Govans Civic Club

02/16/2026

My favorite OLine player.
He was mean and nasty and blasted players off the line.
…when he wasn’t injured.

Read many times about how the students loved him as a teacher. RIP🙏🏾
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In 1999, he was a second-team Associated Press All-Pro at guard and a Pro Bowl selection, helping Washington win the NFC East. That was also the only season Johnson made the playoffs. Washington won a wild-card game before being eliminated by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the divisional round.

In 2001, Washington released Johnson, and the Browns claimed him. He played three games that year before returning to Washington for his final season.

Johnson played at least 10 games in each of his first six seasons. Though he played a full 16 games in only one season (1999), he started every game he played from 1996 to 2001.

Upon Johnson’s return to Washington near the midpoint of the 2022 season, The (Norfolk, Va.) Virginian-Pilot wrote, “He still weighs about 350 pounds, no matter what the press release says.

“The prized dreadlocks are a lot longer, but the rapid-fire speech, the hip-hop vocabulary and the playful, bemused look remain the same.”

Although regularly sidelined by injuries, Johnson made an impact when he was able to play. During his season with the Browns, an AP account called him “one of the NFL’s most punishing run blockers” — but added the qualifier, “when he’s healthy.”

After rejoining Washington, Johnson maintained he could regain his Pro Bowl form, provided he could stay on the field.

01/15/2026

My mother loved this school… and she constantly lamented how no one in power could see the big picture. 😢😢

Supporters argued the school serves a critical need for students the district has struggled to reach. Board member Mujahid Muhammad said Baltimore Collegiate exists because of “gaps with too many young men” in the school system.
�“This is something that our district needs,” Muhammad said. “We are responsible for a city that has young men that need a level of guidance that often our traditional schools are not able to provide because we are focused solely on academics.

And that’s why we lean on charters, to be able to fill those gaps that we cannot fill.”��CEO Edwin Avent said he was “disappointed” with the results of the board’s vote late Wednesday night.
�“We did everything that we could to try to convince them that, you know, we play an important role in Baltimore,” Avent said.

“I just don’t think they really understand the impact that we have on these boys’ lives, and it’s not always going to show up in test scores.”

Baltimore’s school board voted Wednesday to shutter an all boys’ public charter school.

01/15/2026

“Everyone from Daboll to Coughlin to franchise icon Eli Manning provided recommendations to Harbaugh.

Co-owner Steve Tisch sent his private jet to Baltimore to pick up Harbaugh for his interview/coronation at the Giants’ facility on Wednesday.”

01/14/2026

“This is going to be a year where we are really trying to limit the growth of some of our projected costs around Medicaid, around some of our behavioral health expenses, around incarcerated inmates [and] health care provision,” Ferguson said.

“A lot of our entitlement spending is where we’ve seen a lot of the growth unexpectedly, and so we’re going to have to contain those costs.”🤔

08/25/2025

“When I entered Gaza the Israeli military had a rule: I was only allowed to bring in seven pounds of food. As I was weighing out protein bars, trying to get under the limit, I said to my husband: ‘How sinister is this?’ I’m a humanitarian aid worker. Why would there even be a limit on food? I’ve worked in many places with extreme hunger, but what’s so jarring in this context is how cruel it is, how deliberate.

I was in Gaza for two months; there’s no way to describe the horror of what’s happening. And I say this as a pediatric ICU doctor who sees children die as part of my work. Among our own staff we have doctors and nurses who are trying to treat patients while hungry, exhausted. They’re living in tents.

Some of them have lost fifteen, twenty members of their families. In the hospital there are kids maimed by airstrikes: missing arms, missing legs, third degree burns. Often there’s not enough pain medication. But the children are not screaming about the pain, they’re screaming: ‘I’m hungry! I’m hungry!” I hate to only focus on the kids, because nobody should be starving.

