Shots Shots ShotsShotsShotsShots (Everybody!)

I heard someone die on Sunday. My mom and I were in the living room of her condo on the south side watching The Artist (which I had never seen and enjoyed, A-) when we heard gunshots.

"Hmm." I said.

"Fireworks?" She asked. We kept watching the black and white actors.Then sirens a bit later. Out the window eight cop cars. We peered out but nothing was happening presently.

Anyway, in the morning the front desk guy explained it was the head of one group and his brother. They were both shot by someone yet to be caught. We say "group" here because no one likes to live in gangland (although if you live in Chicago, you do).

I had done sprints at the exact spot of killing that morning and did them again Monday. And yesterday. People power walk and bike on by. There's clover and Alice Sr and I even jumped in Lake Michigan. From the still glassy water I could see the white brick where it went down.

I don't feel particularly unsafe as a non-member of any groups. But the couple blocks from the bus to the door at midnight I don't prefer. There's just a bed of fear we all have to lie in. And that makes me really mad, actually.

No guns. No guns. No guns please. I cannot die from a stray knife wound. But bullets fly. And having my own would not save me.

Maybe guns will always exist, but come on, make them harder to buy. Scarier to own. More expensive. Tax the heck out of them. We don't need them. And generation by generation we can sort some of these issues out. Slavery was really important to us at one point, but when it was time for that to end, if was time for that to end. Don't be the jerk who was like, "We've already built our whole culture around having slaves! Whoopsy can't change it now!"

Add the Good Stuff (A Soapbox)

Currently, I'm watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, and I am lah-ovvvvvvv-ing it. Right now I'm watching him argue with the owner of a burger joint in L.A.

The owner has agreed to let Jamie "take over" for a couple days and help make the restaurant more healthy. Immediately, the owner was like, "Well, you can't take anything off the menu" and Jamie was, of course, like "So...how am I supposed to make this place healthier...?" And the owner was like, "Look, man, I have regulars who get every single thing on this menu. So take away any one thing and you get at the very least someone who orders it three times a week not coming back."

And I'M LIKE, "Say what!"

YOU HAVE TO ADD THE GOOD STUFF TO GET RID OF THE OLD CRUMMY STUFF!

Maybe some of the regulars wouldn't come back anymore if the nasty dog-food infused burgers weren't available, but maybe they would be happy to eat the alternative sandwich, or maybe there would just be a new clientele. Who wants to be the person giving someone bad food three times a week because customers will eat it?

The guy who made up the fake Twitter for Rahm Emanuel got so crazy popular that the real Rahm let him donate to any charity of his choice. The guy, a journalism professor, picked a program that encourages kids to write. I remember hearing that and, of course, being happy, but then kind of wondering if a dinko writing club is really the best place to pour a pile of money. And the answer is YES. YES. Because all the world's problems can't be solved by throwing money at bad stuff defensively. But, even if they COULD be solved that way (for a moment) they won't go away unless we've got back-up. Unless we've got the good stuff safety netting the trapeze.


Japan Ladies, Fukoi 2008

Like, maybe it seems better to donate that money to inner-city gang clean-up, but actually, no. A writing group provides kids the outreach, thought, and passion to deter themselves from joining gangs (ideally) PLUS a plan or program for other kids trying to get out! PLUS love and joy and spirit to others uninvolved in gangs to pump the universe with more positivity!

This realization makes me really happy because it proves that the teeny attempts at Good we make aren't overthrown by the bigger badder fanged evils that sometimes seem invincible. We can be pre-emptive by supporting the good stuff--even the little good stuff. I know people SAY that, but I finally really do get it.

Ladies and gentlemen, here's exhibit "A." Didn't I try again, and did the effort pay?