Subway Attack...

Hey all I didn’t know if anyone saw this in the news the other day but I thought it was ridiculous. He was 36 and had just gotten engaged over Easter. It happened in the middle of the day, just thought that if anyone takes the subway on a regular basis to be careful….

Mar 27, 2008 7:11 PM (4 days ago) By JOANN LOVIGLIO, AP
PHILADELPHIA - A group of teenagers accused of killing a man on a downtown subway concourse targeted him in what was apparently a "stupid random act," police said Thursday.
Sean Patrick Conroy, a 36-year-old coffee shop manager, was attacked by four youths Wednesday afternoon in the 13th Street station of the Market-Frankford line, police said.
The Philadelphia medical examiner concluded after an autopsy Thursday that Conroy died of asthma contributed to by blunt force injuries, and labeled his death a homicide.
A transit police officer saw one of the teens take a swing at Conroy, but the four fled before the officer could reach them, authorities said.
Kinta Stanton, 16, arrested by another officer shortly after the attack, was arraigned late Thursday as an adult on charges of murder and criminal conspiracy, prosecutors said. He was held without bail pending a preliminary hearing scheduled for Tuesday.
Deputy Police Commissioner Richard Ross Jr. said Thursday that the investigation so far indicated Conroy was "targeted for no reason whatsoever." Investigators don't believe he was a robbery victim, because nothing appeared to be missing, he said.
It's unclear whether anything precipitated the attack, but it appeared to be "some kind of stupid random act," Ross said.
"Kids randomly assaulting a person who's minding their own business ... is equally shocking and disturbing," Ross said.
Authorities initially thought Conroy may have had a heart attack.
Conroy appeared to be having difficulty breathing and chest pains when officers arrived. He died a short time later at a hospital.
Conroy, a South Philadelphia resident managed a Starbucks store near the subway stop.
The attack occurred shortly after 2:30 p.m.
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, which operates the subway, had already been increasing security, focusing on the hours of 2 to 5 p.m. because of teens causing problems after getting out of school, said spokesman Jim Whitaker.
"This particular incident was an anomaly," Whitaker said.
The attack occurred on a city-owned concourse next to the subway, not on SEPTA property, he said.

Four Weeks Left!

Tomorrow marks the first day of April, which means that there are only four weeks of class left! For me, this is both a crazy time and a good time, as I know that there is an end in sight for all of the homework, projects, and papers that are seemingly due all around the same time. So while it might seem like there is no stop to the amount of work to be done in the upcoming weeks, I can rest assured knowing it will all soon end.

This doesn't necessarily mean I want to go home or anything. Rather, I just would like to have a break time where I don't have any work to do. When you have meetings, class, a job and then work on top of that, it can all get to be a little overwhelming. But now that I have a countdown (not a literal countdown, but a mental countdown...I didn't actually write it out or anything!), I don't have to feel as though my crazy life is always going to be crazy.

So, as the next four weeks go by, I will both cherish them and anticipate their ending. When they end, I go home for a few months, away from my friends. However, this also means NO MORE WORK! Really, it is all very bittersweet, but nonetheless an exciting and certainly busy time. With that said, I wish all others luck as they too deal with the next four weeks!

So since we all had a 4000-5000 word paper to write, I decided to share a little of mine, the Yellow Fever epidemic!

In 1793, Philadelphia was considered the second largest city in the nation. It had a population of about 28,500 people. That summer the city was unusually hot. The surrounding waters reduced and the city was in a drought. This environment was perfect for the breeding of insects. That July, the city contained swarms of flies and mosquitoes closest to the water. Mosquitoes were known to easily spread disease. Also in that month, hundreds of immigrants were making their way into Philadelphia from the Caribbean by ship. Those very immigrants brought with them Yellow Fever.

People in the city began feeling terribly ill. Victims of Yellow Fever often had high fevers, bloody bile, burning sensations in the stomach, head, back, and limb pains. As the disease became more severe, the eye balls would turn a shade of yellow, and the skin purple. These symptoms would disappear, reappear, and eventually lead to death.

Philadelphia's leading physician at the time, Dr. Benjamin Rush, tried his hardest to save the victims. He was unsuccessful. Doctors guessed at the causes of the disease but were totally unaware. Dr. Rush advised the people of Philadelphia to flee the city, a sure preventative. He worked day in and day out to comfort and treat the ill, but with little success. So many people contracted the disease and soon after the city began to crumble. A sufficient portion of the population, members of Congress, and even President George Washington fled the city.

