May 05, 2010

going to school in the Tenderloin


click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

While making a safe retreat from the Mitchell Brothers Theater I found, just a half-block away on Olive Street, the Tenderloin Community School with the most interesting tiles made by students.

Obviously, they've been learning about the importance of recycling.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

A plaque reads:   Special thanks to the Bay Area Women's and Children's Center for spearheading and leading the community effort for the creation of the Tenderloin Community School and Family Center, and to the hundreds of Tenderloin parents, children, and volunteers who worked for ten years to make this school a reality.

CLICK for more information on a field of sixteen tiles.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Yellow ones, red ones, white ones, and brown ones. They've got kids of all colors, and I'm just guessing that they ALL get along just fine.

The Tenderloin, besides being a crime-ridden hell-hole, is absolutely packed with low income people of color. This is often the first stop for immigrants on their way to the American Dream.

CLICK for Wikipedia information on the Tenderloin.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Looks like they are learning all about bugs and ecology at the Tenderloin Community School. It's probably been years since I've stopped to admire and say hello to a Potato Beetle, but from my childhood I remember having great fun with what we called Stink Beetles. Maybe that's one of the reasons why my mother used to call me her "Little Stinker".



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

And while Black Widow Spiders are interesting creatures it's best to be cautious. Yes, very mysterious creatures, these anthropoids.


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5 comments:

Unknown said...

aaaww those drawings are so cute!

Unknown said...

Wow, that's pretty sad. They mispelled beetle and that other picture is definitely not a black widow, or even a spider at all. This is the quality education they get, this is equality? But I guess it's not an isolated incident, my sixth grade science teacher didn't know a penguin was a bird. shame.

Eleonora Baldwin said...

I love it whan kids make mistakes. It defines their freedom.

And the drawings are stupendous.

AphotoAday said...

THANKS MULLEH, NATASHA, AND ELEONORA -- really appreciate your comments...

And oh brother, I'm about the worst speller ever and I've been getting a little concerned because just in the past couple years I've noticed that I have begun to transpose numbers more and more -- maybe I'm becoming dyslexic in my old age -- it's obvious to at least me that I'm a lot dumber than I used to be...

I don't know where I picked up putting three dots after every sentence (((I try not to do that on the blog so much now)))... I am SO bad... (((actually I do it to gain more space between my sentences)))

Okay, I don't know why I had to tell you all of that, but there you go...

photowannabe said...

Welcome to dot-land Don. I've gotten into that habit too. I probably won't break it either...
As I age I can't spell worth a darn. People are going to have to take me warts and all....
Love the kids tiles, mistakes and all. It really makes it more authentic.

 
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