REFLECTIONS AND TIPS FROM MARY

A JUNIOR HIGH GIRL ABOUT GOSSIPING/AVOID IT/AND ADMIT IT WHEN YOU’VE ERRED!

Dear Readers: I just love when students write about things that happen in their daily lives. In this instance, Mary wrote about gossip and how other youth might want to handle it. She has decided to write pieces called "Reflections by Mary" for the Underdogforkids blog. Enjoy -- Diana

By Mary Ortiz

Everybody hates gossip, but think about it. How many times have you said something you didn’t mean or was very mean about a friend? Gossiping can cause so much drama. For instance, as my youth group leader tells you: "When you girls are gossiping and one of you leaves, the gossiping backfires on you and suddenly you are the target." Think about how you would feel.

I have lost a few friends because of gossiping. Some of it wasn’t even true. When girls gossip it always backfires. If you are the victim, confront the person because you never know if their words have been twisted.

If you are the person talking and the person confronts you, don’t lie. That will make the person lose trust in you. Realize everybody makes mistakes. If you say something and know it wasn’t on purpose or you didn’t mean it, admit it. Don’t let the person find out from someone else. Tell the person truth. Sure they'll be mad, but at least you might still have a chance to keep them as a friend. And that would be truly lucky.

TWO LOST BOYS OF SUDAN COMING TO SAN PEDRO HIGH TO TALK OF THEIR EXPERIENCE ESCAPING DEATH: THEY WILL COME WITH THE C0-AUTHOR OF “THEY POURED FIRE ON US FROM THE SKY”THAT TELLS THEIR AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL TALE: THE EVENT WILL BE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC THIS COMING WEDNESDAY

ONE SAN PEDRO HIGH TEACHER SAYS THE BOOK AND THE BOYS CHANGED HER LIFE AND THAT OF MANY OF HER STUDENTS

“When two elephants fight, it is the grass that gets trampled,” an African Proverb used in the book: They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky.

By Diana L. Chapman

I sat up with my head buried in the book.

Deja vu shivered up and down my spine, as though I was reading the Diary of Anne Frank all over again – a book that rocked the world once Anne’s father, who lost his family to the Holocaust, discovered his daughter’s diary and published it after World War II.

“They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky,” – an autobiographical telling of three Lost Sudan boy’s stories hurts, but is one of the most unforgettable, heart wrenching, culturally provocative books I’ve ever read in my life -- one all of us should read.

I learned. I laughed. I cried. Two of the Lost Boys in this book will be here next week at San Pedro High to share their stories along with the woman who helped them author it, Judy Bernstein. The life-changing event is open to the public in the school’s auditorium from 11:30 to 1:30 p.m. and again from 6 to 7 p.m. Nov. 18.

As I absorbed the book, I couldn’t help but feel the stories of Benson Deng, Alephonsion Deng and Benjamin Ajak (Alepho and Benjamin will come to the school) seemed eerily similar in so many ways to Anne’s. While it’s dressed in completely different attire of a new time, another country and a wildly different culture, the underpinnings remained the same – that of mass genocide, one group trying to scrub the world away or obliterate another group of innocent people due to their race, religion or ethnicity.

About two million people died and five million were displaced in Sudan’s Civil War, which launched the ugly journey of the Lost Boys. Some 27,000 boys, as young as five, were forced to criss-cross the desert to head for refugee camps. More than half died, some from being picked off in the middle of the night by lions and hyenas. Others died from illness and lack of food.

The 1,000 mile journey – which trekked through Sudan’s desert to reach for Ethiopia and Kenya began in the early 1980s when Northern government troops attacked and razed the boy’s villages, killed their parents and raped, killed or enslaved their sisters. During the attacks, many of the boys were out guarding their families herds – and escaped the bloodshed, at least at that moment.

Once, I picked up the book, I was entranced with learning about their culture during more peaceful, happier times.

Benson describes living in a small, mudded hut and explained family riches stemmed from the number of cattle your father owned.

“I would hear the echoes of the ground horn bill howling and weaver birds singing…” he wrote. “I would stand under the acacia trees and watch the giraffes curl their black tongues around the leaves above.”

Then the pastoral village life turned to a whirlwind of black chaos and destruction when the troops decided to cleanse the southern villages.

