found this interesting tid bit out and guess what folks, they owed us this amount since 1985 and were supposed to pay us back in 2001.

According to youngphillypolitics.com the eagles owed us this money as part of a deal to create luxury boxes at veteran stadium. These are things that even Santa Claus can not fix, sorry kids. It seems that everywhere you turn corrupt politicians are, if I may borrow a phrase from Mr. R. Kelly, “coming out of the closet.” The name that comes to mind is Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. If he did it, and I have a lingering feeling that he did, how wrong can you be? Attempting to give the senate seat away to the highest bidder and he doesn’t consider it to be wrong.

Anyway, lets get back to dear old Philadelphia, and the beloved libraries that are being shut down. Recently today a lawsuit was filed in common pleas court ordering and decreeing Mayor Nutter and others to hold off on library closures, the hearing will be held Monday at precisely 10am.

Even though there is a list of things Philadelphians wish to get for Christmas,perhapes Philadelphia couldn’t ask for anything better from Santa. For this moment in time this might just do, for now in our city of woes. Lets hope things shape up in 2009 shall we, I mean we still have an inauguration to look forward to, right?

What a historical election, this one will surely go down in the history books. For the first time we have an African-American as President of the United States. This achievement is awe inspiring, heartfelt, joyous, and should truly makes everyone proud.

Yes there are issues that need to be fixed rather quickly such as, the troubled economy, the 10 billion dollar war, more jobs, and most recently the auto industry. Lets not forget the many budget cuts that are going around. Just because Barack Obama is African-American does not mean that our problems are going to fly away, I know, but we needed this change more than we needed the Phillies to win the title of world champs.

A few days after the election while I was in class there was a young lady sitting behind me, a McCain supporter. My professor, who liked Obama, suggested to the class that instead of our normal routine we would create a ballad about Obama’s winning victory. The class willingly agreed to this, however, the young lady was very upset and did not appreciate the ballad or the Sara Palin jokes that were on the tips of everyones tongue. There was a point when we were discussing a line for the ballad of how Obama gave us the audacity to hope, the girl replied in a whisper, “he didn’t give me shit.”

I wished at that moment that myself and her could have switched skin colors and history for a few minutes because maybe then she would have realized how important it felt to myself and others of my race that Barrack Obama was elected.

In focusing on this election I had hoped to find out in each candidates economic plan who would provide more jobs and how for the future youth of the United States we all know, especially now, how hard it is to get a good sustainable job. Overall the Obama-Biden plan will create new federal policies, and expand existing ones that have been proven to create new jobs.  The President elect believes that there can be and will be new available jobs through national infrastructure investment and technology, infrastructure investment meaning the rebuilding of our nation’s highways, bridges, roads, etc. Though there seems to be more that can be stressed about than just highways and such, read what Steve Bozzone had to say about this in his letter to Barack Obama.

The overeall idea of President elect Obama’s economic plan, I think, is that if you have an idea of doing things then that idea is welcomed, however, you must have the necessary skills and knowledge to back it up.

Now despite the many issues that have been promised to be looked into I feel that some African-American, not all, might have only voted for Obama because of the fact that he is an African-American. This can probably be viewed as either a good or bad thing depending on how you look at it, though there were blacks who only voted for John McCain because of the fact that he is white. It is just hard to believe that an individual who spends a majority of their time out on the streets smoking, selling drugs, causing trouble, would vote for Obama because of his policies.

Furthermore what’s ridiculous is the amount of hate that has generated since the begining and passing of the election date. Rumors flying around that blacks are getting hang for talking about Obama in coversation, anti-obama shirts, colleges going agaisnt each other because of racist slurs  being made, references of Obama to a monkey.

A co-worker of mine, her son, works down in virgina and has been doing so for some time and his co-workers/superiors are mostly white. Everything was cool with them until the results of the election came out. Now any little thing can get this young man in trouble, he was actually written up three time within a week…a week.

The bottom line, get over it, Barack Obama is and will be your president this coming January. Statistics state that youth voters did not vote in 2004 because they were not interested in the election. Other reasons are that they believed that they would be less likely to meet registration deadline and some did not know where to go or how to get registered. The voter registration rose a little in the years of 2000-2004 with the year 2004 totaling 60%. This time, however, 80% more of young people were paying attention. Yes good people, things have indeed changed.

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.” 

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

How can a parent forget their child in a heated vehicle?  Sure I can forgive the first grandparent who did it, but when it starts to happen 3 times in the same month, enough is enough I think. Was watching the news yesterday and saw a report about a couple I believe who forgot their child. The child was unfamiliar with the area and stayed in the car for a total of 9 hours. Can’t remember if the parents were charged. Though the first grandparent whi forgot their child this summer was charged, I guess a life really isn’t as important as one would think if you can forget about your own child.

