Erie

It's ok to love Erie. It's ok to love your community

It's ok to want togetherness and unity.

It is ok to want violence to cease, be reduced to the fiction you see on t.v.

It's ok to want peace not to be a distant memory.

It is only right to care for one another.

To have love for your neighbor, for one another.

It is a great thing to promote un* it* ty

wanting a safer, happier place for you* and* me!

You should be commended for being involved

Vote, go to those meetings, that's how community problems are solved.

It's not old fashion to want to keep our hometown closeness, but upward mobility

it's ok to want respect, employment, good schools for your city

It's positive thing to stick together, rid ourselves of descriptions, which gave our city a bad name.

Let's get rid of Mistake on the Lake , out with Dreary Erie,

Change the negative mind sets, create new theories

What do we in Erie want to be known for?

A small city with a lot of big things in store.

By Luchetta Manus

Another Planet

Poem title: Another Planet
By: Luchetta (Cookee) Manus


I feel like I was dropped off on another planet
Things aren't the way they should be
looking back on how I grew up.
I've taken a lot for granted
Do you remember love?
When love was something you showed off like a new car
Compassion for others
A love for one another took you far
Do you remember when our children played?
They didn't know the East side from the West side
Simple arguments lead to fist fights
later you got along, and the anger subsides
Do you remember when parents used to care?
looking out for their children
doing right by them
what was fair
protecting them for the dangers out there
Out there in a world which I no longer recognize
Do you remember when teachers cared about your future ?
taught you lessons
passing down the wisdom
you learned to be true to ya...self.
Do you remember when grandma was full of wisdom?
steered you into making the right decisions
Now grandma is 20!
Not enough life experience
to tell you how life should be
Do you remember hearing the laughter of children playing?
now being replaced by computers, iPods, and cell phones
the imagination slaying of the youth.
cardboard boxes replaced by electronics
we lost innocence, and that’s the truth
I feel like I was dropped on another planet
Things aren't the way they should be
looking back on how I grew up
I have taken a lot for granted
Do you remember when women were strong and sassy?
Having enough love and respect for herself
to want something worthwhile, and lasting.
Their bodies were more than objects
 more than toys
used and abused for the enjoyment of so called men,
who are merely boys
Do you remember when men were men?
 provided for their families
guarded their homes
 being protectors like lions to  their dens
Do you remember when the strength of a man wasn't measured by the aim of a gun?
He held a job
he stayed home
took care of his loved ones
Do you remember when college was cool?
it was good to be in school
You worked with pride
had a confidence in our stride
When those who had more gave to those who had less
Those who had less did their best to break the cycle of poverty
all this bothers me because I remember when...
We were a strong people
who were treated less than animals
wanting to be treated with respect, justly, and right
Our forefathers put up a fight for our freedom
to be treated as people
is this what freedom bought us?
I feel like I was dropped off on another planet
Things aren't the way they should be
Looking back on how I grew up
I've taken a lot for granted