Hitting the Books

After expulsion for fighting, a Feltonville teen looks ahead to college.

By G.W. Miller III
Add Comment Add Comment | Comments: 1 | Posted Jul. 2, 2008

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illustration by zachariah ohora

Marcus McDonnaugh is unbreakable. It says so across his chest like he's a superhero, tattooed in black Gothic script, 2 inches tall, just below his clavicle.

"Physically, mentally, emotionally, you can't break me down," says the 17-year-old in a manner more matter-of-fact than boastful. "I never let nobody get in the way of what I'm doing."

He looks at his year-old tattoo in a wall mirror at his grandparents' Feltonville home, where he lives, along with his mother and 2-year-old sister Aaliyah. The home is immaculate, with polished wood floors, framed family photographs and plastic covering plush yellow couches.

Three caged birds chirp in the sunroom. Aaliyah glides across the room in pink slippers, her tight brown ringlets flying in the air as she singsongs sweet gibberish to anyone who will listen.

"That's my heart and soul right there," Marcus says, grinning as he watches his sister prance, pout and sass the birds.

Sitting on the couch conversing so politely, it's hard to imagine the rage and violence Marcus has experienced. He was expelled from Edison High School a year ago after a massive multistudent fight. It was his last of many, many brawls in and around the school.

"If you tap me and say you got a problem with me, I'm the type of person who's got no problem with that," Marcus says. "I'll fight you. I got no fear for no human."

He laughs uncomfortably. He realizes fighting is pointless and his anger could get him killed. But he has pride.

"I don't want to brag about it," he says, "but I'm good at it."

I'm here to learn about Marcus and the life of a teenage Philadelphian who's half-black and half-Puerto Rican, living in an area not so far from my home but a world away, really.

I'm here to experience an existence different from my own, an exercise everyone should undertake.

I'm here for inspiration.

We walk out to his car, a bronze-colored 2002 Buick LeSabre he just bought with money earned selling sneakers at a strip mall store on Cottman Avenue.

"I got the car last week," Marcus says. "Two days later it got keyed."

He points to two 3-foot-long lines etched above the rear passenger-side tire well.

"See what they did to my car?" he asks. "That's jealousy."

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1. mmcdonnaugh said... on Jul 8, 2008 at 09:10AM

“After reading this artricle about myself I do have a lot of reservations regarding the content and quotations. I feel as if I was portrayed as someone that I am not. The person in this article is a struggling, thug-like personna that is not a truthful representation of who I am. I am a responsible, hard working young man that worked as a sales associate for a major sneaker company and a service rep. for a major food franchise. I was not just selling sneakers at a strip mall. Furthermore, I have never referred myself as a "BEAST" nor will I ever. I know I will be a lawyer, that is my calling. I may be easy to provoke but that is not how you have to be, and that is not representative of who I am as a person. Fairhill is not just a school for drop outs or "troubled teens" it is also a school for students who do not feel challenged enough or cared for by the School District of Philadelphia. I never said I was good at fighting but I did say I had never lost. A journalist job is to tell the truth, not create a personna that will sell. PS: My couches are ivory not yellow! Sincerely, MARCUS MCDONNAUGH , the interviewee”

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