Drick Boyd's Blog
The Case for More, Not Less, Religion in Schools
A recent conversation with my daughter and a possible pending Supreme Court case have gotten me thinking about the need for more religion in our public schools. Donna Kay Busch’s case initially caught my attention because it happens to involve the Marple Newtown...
Hope and the Culture of Violence
Over the last several months leading up to my arrest in front of Colisimos gun shop and then the five months after that leading up to my trial, I have been made acutely aware of how deeply embedded violence is in U.S. culture. While I was already quite aware of the...
The Widget Effect – Take 2
My last blog responded to Jonathan Alter’s article on a recent report of The New Teacher Project called The Widget Effect. I got curious and decided to read the report myself. I found that Alter fairly summed up the report accurately. Essentially, the New Teacher...
The Problem with the "Teaching Effectiveness" Argument
This brief article was prompted a recent Newseek column by Jonathan Alter (June 15) in which he urges President Obama to push his agenda for teacher effectiveness by funding those programs with “good track records at turning around poorly performing schools and...
Recognizing the Lens Through Which We Experience the World
Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh made fools of themselves this past week when they called Supreme Court judge nominee Sonia Sotomayor “racist” for her comments that her background as a Latina from a lower income background might reach a better judicial decision on...
Not Guilty!
May 26 is a day I will never forget. At about 5:30 in the afternoon, after nearly 6 hours of testimony and legal debate, the twelve of us arrested for protesting in front of Colismo’s Gun Shop were pronounced not guilty by Judge Yvette Simmons. After nearly 5 months...
Faith, Guns and Direct Action
In preparation for our trial on May 26, our lawyer asked each defendant to put together a personal statement as to why we participated in the direct action against Colismo's gun shop. While this will not be my exact testimony, the following is my basic reasoning for...
The "Dark" Side of My Family History
Several years ago as part of a workshop on Family Systems, I did an extensive history on my family of origin. With the help of an aunt on my Dad’s side, and an uncle on my Mom’s side, I was able to pull together a rather impressive history of the various strains of...
Resurrection Hope on Spring Garden Street
On Good Friday, April 10, about 100 people gathered near Colismo's Gun shop to commemorate the death of Jesus, and its connection to the countless meaningless deaths due to gun violence. Folks from all walks of life gathered to say that illegal guns and the straw...
What Do You See: Pork or Steak
[With apologies to all my vegetarian friends, please forgive the overabundance of meaty metaphors in this piece.] In the interest of trying to see all sides of current issues, I often will read The Bulletin on my train ride into the city. The Bulletin is an...
The Enemy is Ignorance
Every once and a while I come across something that opens a new window to my understanding. Such was the case recently when I read Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. For years I have lamented that we who call ourselves peace activists have not...
My Charter School Dilemma
After several years of frustrating delays, on Feb. 18, Eastern University received final approval from the Philadelphia School District to open its charter school in the Fall of 2009. At that same meeting, Arlene Ackerman, Superintendent of the Philadelphia School...
Reflections From a Jail Cell
Nearly a month has passed since I was arrested for blocking the entrance to Colisimo’s gun shop (see January 18 blog). In terms of the overall experience getting arrested was easy; the difficult part was the 25 hours I spent in jail. Many people have asked me what it...
Debunking the Myth of Violence
Recently I heard a PBS interview with Matt Miller, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress about his new book The Tyranny of Dead Ideas. In this book Miller focuses on ways Americans think about economic issues that have become outmoded and even...
Honoring Dr. King by Sitting Down
Most people remember Martin Luther King Jr. as a great leader who fought for racial justice. Many people commemorate the holiday set aside to honor him with acts of volunteer service, concerts, sermons, and recitations of his famous 1963 “I Have A Dream” speech....