Search Results for: deeney

The Valley of the Shadow is was an ongoing series documenting how those in Philadelphia’s poorest and most violent neighborhoods publicly mourn and commemorate their dead. Jeff Deeney, the man who brought you Today I Saw, knows these neighborhoods well from his days as a social worker. The hope is was to shine a light on the city’s untouchables, brighten the darkest corners and gather-and-share ultra-vivid and all-too-real stories of loss, grief and remembrance. BY JEFF DEENEY Initially the Valley of the Shadow series was conceived as a documentary effort aimed at exploring the street memorial phenomenon that has become […]

BY JEFF DEENEY Jill Porter deserves to be spotlighted for her column about Thomas Scatling, which is a refreshingly even handed and well informed take on the man behind the Broad Street subway hammer attack.  Porter focuses on the question of whyScantling was on the streets as opposed to under long term care at a mental health facility despite the fact that he was 302ed, or involuntarily committed, just weeks before the incident. Scantling had a history of violent behavior and was no stranger to the mental health system and the criminal courts.  So why was he on the Broad Street […]

METRO: Much of the DHS disaster that led to the death of 14-year-old Danieal Kelly can be traced to the agency’s decision to farm out client home visits to outside contractors. Home visits have long been the cornerstone of the social work profession; real change happens in a family’s living room, in their community. When you are in someone’s home you know whether your services are effective; you can see their living conditions, clearly assess their needs and build a level of trust and open communication that doesn’t happen in a downtown office. Home visits are especially important in high-risk […]

BY JEFF DEENEY The Next Mayor blog has a couple substantial posts talking about Showdown on Hurley Street. I would suggest reading them and getting involved in the larger discussion about poverty, crime and violence that’s bound to get louder as the change over to the Nutter administration draws nearer. I figured that the article would spark some strong responses both positive and negative; a lot of what I’ve written has. Let me address some points raised. * Blogger Phil starts out by saying, “An article from today, The Showdown on Hurley Street, struck me as hysteria.” In the larger […]

  HARRY RANSOM CENTER: Twenty years ago, in February of 1996, Little, Brown and Company published David Foster Wallace’s (1962–2008) novel Infinite Jest. It was a bold undertaking for the firm to publish a complex, challenging novel that spans over 1,000 pages and contains hundreds of endnotes, many quite lengthy and all printed in very small type. The sheer size of the book required that it be sold for $30, an unorthodox price for any novel, let alone a second novel by a young, up-and-coming author. Wallace began seriously writing Infinite Jest in 1991. The publication of the book took […]