With the first frost in October, the disease began to die down. But by that time, there was an average of 120 deaths per day. Eventually, Yellow Fever had disappeared when cold weather arrived in November and December. The death toll in Philadelphia was over 4,000.

Hi everyone! I am a sister of Alpha Theta Alpha, and we are trying to raise money for ANADs, which stands for Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders. This week is Eating Disorders Awareness week. For anyone interested we are selling chances at lunch in the Union, B&G, and Treetops, as well as at dinner in the B&G and Treetops, for a chance for $200 dollars towards desiner jeans from Lucky, to Juicy, to Seven, and more, including all alterations. The chances are $2 for one and 3 for $5. Come out and buy a chance! All the money will go toward ANADs so it is a really great prize! The jeans are for boys and girls, so guys don't think you can't buy some chances. Also, we will have a box at each of the tables for jean donations. If anyone has any jeans that no longer fit them or they don't wear or whatever, bring them and put them in the box and we are donating all the jeans to a homeless shelter. Thanks to anyone who may have already bought a chance or donated jeans!

PLEASE VOTE!

If you are not already registered to vote YOU SHOULD BE! Yesterday was the deadline to registered to be able to vote in the PA primary election which will take place on April 22. For the past two weeks on our campus you haven't been able to walk more than 20feet without someone asking, "Are you registered to vote?" However, if with all the options available for students out there to get registered they still don't. The other day I was in the union and someone asked a LaSalle student if they were registered to vote and the student responded, "I really dont care about any of this and I'm not going to vote." When I over heard this I could have screamed! Being able to vote is a right many people around the world do not have. I was shocked to hear such ignorance coming from someone who is not only American but the same age as me. More than ever it is important students ages 18-26 vote! Putting all politics and which candidate you will vote for this fall aside everyone should vote! Its right many people wish they could have, and it is one of the many signifying qualities that makes us American.

Why I'm A Wanker

The world is in definite need of people like Lynne Truss. This notion is reconfirmed daily with my interaction with low income children and their parents who participate in Huntington Learning Center's Supplemental Education Services Program (part of the No Child Left Behind Act passed by our current President).

That is besides the point.

I was wondering if anyone had seen the movie Idiocracy? It is directed by Mike Judge who did Office Space and if you like d Office Space you will love Idiocracy. It came out in 2006 and I am going to attempt to embed a youtube clip which highlights a few of the most wonderful points the movie makes:



Most important in this clip is what is said within the first two minutes. "the English language had deteriorated into a hybrid of hillbilly, valley girl, inner-city slang and various grunts...The years passed, mankind became stupider at a frightening rate. Some had high hopes the genetic engineering would correct this trend in evolution, but sadly the greatest minds and resources where focused on conquering hair loss and prolonging erections." (Idiocracy).

I highly recommend the movie, it is hilarious, and a scary social critique. It shows without a doubt that we need sticklers! We need more people correcting us when we use big words (or small words) incorrectly. We need to remember the comma, the semicolon, the period, and most importantly the apostrophe!

I will forever be a stickler, a wanker if you will, and hope that society does forget language usage. I don't want a future where someone has to point this out: "There was a time when reading wasn't just for fags. And neither was writing. People wrote books and movies. Movies with stories, that made you care about whose ass it was and why it was farting. And I believe that time can come again!"

Philadelphia Piece

I thought I would share to everyone what I am writing my Philadelphia paper on since it concerns every student that attends this university and everyone in this class and surrounding area. What I am specifically focusing on in my paper is the ever spreading violence in Philadelphia over the last four years. Over the past four years, we have seen a spike in violence and homicides around this area, with 392 last year, and 406 the year before. Furthermore, the amount of students getting robbed or help up around campus has been ever widening as well.

This is why I chose to focus my paper on this subject since it means a lot to many people around our area and university. I am writing about how Philadelphia once was a great city to live in and how over the past twenty years until now, we have seen many things change in our neighborhoods and the way we view the city as far as people living in it and the way we see our city as a whole. I think the way we perceive this city certainly has changed over the past eight years since many people felt our previous mayor and commissioner did not do a very good job.

Our previous mayor seemed to be caught up in his own world while violence was plaguing our streets. Instead of focusing on the problem, he chose to brag about his new IPhone and other stupid things. Also, the police commissioner thought he would make a desperate plea in the time of violence to ask citizens to keep a watch out on the streets with community policing when it is the police officers that should be doing the job. No matter whose fault it is or was, the problem still exists and needs to be corrected or everyone is looking to jump ship and leave, with many already moving elsewhere.