But the kids, it just haunts you in a different way. When my two months were finished, I didn’t want to leave. It’s a feeling I haven’t experienced in nearly twenty years of humanitarian assignments. But I felt ashamed. Ashamed to leave my Palestinian colleagues, who were some of the most beautiful and compassionate people that I’ve ever met.

I was ashamed as an American, as a human being, that we’ve been unable to stop something that is so clearly a genocide. I remember when our bus pulled out of the buffer zone. Out the window on one side I could see Rafah, which was nothing but rubble. On the other side was lush, green Israel. When we exited the gate, the first thing I saw was a group of Israeli soldiers, sitting at a table, eating lunch. I’ve never felt so nauseous seeing a table full of food.”

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Aqsa Durrani is a pediatric doctor and board member of Doctors Without Borders USA, with nearly twenty years of experience in humanitarian projects. During our interview Aqsa repeatedly expressed a desire to center the voices of her Palestinian colleagues. To this end I’ve spent the past week collecting stories from the Palestinian staff of Médecins Sans Frontières / MSF in Gaza.

I will be sharing these stories over the next several days. I’m so grateful for the time that these people gave me; they were sleepless, hungry, traumatized, and often working 24-hour shifts. Because of the unreliable internet connection their images are sometimes grainy. Their words, however, will be crystal clear.

08/25/2025

National Guard troops deployed to Washington D.C. this month to support President Donald Trump's effort to mitigate crime will begin carrying fi****ms on Sunday evening, according to a Defense Department official with knowledge of the planning.

The majority of the guardsmen will carry M17 pistols, their service-issued weapon, the official said, while a small number of the troops will be armed with M4 rifles. The troops are authorized to use their weapons for self-protection.

A majority of the National Guard troops deployed to D.C. as part of President Trump's crime crackdown will now carry M17 pistols.

05/25/2021

Next year will be the beginning of the “Wildwood Civic Club”.
I grew up in Edmondson Village
I went to Wildwood when it was known simply as #88.
I remember walking to school.
I remember getting bit by a dog running from school (the owner told me to stop...As if😩)
The school in now an elementary/middle school.

The middle school I think is the old Rock Glen.
I went to Rock Glen.
Many of my friends and adversaries from Rock Glen passed away.
I thought I would be chilling and retired by this time...
I thought wrong. Peter Modlin

05/24/2021

I will be changing the name...but the Club will start again...this year.
Peter Modlin

06/08/2017

It's been a long time since my last post. I did not have a Govans Civic Club this year because of my externship at "Baby Booking". It hurt me not to have it, because the club members really got into the spirit of the Civic Club. Plus, I miss the "specially invited guest who blessed us with their presence. But, what was exciting was the different activities that we took part in this year such as going to see the movie Hidden Figures (over 120 girls). And the trip to the Maryland Science Center... I included some pictures of the Maryland Science Center.

02/06/2017

I know I have not posted in awhile. That is because of my commitment to "Baby Booking". I have not been able to run the club. But, I started thinking the Govans Civic Club is much bigger than three days a week. We are involved (the students and I...in Civics every day of the week). I took over 120 girls to see Hidden Figures 1/26/17...I want to keep that spirit going. I want to keep my spirit going.
One day at a time.
I promise...more postings. On a regular basis.
Peace and blessings.

01/12/2016

It has been a while since I posted on this page. This is an exciting time for the Govans Civic Club...
A trip to Annapolis is happening on the 22nd.
More info on the trip forthcoming.

06/25/2015

I am dismayed that it is Summer because I cannot see my Civic Club members.
I tried to establish a Summer Camp... but I did not have enough time to get it off the ground.
Plans are in the works to get an After School program off the ground in which the Civic Club will be an integral part of the program.
I have a lot of ideas... such as: with a couple of big elections coming up... I really want the kids to be a part of the process.
Heck, I really want to be a part of the process.
I will be posting up past sessions with the Club and invited guests during the summer lull.
I am very proud of what they have accomplished thus far.