Trenton, My Trenton: Emiija's Hope Part 1

TRENTON -- They hit Passaic, Hanover, Stuyvesant, Volk, Hoffman, Bryn Mawr and a few nooks and crannies in between. The mentor and her mentees and the young man passed out fliers and bent a few ears in their quest to find and invite young females to a July 7 barbecue at the Conservatory Mansion on 540 East State. That's where they'll chow down and learn about Emiija's Hope, Trenton's only mentoring program targeting teen girls ages 13-18. The program completed its first 12-week run two ago.

Tashanna Ellis is the 23-year-old mentor of Emiija's Hope. She chronicled her story on Trentonian TV a few weeks ago. In short, Tashanna was a disobedient teen who ran the streets and gave birth to a kid when she was 14. She was depressed, desolate, stuck in her bell jar. Tried to kill herself. Mental hospital. But she emerged on the other side by finding God, then went to Delaware State University and graduated from Mercer County Community College. Her focus is helping Trenton's teenage girls who might be dealing with the pitfalls of hood life by empowering them to overcome the confusion, rage and angst. Tashanna wants to expand Emiija's Hope, so the barbecue is step one. Step two is raising enough money to find the group a permanent spot to meet every week. Tashanna said she'll apply for grants but she hopes Trentonians will dig into their wallets to support the cause, too.

Below are the photos the reporter took from 5:30 to 7:30 with Tashanna, Star, Nay-Nay, Rashawnda and 17-year-old Ozzia, who joined the girls in their quest because he is best friends with one of them. Some of the photos left a deep impact in the photog's mind, like the 4th one with "BIP BLVD" tagged on the shuttered abode that looks like it could be in the middle of war-torn Syria; and the 6th one with the elderly woman reading a flier and the dude on the other side of the porch who looks so sad, lost and lonely; the one of the man standing in front of a church on Stuyvesant; the second-to-last one with curtains and a flower pot with a pretty flower painted on the boards of a shuttered abode; and the last one with Tashanna's arm around Star's shoulders as they walk down Stuyvesant.

In case you're wondering, Emiija is the name of Tashanna's daughter.

Trentonian Photos/JOEY KULKIN (click to enlarge)

Nay-Nay, Star, Rashawnda, Tashanna, Ozzia

The walk began on Passaic Street

Trenton, My Trenton

Passaic Street aka BIP Blvd?

Row

Passaic Street

Passaic Street

Some of the young girls Tashanna Ellis hopes to reach

Trenton, My Trenton

Hanover Street

Raising consciousness

Rashawnda spreading the message

Star talks to a 28-year-old mom on Hanover Street

The mom is Gennara Crews, who runs Black Girls Who Rock

Hanover Street

A young mom on Hanover Street holding her daughter, reading the flier

Trenton, My Trenton

Brother, can you spare a wire?

Hanover Street

Rashawnda

Nellie, 5, Hanover Street

Rashawnda listening to the crowd

Stuyvesant: Star talks to a young mother

Only $50,000? Alright!

Trenton, My Trenton

Star talks while Tashanna watches her mentee in action

Tashanna (right) with a longtime friend

Stuyvesant fireman says he'll post the flier on the wall

Another young Stuyvesant mom

She's a Pennsy girl who said she'd show up to the July 16 barbecue

Stuyvesant

Volk Street

Tashanna's best friend, Ashley

Uncle Tim, from Liberia, BBQ'ing beef and chicken. Wings on a stick were great.

Stuyvesant

Inside

Best visual of the day

Mentor and mentee

Trentonian TV Production Notes: B.O.Y.D. Students Speak

TRENTON -- Get your shades out because Trenton's young stars continue to shine. Bruce Boyd is the founder of Building Our Youth Development, which teaches kids the finer points of life during their crucial years: puberty and beyond. Bruce is Trentonian TV veteran of sorts having been a guest on L.A.'s show and then on Freedom's show. He's no stranger to the camera or the microphone. He did a radio show for W.I.M.G. for two years. That's why I asked him to find several B.O.Y.D. students and interview them. He said yes, which meant another member of the community joining the Trentonian TV team.

Bruce interviewed 11-year-old Tyshea Brown, 13-year-old Mahki Simmons, 12-year-old Wykia Cooper and 12-year-old Gavin McKenzie. All of them were charming, witty, intelligent. You have to perk your ears up to hear Tyshea, who's a bit shy, although she is a cheerleader. Soon as they left, Trentonian Sports Editor Matt Osborne echoed my feeling that Gavin McKenzie is a smart, smart kid is going farther in life than most. You can hear the strength of his personality in every answer he gives. I'm always listening for future mayors of Trenton, future governors of Jersey, future presidents of the United States of America. Add Gavin McKenzie to that list.

Thanks, Bruce. Great job drawing each kid out during the interview. The most impressive moment, Bruce, is when you asked Wykia about the Langston Hughes poem "Mother to Son" -- and then she recited it by heart.

Here is a photo of each B.O.Y.D. superstar, and the 31-minute interview session follows.

Cutie pie Tyshia

Mahki

Wykia

Gavin

Trentonian TV Production Notes: Tyrone Miller Show Episode 11

TRENTON -- Tyrone was on fire along with his first three guests from So Focus Photography, the official photographer of The Trentonian's LOCAL Page 6 Girls. That's right, women from Trenton, Ewing, Hamilton, Lawrence, Princeton, Hopewell, the Windsors, Morrisville, Falls, Burlco and nooks and crannies in between will be returning to Page 6 very soon. And -- AND! -- we're turning it into a contest where you --YOU! -- vote for the winners.

Corey McCoy, Byron Phillips and Dwight Wiggins comprise So Focus Photography. They are Trenton born and raised, and they do great work with their cameras. They were in fine form with Tyrone, who took the reins off for this episode. He was, dare I say, hyper even though the newsroom was fuller than usual. Yet the louder Tyrone and the SFP folks got, the funnier their material became, the more a couple of the sports guys laughed.

Tianna Armstrong, a Trenton make-up artist, followed the photographers and brought the goods. She even agreed to provide free make-up applications to Page 6 aspirants Saturday.

Then, as a surprise of sorts, Tyrone interviewed Trenton High senior Jermaine Collier. Jermaine showed up early for his live interview with Freedom and was sitting in the green room -- in this case, next to that picture of Hunter Thompson that I love so much. I motioned for Tyrone to interview the Jersey champion hurdler, sprinter and relay anchor, who scored 40 points to help Trenton win its first NJ track team title in 7 years. I think that quickie interview loosened Jermaine up for his 15-minute interview with Freedom.

From a production point of view, this wasn't my finest hour. First, my photos were wretched. I had little room to maneuver my chair to take the photos, and then I couldn't locked into crisp focus so 95% of them were soft. Terrible. Second, I did a poor job having photos from each So Focus Photography photographer at the read for the screen-in-screen action. So I have to work on a few things if I expect to be a champ like Jermaine Collier.

Photos and the episode below:

Corey McCoy with Tyrone (Jermaine and Tianna near Hunter Thompson)

Corey and Freedom hugging one out.

Byrone Phillips aka The Thinking Man

Dwight Wiggins laughing at something zany Tyrone said

Tyrone and the So Focus Crew

Tianna did her lips

Tianna and Tyrone