Brava, Ladies!Mother McAuley Spring Instrumental Concert

My beautiful red-headed baby Clare and the String Ensemble of Mother McAuley!

Gershwin, Chopin, Severn, Handel, and Oskielunas were all terated royally by the musicians of Mother McAuley High School. Oskielunas? That's Mother McAuley Senior Sarah Oskielunas; who presented Opus One for piano and string. It was wonderful and it followed the most heroic young woman who coaxed the audience into Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" with what might be one of the most difficult clarinet introductions in any composition - Senior Mighty Mac Mary Claire Reynolds.

My daughter Clare and her pals bowed through three compositions with the beginning strings ensemble.

Mother McAuley is doing it right!

Here is by far one of this low-brow's favorite pieces. I met Leonard Bernstein three times ( 1970,'71, & '73) and each time he acted like a bigger doofus than the year before, but that lad could conduct. I think this version is almost as good as the Chicago Symphony's under Henry Mazer.

Catholic Schools Work for the Kids Who Attend Them - School Choice Needs Town Halls

My youngest, Clare, begins her high school experience next week at Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School - the largest all-girls school in America. Clare graduated from St. Cajetan Grammar School in our Morgan Park Neighborhood. Her girlfriends are going to Mother McAuley, Marist, St. Ignatius and St. Francis of Assisi. The boys are going to Mount Carmel, St. Rita, Marist and Brother Rice. White, Black and Hispanic - they are going to Catholic High Schools.

Mother McAuley costs about $ 8,000 and change with tuition and fees each year and most of the other schools round out about the same with St. Ignatius Prep topping the crowd with its menu. The path to success is expensive - very expensive, because Catholic schools encourage not just participation but full immersion in activities that strengthen the moral, civic and religious virtues. Kids like Clare become Catholic League Athletes - cheerleaders, football, basketball, baseball, volleyball, Lacrosse, Rugby players, wrestlers, as well as track and distance runners. They work on Dramatic, Choral, Polyphonic productions as musicians, singers, actors, stage hands, lighting technicians and even crowd control. Life skills and people skills are part of benefits pad for in time, treasure and talent.

Catholic Schools Superintendent Sister Mary Paul McCaughey works, from what I can tell to be, a fifteen to twenty hour day bringing people of talent and treasure together in order to squeeze out some time for Catholic Schools. James O'Connor, Josh Hale and Tom Zbierski of the Big Shoulders Fund are shepherding millions of dollars in gifts so that any family wishing to commit to Catholic Schools can afford to do just that. This genuine commitment is learned when people are young.

The kids in Catholic Schools learn stewardship and the value of a buck, as most of them also try to find part-time jobs to help the Old Man and the Old Lady, one or other, or both, to meet tuition and expenses costs.

Kids learn what it means to do without - tonier vacations for the family, Gold-Cable Packages, water-sport toys, and time in front of the Idiot Box (TV) or thumbing the controls of X-Box and Text-messaging appartii.

The investment in Catholic Schools is a community forming activity that is in fact an extension of the Parish Life - we are responsible for each other. The Best example of this reality is Chicago's Big Shoulder Fund that provides millions of dollars in aid to inner city families who can not afford the cost of Catholic Schools.

I work at Leo High School that is 99.9% funded by white Leo Alumni who are graduates of that school from the 1930's, '40's, 50's. 60's, 70's and 80's. Leo has been 100% African American since the 1990's; however, men like Frank Considine ( '39) Bill Koloseike ('45), Andy McKenna & Dick Landis ('47), Tom Owens ('54), Don Flynn ('56), Joe Powers ( '70) and Bob Schemel ('71) have contributed millions of dollars to Leo High School over the years. The real miracle beyond these gargantuan sums from the very succesful great guys named above are the endless drops of $50, $100,$500, $ 1,000 and above by hundreds of Leo Men, who also open the doors of the 1926 School at 5:30 a.m. and tutor the kids for A.C.T. and S.A.T. prep like Denny Conway and Jack O'Keefe, or fill the bleachers at every event like Bob Hylard, Frank McDermott, Bill and Jack Farnan, Jim Farrell, Rich and Jim Furlong, Gene Earner and all of his many sons, Dan Stecich, Larry Lynch, Tom Lynch and . . . you get the idea.

Catholic Schools make a better America and very good Americans. Catholic Schools are the Original Gangsters* (The OGs) of Faith Based Initiatives. Catholic Schools are unapologtically Catholic and teach without bowing to the 'Tyranny of Relativism,' to quote the Pope, which has had all Public Education in a Full Nelson Head-lock for decades. Catholc Schools teach from a position of Faith and that Faith is rooted in unshakeable truths - You don't steal, you don't kill, you don't lie, you don't sleep around like an HBO hero, you don't forget that you are obligated to other people. That's Commitment.