It was the fault of a San Pedro High English teacher, Tobey Shulman, that I was reading this book “that changed,” her life, she said, when she announced at Back to School Night that not only would her students read it -- more importantly, they’d be meeting Benjamin and Alephonsion. This is their third trip to the school and this time, Shulman decided to offer it up to the public as one way “to help humanity.” The book’s sales proceeds go to the boys.

The three boys came from villages where most the men were at least six feet tall, so when Shulman and her students spotted Benjamin for the first time – they knew instantly it was him.

“When Benjamin came, all of us were just floored,” the teacher explained, whose husband knew author “Jud—eee,” as the Sudan boys call her, from a writing group. “It changed my life. My girls were screaming: “There’s Benjamin. They wanted to hug him and hold his hands. They were all crying.

“The whole experience is just altering. One of my kids, Timothy Do, wanted to start an “End to Genocide Club” and did it.” At last, she said, Do settled down from a class joker to find he had a purpose in life.

What it taught her students overall, she continued, was the absolute importance of education. The Sudan boys proved that in their relentless journey to survive, some of whom later came to the United States through the United Nations to pick up the pieces of their lives, had a fierce respect for education and called it “their mother,” Shulman said.

“They walked 1,000 miles and they brought their books,” Shulman explained, with tears in her eyes. “They brought their Bible.”

Like hundreds of other boys, these three escaped the Muslim-run government death squads who slaughtered thousands. This led to the boys’ remarkable journey along with hundreds of others -- some boys as young as five being taken care of by 11-year-olds -- to trek across the desert, snaking past feeding lions, through crocodile-infested rivers to refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya.

The co-author – who insists the boys are the true authors and she just guided them -- and I tried to reach each other several times, but have yet to connect. She, however, has spent much time helping the boys – actually now young men in their early 20s -- resettle in the United States. The author hooked up with them when a San Diego caseworker asked if she could mentor them when they first arrived.

At first, she was a bit uneasy about the mentoring , but that vanished once she met them, she said in her foreward, and they became “near and dear” to her and her family.

Bernstein did an extraordinary job guiding these boys to tell their stories and made me laugh in her foreword. Once she and her son, Cliff, who was 12 at the time, took the boys to shop for pants at a Walmart.

When they got out at the parking lot, she wrote in the foreword: “Benson says: “Cars stand here like a cattle in a cattle camp,” and when she warns them the parking lots are dangerous Benson again says: “It is like when walking among the cows. One must use caution. A cow may swing her head very, very fast to get a fly. The horns, very long, can injure a boy.”

When “Jud….eee” asks why they don’t remove the horns, he explains: “Cows need the horns to fight lions.”

As a mother who mentors students in writing, I shuddered when the author visited the boys in their sparse apartment one morning and Benson and Alepho hand her some composition paper saying: “These are the stories we wrote…they are for you.”

What a gift to cherish!

From then on, the author mentored them, helped them pull together the book – and still helps them to this day. The proceeds from book sales go to the boys.

“I begin to dream,” she writes, “that if we can weave their stories into a tapestry and if we’re granted a great stroke of luck, the resulting book might pay for some tuition and they can fulfill their dreams of getting an education.”

By attending the event, where the books will be sold, it’s a dream we can all help make come true.

Don't Miss This Lifetime Experience to Hear Directly from Two of the Lost Boys From Sudan and the Author Who Helped Them Write Their Story In the Unforgettable Book: They Poured Fire On Us From the Sky

The Free Event, Open to the Public, Will be Held At San Pedro High

(Story to Come)

2,000,000 dead. 5,000,000 displaced and at risk.

The Lost Boys from Sudan were 20,000 boys who walked barefoot without food or water over 1,000 miles, eating mud to stave off thirst and starvation. The year was 1983.

Please come

to hear and meet the authors of the

powerful autobiography of three

Lost Boys from Sudan

They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky

By

Benson Deng, Alephonsion Deng, Benjamin Ajak

with Judy Bernstein

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

San Pedro High School Auditorium

11:30 a.m. -1:30 p.m.

Or

6 p.m. to 7 p.m.

BOTH SESSIONS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

No reservations required

Devin and friends, who helped at Bone Marrow and Blood Drive after she was diagnosed with leukemia. Another event is planned this weekend.

