Two Murders...

Down the block, originally uploaded by jjvannorman.

I was going to title this Condo Life Part 2, but this blog and that theme in particular was mainly intended for light humored reading about moments of my life.

As this is -- "life interrupted" -- I pondered if I wanted to share the unhappy moments as well. There's a lot I want to say, but I'll keep it short for now.

Three nights ago, a 16-year old boy was shot and killed down the block from where I live. Newspaper reports suggest the kid was a gang banger in the wrong neighborhood at the wrong time. I shared this news with my friends, many of home live in places far removed from Chicago. Most responses were of shock and dismay. Some expectedly summed it up as that's city life spoken from the illusion of safety from the Burbs.

A second murder, this time not in the Dangerous Big City was in Knoxville, Tenn. -- in a church of all places. This hit closer to home than your typical media "latest killing" news item. An acquaintance I made through a forum I regularly peruse -- she was a sometimes attendee at this same church. The man obviously twisted, out of work, and desperate -- sought relief through the evils of his life by killing liberals. A regular listener of Rush, Hannity and Savage -- should we be surprised?

Neither killing was related other than it was senseless. They are also related because this time I'm not being a spectator. Maybe it was the coincidence of the moment, or I'm "mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore", or it was simply time to walk the talk. More later...

In other news, I go to Jury Duty tomorrow. Gonna try mobile blogging.