An interesting fact from a recent study noted that Catholics who attend Catholic schools tended to remain married to the same partners for life. Catholics don not find ease and comfort in the Faith but endurance and charity. Charity means hard work and developing a big set of shoulders.

The Big Shoulders Fund is rooted in the Courage and Commitment that was developed in and around Catholic Schools. The money available to inner-city families did not get there by Osmosis.

Real School Reform depends upon the vitality of Catholic Schools. Catholic Schools offer competition -if not accountability.

When politicians and hand-wringing activists and think-tank agendanistas get wise to themselves they will see that Catholic Schools are the hub of genuine Reform. Ask Paul Vallas, who succeeded in Chicago by following the Catholic School gradus and took those reform victories to Philly and New Orleans.


Americans need to demand Town halls on Real Reform in Education. If you think Health Care is a concern, hold the phone on Education Reform!

Click my post title and commit to Catholic Schools.

Here are some findings on Catholic Schools by the Rand Corporation that are being forgotten:

In a study published in 1990,. . .the Rand Corporation analyzed big-city high schools to determine how education for low income minority youth could be improved.2 It looked at 13 public, private, and Catholic high schools in New York City that attracted minority and disadvantaged youth. Of the Catholic school students in these schools, 75 to 90 percent were black or Hispanic. The study found that:


The Catholic high schools graduated 95 percent of their students each year, while the public schools graduated slightly more 50 percent of their senior class;


Over 66 percent of the Catholic school graduates received the New York State Regents diploma to signify completion of an academically demanding college preparatory curriculum, while only about 5 percent of the public school students received this distinction;


85 percent of the Catholic high school students took the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), compared with just 33 percent of the public high school students;


The Catholic school students achieved an average combined SAT score of 803, while the public school students' average combined SAT score was 642; and


60 percent of the Catholic school black students scored above the national average for black students on the SAT, and over 70 percent of public school black students scored below the same national average.
More recent studies confirm these observations. As parents, politicians, and concerned observers become aware of the benefits of Catholic schooling, particularly for the poor, the rhetoric demanding action builds. Syndicated columnist William Raspberry, a self-described "Reluctant Convert to School Choice," wrote recently, "It seems as obvious for poor children as for rich ones that one-size-fits-all education doesn't make sense."3 Furthermore, according to a recent survey conducted by Terry Moe, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, and John Chubb, founding partner and curriculum director for the Edison Project, a stunning 83 percent of public school parents and 82 percent of inner-city poor parents want parochial schools to be included in the choice of schools to which they can send their children.4

http://www.heritage.org/research/urbanissues/bg1128.cfm

That was in 1990, boys and girls and public schools have performed much worse, while Catholic Schools continue perform so much better.

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/17413589.html?dids=17413589:17413589&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Aug+08%2C+1996&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=BORROWING+SUCCESS+IN+THE+SCHOOLS&pqatl=google

*OG - Urba Dictionary
An Original Gangsta or Original Gangster.
Yo, What up OG? What's good in tha hood? Catholic School, Tru Dat.

Catch "Little Women - The Musical" at Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School

CLASSIC LOUISA MAY ALCOTT NOVEL BECOMES LOCAL HIT MUSICAL, JULY 23, 24, 25 "Little Women: The Musical," the beloved novel and new Broadway hit, graces the stage of 99th Street summer theatre during this, its 31st season. All of your favorite Alcott characters come alive to portray the touching story of a family growing together, this time in perfect harmony. The performances will run July 23, 24, & 25 @ 8PM in the Mother McAuley Auditorium at 3737 W. 99th Street. Directed by Patricia Haynes. Musical Direction by Pat Mooney assisted by Nicole Simental. Set Design by Josie Blough. Lighting by Colleen Thomas. Adults $16, Seniors $14 and Children $12. For more information or to order tickets over the phone call 773 881 6512.

Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School
3737 W. 99th
Chicago, IL

Primary Weasel -Joe Klein, or Billy Jack Does America!

Joe Klein knows Billy Jack. The real guy who made what is arguably and probably the first PC Movie. It was about an Irish -looking American Indian (Native American) dude who went all martial arts on Rednecks and Bikers in order to save Hippies and the Red Folks. Joe Klein is a Billy Jack Journalist - he kicks everyone he don't like. Hell, Joe hangs out! Picks up kicking tips and protects Hippies and Red Folks. Kick them rednecks!

http://www.billyjack.com/

Remember that idiotic song, One Tin-Soldier? Jesus, my filings hurt every time I hear that! There is a very special place in Hell for every person associated with that song.