Fortunately, so far this year, homicides are down 20 from last year, which is a very good start and promising outlook to the rest of the year. Many more police are going to be hired in the coming year to protect the high crime and drug areas and our new mayor and commissioner seem to be doing a pretty good job so far. Hopefully they keep it up as time progresses to keep our city the once great city it was. We should want to look at this city and be proud of it when people come to visit it or think about it. I thought this was a good topic for my paper because it really lets me reflect on my views about how I saw the city ten years ago when I lived here and how I see it now. I see many changes from then to now and I can tell all about it in my paper.

Some Things Are Worth Listening To

Whenever I am home from school for however long, my brother finds it necessary to offer helpful advice about the college scene, make snide comments about college life in general, or bring to my attention certain pearls of wisdom that he has recently uncovered. Fondly remembering college, he often sarcastically comments on my sleeping habits and those of college age students. (Although I really can't imagine why...over break I woke up after two p.m. only twice) Or sometimes he offers useful and innovative advice such as: "Shower regularly; you don't want to be known as that dirty kid on campus." He truly is such a helpful big brother sometimes. And, occasionally, he will tell some wild tale about him and his friends in college, intending to teach a lesson (although sometimes the message of the story gets lost...). My brother and I are fourteen years apart, but that has never stopped us from forming a close relationship. Even if I do have to endure teasing and sarcasm whenever I am with him.

When I was home for Spring Break, my brother decided to be seriously helpful instead of funny and embarrassing. He told me about a new website; I checked it out, and it actually was pretty entertaining. The website is www.pandora.com and it is a radio website where you type in an artist that you like. Then, the radio makes a playlist of that artist and a bunch of others that are similiar to the one you typed. So far, I really like it. Sometimes I get really bored with the music in my itunes and just want a change. This is a pretty good website to use if you want some new music. I thought it was some new and amazing discovery, but after asking my friends about it I found that some of them already use it. Try it out! Hopefully you can find some good stuff. I guess my brother isn't all bad...

What is college for?

What is it about college that we never recieve a break? I am not talking about Spring break, or Easter break, or even Summer break. I am talking about people helping out people.
I remember growing up learning about how college used to be about more then curriculum. Not that I do not think that the education end is important, but where does creativity and adventure come in? Are we not supposed to go to college to become more wordly? That is what I believed college was all about. However, it seems like every teacher believes that college should be work 24/7, 365 days a year. There is no time to find out who we are anymore. to be honest, I am 22, about to graduate, and I still do not have a clue who I am or what I want to do. Not that I am free of blame but it feels like all school has been is something to do.
Classes are scheduled for fall and Spring, but the odds of completing in four years without having to go in the summer, or even over winter break are slim to none at this point. What has college become and why did it become this way? I had a teacher my freshman year tell me about how the Universities are the only place left in the country that are not overrun by the corporations and the government, until he pointed out the coca-cola sign on the football score board. Let's face it, four years of college may get us a good job and give us some security, but I learn more about the world in the bar business then I do in any class room.

First comes Spring break then comes reality

Spring break was a time to catch up on sleep and rest. From Monday until Wednesday this did not happen. I am an administrative assistant for a company in New Jersey and although my hours aren't long hours, I hated getting up at eight o'clock in the morning to go to work while I was on Spring break. Regardless of how I was feeling, I had to go to work because I have bills to pay and a very expensive wedding to pay for before the end of this month. Monday through Wednesday was not good days for me but then came Thursday! I requested two days off work so I can be free to do nothing unless I wanted to do it. Thursday, I spent the day with my brother at his new apartment! He moved out of my parents house a week ago and because of school, work, and wedding planning, I did not have a chance to see his new place. I was very excited to spend the day with him. Friday, I spend the morning at the mall with my mother, sister, and two of my nieces. We shopped, ate, and had a blast. Friday night my fience and I went to a youth service at his church and enjoyed young people dancing, singing and preaching. After the service, we went bowling! I haven't bowled in almost five years! I really sucked at bowling and my score proved I suck. I bowled a 59 or 60 but I still had a wounderful time.

Now that Spring break is over, I have to come back to reality. Today ended my long wonderful weekend and I had to return to work and tonight I will return to class. I enjoyed my Spring break for the most part. I go a lot of work done, not homework, but work like wedding stuff, packing stuff like that. Honestly, I didn't start my homework until Satruday night. I'm graduating this May and I wanted a Spring break to do things I wanted to do. I didn't not want to do homework or go to work or think about school. I wanted a real Spring break since this was my last one. Although I enjoyed the latter part of my break, I am stress becasue I didn't do homework because now I have to rush to complete assignments given in all my classes. If I did not take time off to relax then today I would be just as tired as I have been all semester. All in all I happy I took time off until I came back to reality.

