Fiend of dreams......

Today i stood with 30 high school students who wanted to try out for our varsity baseball team in a vacant lot outside our school... the barbed wire glistened as the orang sky shot schemes of purple.. it was like a vibrant drive by of color. The sun bounced off the L, and off my face, reminding me that spring is making its way back to the north. They lined up on the concrete, pretending it was grass while the elevated train screamed by in 15 mintue intervals.. they daydreamed as if it were diehard fans screaming their names... Their were no parents present at the first day of tryouts but in their place sat prostitues and fiends watching in amazement as the young bones of our vibrant youth ran around with leather mits after balls of yarn in the ghetto...In Philadelphia theirs more concrete than grass, taller buildings but smaller spaces for children to be kids... So its not surprising that as i write this i think of our kids and smile at the little joys and privledges that so many other teenagers take for granted and it forces a smile upon my tired cheeks that our kids will play baseball and pretend the blacktop is dirt, that the barbed wire fence is the green monster, and that the crack fiends and prostitues are adoring fans waiting for autographs...all for the love of the game.....