Catholics are always good kicking targets:

"I do believe there's something weird a few of our colleagues have [against Clinton]," he said. "They tend to be Roman Catholics, actually. People like Tim Russert, Chris Matthews, Maureen Dowd. They've had it in for Bill and Hillary Clinton since Monica Lewinsky. They feel that the Clintons are trying to put one over on us all the time."

http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/mixed-media/2008/03/03/klein-alter-and-lowry-on-anti-hillary-bias

Well, for elites like Joe Klein, Catholics never belonged here in the first place, unless they were needed to dig ditches, trim-lawns, hump steel and provide political aptitude for Progressive Cupcakes. Nuance.

It seems that after getting out of the elite Hackley School and University of Pennsylvania ( the official school of SEIU Leadership), Joe wrote for Rolling Stone and got close to Tom Laughlin - Billy Jack his own Bad Self.

Joe Klein out-ed the Clinton's with his Roman a clef Primary Colors as self--absorbed power vampires and made a killing by cashing-in trust and professionalism. Get cozy and trusted and betray that trust. Nuance.

The Nuanced are the Elitists who insult people and get rewarded. Joe Klein makes much money. Joe Klein talks down from that pile of dough.

Joe Klein offers all of us, in his Rolling Stoneish -Time piece, his sober Redneck kick on Redneck America in a dutiful slap as part of the Palin Pile On.

I wrote that Palin's America--white folks, small towns, traditional values--was a Republican fantasy, a vestige of Ronald Reagan's "Morning in America" hornswoggle in the 1980s.

Yep, you did Joe. Those are the bullies picking on Hippies and Red Folks outside of the feed store and around the Hippie School.

Americans are hornswoggled folks.

Real America is much different from, and more interesting than, that white-bread fantasy, a problem the Republican Party--the party of immigrant bashing--will be wrestling with for the immediate future. And it brings to mind a conversation I overheard, and can't get out of my mind, between two educated Iranians at a North Tehran party last month. Both had attended university in the U.S. One had recently returned from the States, the other hadn't been back here in 15 years. "You wouldn't recognize the place," the recent returnee said. "They don't have any Americans left."

I was in Real America last night and woke up in real America this morning and work ( Leo High School: All Black Male Catholic High School supported by Old White Catholic Guys)at the corner of 79th and Sangamon Streets, when I finish banging this out.

Last night I picked up my daughter Clare, Kara Donleavy, and Maddie Braun from cheerleading at St. Rita High School and got there early as always. I watched the St. Rita Varsity Football for twenty minutes with a white City Worker from St. Dennis Parish ( 83rd & Lawndale) who is required to live in the City limits and has five years left to meet his pension and later chatted with young Mike Crutchley a 36 year old African American CTA bus supervisor, at the barns on Archer Ave. and Pershing Road, who is a Chicago public school graduate and sends his daughters to Catholic Schools so that they will learn something and become successful. He wishes there were more Charter Schools. Catholic Schools cost a lung. The guy from St. Dennis sent three boys to St. Rita and three girls to McAuley -God bless him. Mike the CTA Superviser wondered 'how did he do that?' Mike knows. It was a rhetorical question posed by an American.

Mike's Daughter Casey and my daughter Clare are lifters in the same 'toss the smallest girl' contingent. The girl getting launched is a Mexican beauty named Isabella. All three girls will attend Mother McAuley -Irish American, African American and Mexican American. They work as team.

That is Real America.

Hey, Billy Joe, they pay you for your thoughts?

Ain't this country great?

Klein graduated from the Hackley School and the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in American civilization. In 1969, Klein began reporting for the Essex County Newspapers, and The Peabody Times in Massachusetts In 1972, he reported for Boston's WGBH, and until 1974 he was also the news editor for The Real Paper in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was a contributing editor for Rolling Stone from 1975 to 1980, and Washington bureau chief from 1975 to 1977.[1] He became friends with actor-director Tom Laughlin after interviewing him for Rolling Stone and appeared briefly as a reporter in Laughlin's 1977 film Billy Jack Goes to Washington.

Klein published Woody Guthrie: A Life in 1980 and Payback: Five Marines After Vietnam in 1984. He was a political columnist for New York from 1987 to 1992 where he won the Peter Kihss Award for reporting on the 1989 race for Mayor of New York. In May 1992 he joined Newsweek and wrote the column "Public Lives", which won a National Headliner Award in 1994. Newsweek also won a National Magazine Award for their coverage of Bill Clinton's 1992 victory. From 1992 to 1996 he was also a consultant for CBS News, providing commentary.[1]