Where Heaven and the
Bronx Met
On Friday
March 10, Mr. Kenneth Cooper, a former Hayes faculty member who currently
teachers at Saint John’s College High School in Washington D.C., and his wife,
Mrs. Jacalyn Kalin, an ESL professor at Montgomery College in Maryland met with
the Cardinal and Gold students of Brother William Sherlog’s Theology 9 class to
discuss a newly printed book they have co-authored. The freshmen read the book during February
and the first week of this month. Mr. Lessa arranged for the purchase of a
classroom set and expedited this project.
Where Heaven and the Bronx Met, Opus Press, Washington, DC, 2016 is
a lively novel that explores Catholic secondary education, personal conversion,
the call to holiness, and the spiritual battle between forces of good and
evil. While adult readers will enjoy the story, Cooper and Kalin are
specifically writing to high school teenagers who face a wide array of
challenging experiences. The entire book is set in the Bronx with many chapters
based on Mr. Cooper’s teaching and coaching days at Hayes. Schools throughout
the nation will be incorporating this book into their curricula and we are
proud to say that Hayes has led the way in this innovative project. Both
authors, teachers and students enjoyed a spirited conversation on the Bronx
characters, plots and themes that unfold
in 248 pages of solid theology mixed with fun and action.
The visit with Mr. Cooper and Mrs. Kalin came out to a huge success because the small details made the meeting inspirational. Being the first class to hold a book discussion for "Where Heaven and the Bronx Met" made everyone cherish the moments in the meeting even more. The way the classroom was set up highlighted every student's participation and all the questions everyone asked. Also, the high quality responses from Mr. Cooper and Mrs. Kalin enlightened me and taught me lessons. The discussion of "Where Heaven and the Bronx Met" equally informed me on some aspects of Mr. Cooper and Mrs. Kalin's lives. The discussion held so much information and inspiration, which produced a one in a lifetime opportunity on such rare discussion. Actually meeting the brains behind the novel made the information that was distributed much more sincere. Additionally, one of favorite scenes from the book, was when Bridget was able to see people's true intentions and spirit with an outline around their bodies. This scene spoke to me because spiritually many people's intentions ad beliefs affect what others do around them, and I feel that Bridget had the ability to interfere with that. Finally, the break in between discussion periods where pizza and soda that was provided made a more interesting meeting because the break gave all the students opportunities to ask more individual questions that they did not get to ask in the first period. Overall, the meeting with Mr. Cooper and Mrs. Kalin went very well and I hope they continue to inspire people across the nation.
ReplyDeleteL’hussen Touré
ReplyDeleteWhere Heaven and the Bronx Met by Cooper Kalin creatively describes the impact of violence in the Bronx and discusses the diversity that exist there. Mac, a religion teacher at a Bronx catholic high school, describes the many challenges all groups of people from various ages experience in the Bronx. Mac’s character is particularly captivating as he loves all people unabashedly regardless of their faith, behavior, and character. My favorite scene in the novel happens in chapter nine and ten and is when Mr. Abdul and Mrs. Tilak greet Mac, reveal themselves as angels to him, and drive him home. This moment is significant because it sets a precedent for how people should treat others from underrepresented groups. This moment spotlights these three people’s indiscriminate love for each other regardless of their differences. Mr. Abdul is Muslim and Mrs. Tilak is Hindu, but Mac treated them as ordinary people. Mr. Abdul and Mrs. Tilak were able to help Mac when he needed help regardless of cultural differences, thus expressing why tolerance and respect are important qualities to possess as they can not only benefit one in vulnerable circumstances, but create strong relationships. Mr. Cooper Kalin talked about this in our visit when he said that New York City is one of the most diverse yet segregated states ever. Many people are victim to treating people from underrepresented groups immorally and as if they do not matter. However, this book encourages people to approach all people with love, tolerance, and respect not only because they can be divine guardian angels, but because it can be the precursor to a strong, beneficial relationship. Mr. and Mrs. Kalin themselves taught me that I must treat all people with respect and love because it is my civil obligation and Christian duty. Overall, the experience was exciting and uniquely felt like I was talking to an uncle that I had not seen in a long time. The chairs being in a circle and the respectful way Mr. and Mrs. Kalin were speaking to us made this an exciting and fun experience. I loved speaking to such brilliant people, and this conversation further developed my understanding of the book, Christianity, and life.
The Book Where Heaven and The Bronx Met tells of Mac, a schoolteacher and his metanoia. The Bronx, being a bustling borough, proves to be a dangerous and diverse place for Mac. Criminals and drug dealers threaten Mac's way of life. My favorite part of the book was when Spoiler Alert: Mac resorts to violence in order to save the Bronx. My least favorite part was the ending, which in my opinion, ended too ordinarily. All in all, the book was a fine read, and Mr. Cooper and Mrs. Kalin have done a wondrous job.
ReplyDelete-Wilber Diaz
On Friday March 10th, Mr. Kenneth Cooper and his wife, Mrs. Jacalyn Kalin, visited the Cardinal Hayes Theology 9 Honors class to talk about their book, Where Heaven and the Bronx Met. The book deals with fights between good and evil, angels, and a call to holiness. The class had a small discussion about the creation process, inspiration, and our favourite scenes in the book. Our class talked about how younger people should try to maintain faith and a good way to do so is to read exciting books with religious themes. Throughout the whole book I found myself maintaining interest, which was one of Cooper Kalins goals when writing the book. One of the best scenes was when the protagonist, Mac, body slams Joe on a table and electrocutes him with his fingertips. The scene was filled with a lot of action and was very interesting. I highly recommend this book.
