Category: Life in the Big City

Lawsuit over school assault

~ susie ~ 2 Comments

Bryant

This story makes me so, so sad. This poor little boy! Our school district is so overwhelmed, and so understaffed. And you know what makes me feel even worse? I read the comments section:

In October 2011, a nine-year-old boy transferred to a new school in West Philadelphia, but he quickly found his own personal hell there, according to allegations raised in a lawsuit filed last week.

Every kid new to a school might expect some razzing, but according to the lawsuit what began as insults and slurs by a handful of school bullies rapidly escalated into an exercise in terror that culminated in beatings, repeated humiliation and a brutal sexual assault in a bathroom at William C. Bryant Elementary School.

Named as defendants in the suit are the School District of Philadelphia, the school’s former principal and a former Bryant teacher. A spokesman for the school district, Fernando Gallard, acknowledged on Friday that the district had received the lawsuit but declined to comment.

The boy’s plight began soon after he entered fourth grade at the school. The boy, whose name is being withheld, was singled out by a group of classmates for “severe, pervasive, and continuous” harassment, states the suit, which was filed by his family in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.

We’re No. 1!

~ susie ~ 3 Comments

Under I-95

Link:

If you’ve driven on the Walt Whitman Bridge, the Schuylkill Expressway around Gladwyne, I-95 near the SugarHouse Casino, or on the Pennsylvania Turnpike between Horsham and Fort Washington, you’ve crossed a certifiably decrepit bridge.

And a report released Thursday by a Washington-based lobbying group highlighted a dubious and familiar note about deteriorating bridges in Pennsylvania: No state in the nation has more.

According to the analysis by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, more than 5,200 of the commonwealth’s 22,600 bridges – 23 percent – are rated structurally deficient under federal guidelines, a classification earned when an inspector rates at least one aspect of the bridge poor or unsafe.

Structurally deficient bridges are not imminently dangerous, the group emphasized, but they need repairs. More than 63,000 bridges fall into that category nationwide.

Working to repair Glouco’s Paradise Road for its new role
Pennsylvania’s raw numbers and percentages of structurally deficient bridges are the highest in the country, the association said.

That’s the section of I-95 near my house. But I avoid the road whenever possible because the side streets are faster.

Pull yourself up by the bootstraps, damnit

~ susie

Waiting for the train, at the 96th Street station
And it’ll all be fine!

The stress of growing up in a poor and unstable household affects children as young as 9 years old on a genetic level, shortening a portion of their chromosomes that scientists say is a key indicator of aging and illness, according to a study released Monday. The researchers say their findings are the first that document this type of genetic change among minority children and make a strong case for the importance of early-childhood intervention in vulnerable communities.

Researchers examined the DNA of a small group of 9-year-old African-American boys who had experienced chronic stress as a result of growing up in families with poor socioeconomic status. They found that the boys’ telomeres were shorter than those of boys the same age and ethnicity who came from advantaged families.
Continue reading “Pull yourself up by the bootstraps, damnit” →

I haz a sad

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

Eatontown, New Jersey
Now the local Wendy’s has closed.

I only went every couple of weeks, but it was one of those places where I could grab a cheap, fast and relatively decent meal — namely, a baked potato and their chili. And in the summer, I loved their unsweetened iced tea, because it wasn’t bitter.

Darn.

UPDATE: I drove by it today, and now there’s a sign on the fence saying it’s “closed for refreshing.” Yay!