More talk on Public Schools

Wendi Thomas wrote a great article in yesterday's Commercial Appeal. Many Central Gardens residents are encouraging their neighbors to support Idlewild Elementary School. Here's the article.

The Ballad of Big Mike

This week a few of us have been talking about the state of public schools here in Memphis. Yesterday I started reading (listening to, actually) a book by Michael Lewis called The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game. It's about a kid from Memphis who goes from living in Hurt Village (what is now a part of Uptown) to attending Briarcrest Christian School and playing football. He's now a sophomore at Mississippi State University, and will no doubt be a top pick in two years.

I think this book is going to shed some light on the whole private school/public school debate, at least for me. The NY Times published an excerpt of the book. Click on the title of this post for the link.

A great example of the outward journey

The cover story of today's Commercial Appeal is on Brinkley Heights Baptist Church, a church that is reaching their community by starting with children. After a three-year old girl named Jessica was killed in 2002, Pastor Tim Cox decided that he had to give his life to fighting for these children. In 2004 the Brinkley Heights Urban Academy was opened. They now have 55 students, ages three through the second grade. My mother has been teaching music at the academy for the last two years.

Here's the entire article.

Memphis Mentoring Programs

Carmen mentioned the following links the other day.

The Amachi Mentoring Program

Big Brothers/Big Sisters