The North Philly Metropolis

What can I say about the North Philly Metropolis other than that its the best Philadelphia teen newspaper ever and I’m just not saying that because I worked with it.  The main objective of the NPM is to convence teenagers that they do matter in todays world and that what is happening in the world  does effect them. With the NPM, teenagers are able to voice their opinions, concerns, and talents while touching on issues that many newspapers would be afraid to approach.

The North Philly Metropolis has been around for nearly 6years now, it will be 7 this coming 2009, releasing its world premier issue in 2003 from the St. E’s afterschool program. There are very few original copies of the first issue and only a few of the original staff have them. It wasn’t until the second issue that teens started taking editorial positions within the paper. I remember it being the last week of summer camp and the former editor-in-chief, Mr. Ben Harris, saying that he would be there the following week working on thefinal layout and if anyone wanted to help they could come on by. I kind of knew that no one was going to come and I didn’t want to leave Mr. Ben hanging, so I decided to go over and meet him.

 To this day I shutter to think what my life or what the paper would be if I decided not to go that following week.  Mr. Ben treated me as an equal and  showed me how the paper was laid out, what Photoshop was, etc. Now that I think of it that’s pretty much how our friendship developed. The NPM brings people together and hopefully with my leaving continues to do so.

Anyway, the Metropolis did have its troubles, but what newspaper doesn’t.  When Mr. Ben left to pursue his field in photography there was no one to lead it. Almost all of the original staff were either not attending the after school program or had gone on to bigger and better things. So we had our first ever hiatus. However, I was still attending the program and from being with Mr. Ben there was still newspaper knowledge held within my brain.

 Eventually after the newspaper came off from its short hiatus, Ms. Stephanee Renee came aboard and became the new editor-in-chief. As I am, I was a little skeptical. The fact that she was a woman editor-in-chief (I was young) shocked me too. There were two editors before her, including Mr. Ben and they were all men. Though myself and Ms. Steph hit it off pretty well, she was the one who gave me my Managing Editor title. She also was the reason that we began getting advertisements. Ms. Steph is also the reason why I can’t lie to her about certain things pertaning to who I did and didn’t like.

 Ms. Stephanie unfortunately departed leaving the reigns to be taken over by  Steve Bozzone. Steve was already on board as our Music instructor for our teen program, but as the NPM’s staff editor things really started to take off for us. Examples being that more people were hearing about us because we distributed the paper more and went to more events, our old and new staff were returning,  we were getting paid, and I was made editor-in-chief. I even had a office with this guy, along with a few others we ruled.

September 7, 2007 was Steve’s last day with the NPM and the staff at Project HOME,  he had left to pursue his field with  working at the wonderful Hopeworks after-school/summer program in Camdan, New Jersey. Presently Steve now resides in Portland, Oragon still doing the good work that he did here in Philadelphia by voicing his opinion, making sure others are heard, and that we all are a little bit more knowledgeble about things.

This past August I have since left the North Philly Metropolis because of disagreements with the new staff advisor that was brought in to replace Steve, but you know things happen. Check out this post(coming soon) where I give a little more info as to why I left.

Presently the North Philly Metropolis is on another hiatus and ending with a 13th issue while awaiting another instructor and teen staff to watch over it.

 Click on the link to view the very first copy of the North Philly Teens Magazine. We had a couple of covers,  this is one of them. This was what the NPM looked liked before it became an actual newspaper. The editors of this baby were Mr. Jeff Weisner and then Mr. Ben Harris. Basically the teens covered what they wanted to and what seemed important, just like the newspaper. However, we were still learning. This was also the birth of “Peak Johnson.”

World Premier Issue

 The very first issue of the North Philly Metropolis, not many copies were made or are still around. Only a few exist and only a few of the begining staff have copies.

Issue 2

Breaking Out

Our Spring 2005 issue

 The first issue where we attempted to gather and sell advertisements. Also, we began thinking and implementing ways to distribute the paper. We use to just hord them in closets and only bring them out during special events.

Homelessness: A new understanding

I still remember the meeting that was held before this issue was laid out. It was myself, assistant editor Fatima Thomas, and editor in chief Stephanie Renee. Also, I remember the question of why Bush is on the cover.

 This is the 6th issue in the North Philly Metropolis’s time line and Steve   Bozzone’s first issue as staff editor. The theme of this issue was violence and what a strong theme it was and still is, for you see you can write an entire unfortunate volume on the subject of violence. This issue was so popular with our community and others that we had to do a reprint, 2006 what a year. Too see what I’m talking about click the issue and see what it is all about.

 The Hip-Hop issue of the North Philly Metropolis was our second ground breaking issue, the idea for the theme of this issue had come from Steve while we were trying to decide on a list of themes before the violence issue was brought up. We have pushed this theme to the side and then I had brought it back up, this is also where teen illustrator, Eric Gardner, makes an appearance.

 In this, The State of Education issue, the staff of the North Philly Metropolis attempted to dig deep into philly’s school system and bring reader initial information about what was going on. This issue is scattered with art by Eric Gardner, articles revolving around public and charter schools, after-school programs, interviews with teachers, budget informed articles, and much more.

Race and Culture

The final issue of the North Philly Metropolis, done by yours truly. Not exactly the very last, but this issue was, surprisingly, the begining of the end. May I point out though, that’s my fist on the cover. 

Peak’s College Guide (coming soon)

I cannot forget about the Love and Relationships issue, which was Mr. Steve’s last or the Race and Culture issue. Once these issue becoming available you better believe they’ll be up.