Good News

xoxoxoBruce • Feb 9, 2008 3:16 pm

OK, I admit I'm a sucker for good news stories. Here's one that rings my chime.

Junior High School 22, in the South Bronx, had run through six principals in just over two years when Shimon Waronker was named the seventh.

On his first visit, in October 2004, he found a police officer arresting a student and calling for backup to handle the swelling crowd. Students roamed the hallways with abandon; in one class of 30, only 5 students had bothered to show up. “It was chaos,” Mr. Waronker recalled. “I was like, this can’t be real.”

Teachers, parents and students at the school, which is mostly Hispanic and black, were equally taken aback by the sight of their new leader: A member of the Chabad-Lubavitch sect of Hasidic Judaism with a beard, a black hat and a velvet yarmulke.

He didn't save the world, but damn it, he made it better.

Clodfobble • Feb 9, 2008 3:44 pm

Ever seen the movie Lean on Me? True story. Maybe they'll make a movie out of this one too. :)

skysidhe • Feb 9, 2008 4:02 pm

The Freedom Writers was a good example too. I am glad there are shinning diamonds in our inner city schools.

xoxoxoBruce • Feb 9, 2008 4:28 pm

Clodfobble;431135 wrote:
Ever seen the movie Lean on Me? True story. Maybe they'll make a movie out of this one too. :)

Yeah, I loved that movie too.:redface:

Clodfobble • Feb 9, 2008 4:41 pm

My dad grew up right across the river from that school--a couple of decades before it hit rock bottom, but apparently it was no pinnacle of education even back then. We were shown that movie a lot as kids.

Shawnee123 • Feb 10, 2008 12:54 pm

Dangerous Minds.

I loved that movie. But then, I think Michelle Pfeiffer is awesome!

Perry Winkle • Feb 10, 2008 2:55 pm

I saw Joe Clark (the guy that Lean On Me was based on) speak during my second year of college. He was amazing and inspirational to hear, and seemed like a genuinely caring bad-ass motherfucker.

xoxoxoBruce • Feb 10, 2008 4:23 pm

Did his ideas sound better because you got the feeling opposing them was too scary?

Perry Winkle • Feb 10, 2008 5:01 pm

xoxoxoBruce;431263 wrote:
Did his ideas sound better because you got the feeling opposing them was too scary?

I'm not sure about his ideas. His attitude, presence and force of being were the important part of the talk.

Gravdigr • Mar 4, 2014 2:30 pm

I felt like this belonged in some thread with 'good' in the title:

Whether you like the show 'Pawn Stars', or, not, you gotta give Rick Harrison (the bald guy that runs the shop) a proper Attaboy for this:

[ATTACH]46943[/ATTACH]

classicman • May 20, 2015 5:23 pm

love that!