Mo Mo

Mo Beasely is coming back to work with some of the boys this week and I volunteered to work with him. (I made the flyer to the right) I'm looking forward to learning the latest in slanguage and try to have Mo's charisma wear off on me. Our plan is to link the poetry that's written to neighborhood sites, sort of what Mr. Beller's Neighborhood does. Except we'll go one step further by podcasting. I prepared by getting this great new book.

Here's a review:
"I, and dozens of teens in the community with whom I volunteer, love this book. It makes a great ice-breaker, and a great resource for folks who work in communities where slanguage is frequently used. It is almost 700 pages in length, with what appears to be perhaps a 1000 entries. The entries not only provide a definition of each word or term, but also it's history (old school vs. new school, etc.) and examples of how the words might be used. Just leave it sitting around where teens hangout, and see what happens (they may read together, laugh together, critique and analyze the entries together). The book has a scholarly yet humorous appeal to it. I am a college professor myself, and my college students also seem to like this book. I think it has widespread potential for a broad range of audiences. It has turned out to be a treasure. It would make a nice gift for mature teens, parents, educators, social workers, nurses, business people, clergy, and politicians. Caution: it may not be suitable for pre-adolescent children because of some of the mature themes. I would love to see Randy "Moe Deezy" also author a Thesaurus along this line. I'm done. Now let me translate what I just said using entries from the book: Okay, here's da scoop (p. 485). Good googily moogily, this book is off the chain! (pp. 240 & 396). I'm really clickin' with this book, and da shorties in my hood love this book too (pp. 115, 499, & 275). It's worth da cheese (p. 107). It handles business on the one hand, and makes you crack up at times as well (pp. 251 & 128). I also have to school shorties in college, and they dig the book too (pp. 484, 499, & 143). It's a tightly done book, and will interest everyone from the homies to the new jacks (pp. 578, 274 & 387). It's a wrap, peace out!"