ANOTHER BONE MARROW BLOOD DRIVE WILL BE HELD FOR 9-YEAR-OLD GIRL WITH LEUKEMIA THIS SUNDAY; SAN PEDRO RESIDENTS ASKED TO STEP UP TO HELP DEVIN:

A MOM AND DAUGHTER HELP SOUTH SHORES ELEMENTARY STUDENT RAISE $5,000 PLUS FOR NEW PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT; TAPER AVENUE ELEMENTARY PARENTS UP IN ARMS OVER CELL TOWER NEAR SCHOOL/MEETING SCHEDULED

…AND TREMENDOUS EVENTS COMING UP AT YOUR LOCAL CORNER STORE

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BONE MARROW DRIVE

Another Bone Marrow Drive on Sunday (November 8, 2009 (Bone Marrow only)) to help Devin Taylor Hamilton, 9, a San Pedro resident and Crestwood Street Elementary student who was diagnosed with leukemia.

To help Devin, head to Warren Chapel CME Church at 1039 Elberon Avenue from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Pastor Byron Smith and his wife, Jill Smith, are offering the church to host this second bone marrow drive. Devin needs a compatible bone donor to fight the disease.

Mary Lou Martinez, the grandmother, said the first bone marrow /and blood marrow drive was extremely successful, but more donors are needed to ensure finding an exact match.

FUNDRAISER FOR SOUTH SHORES ELEMENTARY GARNERS $5,000 Plus

South Shores Elementary Principal Paul Suzuki gratefully accepted a $5,100 donation this week to aid the school to buy new playground equipment -- $100 of which came from a third grade student who raided her piggy bank.

The principal said he was grateful for the donation, which will help replace the school’s aging monkey bars at the campus that overlooks the sea. With the donations, Suzuki plans to obtain state-of-the art equipment that includes slides, ladders and balance beams.

A mother, Michelle Aragon, asked two Long Beach companies she works with, to come together and donate funds. Suzuki was surprised too when Michelle’s daughter, Ava, a third grader, added an additional $100, taken from her piggy bank.

“I told Michelle that makes me feel bad, but Michelle said she wanted her daughter to learn to give,” Suzuki explained, whose school has 504 students and is a performing arts magnet. “I like when the community comes together on something like this.”

The donations – which came from Port Medical, which gave $2,000 and DCS Medical Management, Inc. that added $3,000 – came from many of their employees who live in San Pedro.

It all started when the mother approached the principal asking how she and the companies could help the school. Suzuki explained the need for new equipment and also is looking for ways to expand the auditorium, which only seats 100 people, and acts partly as a cafeteria on rainy days.

Since the school is a performing arts magnet, Suzuki said, due to the limited seating, his students will have to give six performances in a day when they put on a program. Michelle opted to work on the playground equipment first, he said, but added that she still wanted to help with the auditorium in the future.

“I am very impressed and I feel blessed to have her and all the families that came together on this,” Suzuki added.

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CELL PHONE TOWER UPSET AT TAPER ELMENTARY(submitted by parents):

There will be a meeting this Monday 11-9-09 at 9 am in the Taper Avenue Elementary School Auditorium to discuss the T- Mobile cell tower that was installed recently.

Dr. Vladovic and LAUSD representatives will be there for the discussion.

If you have concerns about the tower please attend and let your voice be heard. We are trying to get the local papers to come , so a big turnout will make a huge statement. There are many questions about the safety of cell towers and their long-term effects.

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FUN TIMES AT THE CORNER STORE FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY:

Nov 7th & 8th - Handcrafted aprons of all sorts and sizes, bags, and much more

by Granny's Aprons. 10 am - 5 pm both days.

Nov 14th &15th - Jewelry by Silver Fox. Beautiful handcrafted necklaces,

bracelets, rings, and earrings made from beautiful stones, beads and sea glass.

Nov 21st & 22nd - Jewelry by Masako. Handcrafted with the most amazing forms

using precious metals and stones. Masako's style is new and exciting!

Dec 4,5 & 6th - two shows in one. Ceramics and purses by Delora. Beautiful

creations including pots, plates, pitchers, platters, bowls, bird feeders and

more. Purses made from the most beautiful textiles. 10 am - 5 pm

Honey Tasting - Taste local honey from San Pedro Palisades and learn about the

beekeeper and his techniques.

Sat, Nov 5th & 6th from 10 am - 5 pm

Dec. 12 & 13 - Jewelry by It's a Lu-Lu our Corner Store jeweler. Beads, bangles,

earrings and more. 10 am - 5 pm

Dec, 18th - Miracle on 37th Street - A Winter Wonderland - 3rd annual event.

Details to follow.