ReplyDeleteOn March 10,2017, Mr Cooper and Mrs Kalin made a visit into the Bronx to meet with some Cardinal Hayes students. They were welcomed with open arms and had a nice discussion with the students. The Cardinal Hayes students were privileged to have a very exciting conversation full of statements and questions asked by both the students and the co-authors of the book. The book was a great reading experience for many of the Hayes students and is highly recommended.
ReplyDeleteLuis Azogue
On the tenth of March, 2017, two co-authors of a book titled "Where Heaven And The Bronx Met" answered and asked questions to an honors freshman class. The questions from both parties were insightful and the guests, Mr.Cooper and Ms. Kalin, seemed to be pleased with the respect the students gave. The questions asked dealt with the purpose of the book as a whole, the reasons for a leading male protagonist, and the personality of the authors. Cooper and Kalin were both clearly very spiritual and religious in their answers to these questions, and they also seemed to show a profound love for the Bronx despite living in Seattle, Washington. The book, "Where Heaven And The Bronx Met", is a fictitious story about a high school theology teacher with a clear love for God and everything related to him. When he is called by God to be an angel, he must not only face the danger of street gangs in the Bronx, but also his hesitation to abandon his pacifist way of life. The book has clear inspiration from Cooper's life, from the name of the character to the neighborhood the hero lives in.
ReplyDeleteMy personal favorite scene from the book is where the hero confronts the main enemy, a street gang notorious for selling and buying drugs that not even the police can confront. Most of the book has been tame up until this point, where the novel's category of "action" truly shines in a bloody fight between one man and an entire gang. In this scene, not only does the gang leader die, but one of his subordinates, one of the hero's students, also dies a hideous death. After this scene, in typical archetypal fashion, the hero and the book receive a concluding ending with a definite resolution.
It was a nice experience with the two authors. The double period we spent with them was worth it. They learned about us and we learned about them. The refreshments were good too. We had pizza and soda. Hayes was the first school to have a group discussion and Mr. Cooper and Mrs. Kalin will continue to travel and talk about the book.
ReplyDeleteDuring Mr. Cooper and Mrs. Kalin’s visit, we were able to receive inside information on the thinking process and the development of the book, Where Heaven and the Bronx Met. We learned about the inspiration behind specific events and how long it took to write the book. One scene that was interesting was the scene when Mac stops Joe from fighting Rico Ponce, a student who is also a gang member. Mac gains the strength to pick up Joe, throw him onto a table, and shock him. The scene is interesting because it demonstrates Mac discovering the powers he receives as an angel to be able to stop evil and protect those he cares about. The book is definitely an interesting read, intended to inspire modern high school students to be kind and help others.
ReplyDeleteThe 5th of March marked an amazing day because of the visit by Mr Cooper and Mrs Kalin. This day was an amazing experience for the students and even the teacher, Brother Sherlog. The class enjoyed some refreshments while they had a nice discussion with the co-authors. The students really enjoyed the experience.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteDario Vazquez
Throughout February, 2017, we Cardinal and Gold exegetes read the book "Where Heaven and the Bronx Met", by Mr. Cooper and his wife, Mrs. Kalin,good friends of my theology teacher, Brother Sherlog. The exciting novel was full of action, and gave readers a rush of excitement every time a page was turned, making it very different from other books that include the same religious presence. When learning of their visit, the entire class was very excited. Meeting the authors of this book meant we were able to pick the mind of geniuses that conjured up a story that brought excitement to religion class. When the visit finally occurred, we did just that. Learning of the stories, the opinions, the love, the faith that this happily married couple had and still has in their lives was astonishing, it brought things into a certain light, it made me consider things like family, friends, faith, and the Bronx differently. The amount of complexity in the discussion, the amount of uniqueness present in this discussion made us automatically love the married couple. Their kindness and smarts kept us interested for 80 minutes, in addition to how attached we were to the novel itself.
Sofian Massoud
ReplyDeleteI had a great time meeting both Mr. Kenneth Cooper and his wife Mrs. Jacalyn Kalin and discussing their book "Where Heaven and The Bronx Met". It was nice to be able to actually meet the aurhors because we were able to get our questions answered by the people who knew it all. Mrs. Kalin was able to explain to me how the quotes at the beginning of each chapter came about, and what influenced her to choose those specific ones. She told me that she found quotes that related to the moral of the chapter and relevant to the point she was trying to get across. We also learned about how the book was created. Both Mr. Cooper and Mrs. Kalin helped work on the book. Mr. Cooper laid down the foundation for the book and gave Mrs. Kalin all the raw ideas, then she took those ideas and transformed them into the amazing book we read. He explained his purpose for creating the book, which was to create a book for how school students, that high school students could enjoy. The book was relatable for us at Cardinal Hayes because we are in the Bronx everyday and understand the things "MAc" alludes to within the book. It made the book more enjoyable this way because we felt like we were reading about a story happening next door. All in all, our meeting with both Mr. Cooper and Mrs. Kalin was a great experience.