Spring Break

The Softball team had spring training games in Florida and Arizona this year. We got off to a rough start in Florida, ending up 1-5., although the 5 games we lost were all by one run. This was the first time we have seen a diert infeild in since September, since we can not practice outside because it has been cold, and we dont have a feild on campus. We played pretty well considering we have not really had a chance to have a real practice.

Then it was off to Arizona... The University of Arizona that is. In case you don't know, they are the NCAA Softball Champions. Well, what was a scrappy team from Philadelphia doing playing this team? Our coach thought it would be a good experience, but when we went and they beat us twice, 19-2 and then 18-0, he thought a little differently.

The girls on this team are seriously machines. They were hitting back to back home runs, and just kept running and running and running. It was really frustrating, especially when the #1 pitcher in the country is striking everyone out over and over. These girls are celebrities in Arizona. They are on the covers of magazines, and are stopped and asked for autographs. There were over 1,000 people sitting in the the stands.

Overall it was a good experience, but not so good for our personal and team stats. But we have out first A-10 game this week against George Washington University. We got some good practice in down in Florida, so hopefully we can apply it to the games to come and have a successful season.

Spring Break?

This was probably the most hectic week of my semester, and I am supposed to be on Spring Break. Not only did I have plenty of school work to do, but I also had a horrifying amount of thing to do for work.

I work for my parents, so I don't ever worry about getting fired, but on the other hand I'm not able to leave my work at work. Unfortunately my parents know where I live and can conveniently drop off extra paper work for me to do and not feel bad about it because I'm on Spring Break and have absolutely nothing else to do.

Aside from work and school, I am also a bridesmaid in one of my best friend's wedding, and because I am on Spring Break, she made me go to New York with her to pick out a veil and headpiece. I have no idea why she couldn't find them here!!! Then she made all of us get together to discuss a bunch of things that could easily have been emailed, but then again I was on Spring Break, so why should I complain.

Okay, I feel a little bit better now. I would like to say that I will have a relaxing weekend, but I have to go to my cousin's birthday party on Saturday (it will not be fun) and on Sunday I am meeting people in my other class to go over a group project that is due soon. So if I look exhausted on Monday, after being off for Spring Break, you will all know why.

Hooray for spring break!

Oh how I love spring break. It seems as if it happened at just the right time. I've been overwhelmed with work for this entire semester, and I was pretty much on overload by the time spring break rolled around. Now I'm in Florida and I'm loving it. The only problem is that I stll have a ton of work to do. Now matter where I go, work always follows me. Yeah, I know that's true for everyone in any capacity, but I really wish that I could have some time to myself without that little voice in the back of my head reminding me how many papers I still have to write.

The reason that I'm in Florida is because my father lives here. I'm used to coming down here, and I enjoy it, but I could never live down here. The lifestyle people adopt here is just not me. But I forgot how great it is to look out the window and see palm trees. It's warm and sunny, and the breeze is cool. The weather and the scenery are just incredible down here. I take a walk every night and just admire the area and revel in the fact that I'm in shorts and sandals. My plan for the rest of break is to enjoy Florida, My dad, my stepmom, food that doesn't come from Tree Tops and attempt to get a lot of work done. I hope everyone else is having a great time too!

P.S. One of my favorite places down here: Jamba Juice. If you don't know what that is, wait until it is warm again and go to Whole Foods on South Street. There's one in there.

What happened to the "break" in Spring Break

Hope your break has begun well. Your writing assignment due Mon (Mar 10) is to write a 1000 word essay on some topic related to Philadelphia. History, current events, La Salle, the art scene, the music scene, architecture, a particular place, a Philly job. You are free to choose your own avenue of pursuit. But you must write a fairly cohesive essay for this first draft. Over the month of March (and into April) you'll expand this Philadelphia topic into a 4000-5000 word essay. You may need to research your topic or interview subjects. Consider yourself freelance journalists for the next month. I'll be your editor, prodding your piece into shape.

Blackadderian Word of the Week: phrasmotic

You also need to do some reading over the break:

If you haven't finished the first 6 chapters of Crystal's Fight for English, do so. We'll be discussing it and its relationship to Truss' Eats Shoots next class.

Also please read these two pieces from the City Paper:
Monks Devils and Quakers
and
We're taking Poe back

We'll be discussing how they work (or don't work) as "Philadelphia" pieces. Please print them and bring them to class.