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

Yesterday as I waited for the 33 bus after getting my copy of the Spiderwick Chronicles DVD from FYE, a mother walked by, who looked to be in her 20’s, walked by and was talking on her phone. Thing is a few feet behind her was her son, shoes untied, and trying despertly to catch up to his mother with his little legs who is talking on the phone and not even paying attention to him.

How can you not pay attention to your child? Anything could have happened. Anyone could have took her child while she was on the phone, that’s how bad she was not paying attention. So once the child fell and the mother just stood as he helped himself up, mind you he had to be 1 or 2, the mother finished talking and completed her saga of not paying attention to her child.

That’s outstanding parenting folks…yeah right.

The saying goes, “Children watch us more than we watch them.” At least I believe that is part of the saying. So far in my life I have met a lot of out of control teens or should I say teenagers who you can just tell have not been taught any kind of sense from their parents. What’s up with that? I don’t want to write this as if I am bashing the parents of Philadelphia, but some of our youth are very angry at the world and this source of anger usually starts at home. At the HLCCTL there are some teenagers who are just that, angry, but why.

Well some of their parents don’t listen to them and treat them as if they don’t matter or know what they’re talking about. Not too long ago, there was a kid who was disrespecting a co-worker of mine and when another threaten and then called his father he completly froze with fear. Another example, throughout the school year I worked with primarly seven year olds. One day one of them were out of control by throwing chairs and screaming. My co-worker that I work with in the class called his father. HIs father came in and beat him with a twitch in front of his friends.  

The child was of course upset and abashed by this.  The point about both these scenarios id that both boys feared their fathers, this shouldn’t be. Yes sometimes the children should be reminded that they have certain lines that are able to cross and know that they are not “grown” yet. But I don’t think they should fear their parent in a negative way, maybe a respectful way, ya know?

However, there are some parents who really don’t pay any attention to their child therefore not really educatiing them about lives and explaining to them that they are not “grown” yet. Some parents will let their child rome the streets of Philly in an out of control fashion and not caring what time they get in or what theyt do between the hours of noon and when they’re supposed to be home.  Some parents are just as out of control as their child and the child has mimicked that because that is who they are supposed to look up to.

Yesterday as my sister was playing with her jump rope outside, little girl came up to her and asked if she wanted to play. The little girl, from what my mom was telling me, had a firecracker or was playing with them. My sister said “no, because fire is dangerous,” the little girl replied, “fire is not dangerous.”

That’s outstanding parenting folks…yeah right.

I am so amazed that I actually got a couple of good comments on this little website of mine. Every once in a while as I take my break from working on the NPM or scoping the web for new writing projects that I can get into I stumble across new comments as I prepare to write a new post or add something new. I cannot take all the credit, for if it wasn’t for my buddy Mr. Steve Bozzone for pushing me to do this there would be no peakjohnson.com. And Mr. Steve if you are reading this, I’m planning on putting a link to your website in my blogroll.

Sundays are now my lounge days, this means that I sometimes do nothing but lounge around all day in bed thinking of new projects that I want to pertake in to get my name known more in Philadelphia and new ideas about the NPM.  Of course sitting in bed all day is not very productive which is why sometimes I use Sunday as also a day to write, however, since my laptop has recently caught a virus its been a daunting time for me. So sometimes I work on layout for the paper even though some say I shouldn’t work on a Sunday.

Though if anyone has any thoughts as to what I can do on Sundays don’t hesitate to leave a comment for me or email me. Once I get a new break for my bike and a couple of other things I’ll be moving around. I’ve been thinking of going to the Art Mueseum soon, no reason in particular, but going there has given me an idea for a possible theme for the next issue of the paper.

Also as I was lounging around Sunday at home I found that Robo Cop 3 was on, I have never watched Robo Cop fully through only seeing bits and pieces so this is my first time watching it all the way through. I liked it and there was one scene in it that I think kind of made fun of  police. There was a scene where this guy comes into a restaurant to rob this guy and as soon as he pulls out his gun, all of these cops who are eating there pull out their weapons.

Now as a report is going out for another crime that is presently happening none of the officers want to go and are passing the job to other officers where the criminal then says, “Doesn’t anyone get arrested in this town.” Makes you wonder, doesn’t it.

This also gave me an idea for the new story I am kind of working on for the NPM and myself. I actually started working on it way before I started on the book series and you should see how much detail and notes I have for it. I actually finished it up a while back, but it needs a lot of tuning and more detail and cak story which I could never seem to get right.

But one piece of the story was published in issue 7 of the NPM. It is also at the Librairy of Congress, I actually have to check on this because I think you have to renew it or whatever. But in order to this story justice I have to ride around philly and take a couple of pictures, so of you know about the story though until its in the NPM I shall say nothing else.

I have to get back to laying out now, but I think I’ll write something else today or tomorrow revolving around the book series and how I got an idea for a good scene this morning as I left for work or more about authors who inspire me and my stories.