"YOU MUST SEE THIS ISSUE!/URBANITE MAGAZINE 5/08 (DEVOTED TO THE SUBJECTS OF CRIME AND VIOLENCE"

tHE WEB LINK IS

www.urbanitebaltimore.org

So, I've just picked up the May issue of the urbanite. It was May 5, my last day with the rental car. On the days I have a rental car, as you know I do all of the things the rest of you likely take for granted. Going to the grocery store, the doctor, the park if it's a pretty day and get a hike in.

You know I"m consumed with worries about crime and violence 24/7, and I'm excited that this is important enough to the staff at "Urbanite" to devote an entire issue to it.

I go to whole foods. The manager says she's been worrying about me (it never ceases to amaze me who thinks of me and cares about me even though they don't call me or hang out with me) because she hasn't seen me hanging out at the bookstore where I used to hang when I had a car. She hugs me and asks me what's new. I explained that she hasn't seen me at the bookstore because I really can't get there easily enough without a car. I explain that I try to stay off of the buses as much as possible. She says, "horrible, aren't they; so dangerous" I immediately think of Sarah Kreager who was almost beaten to death by 9 teens on the bus. They began beating her up on the bus, then dragged her off of the bus and nearly killed her but a Hampden resident called the cops and that's what saved her life. Sara has been heavy on my mind since this beating happened in the beginning of December, and it's a bus that I've had scary experiences on too.

(the bus that runs along falls road, i think it's the 27)

H. and I agree (the manager) that we would never raise children in such a sick place as Baltimore.

Sara has become locally famous. I drive to my dr's appt. and OH MY GOD, IS THAT HER? I see her walking thru Hampden with a man friend. I drive around the block so that I can pull my car over and introduce myself to her. I do just that. I pull over, as her if she is Sara, tell her who I am, and about my experiences and that we are all thinking of her and wishing the best for her. She took my hand and squeezed it affectionately and thanked me.

---------------------------------------------------------

Approximately 5/7/08

I'm sitting in front of the pizza shop in my neighborhood and it's a perfect Spring day. V's pizza only has 2 outdoor tables. 2 of my neighbor acquaintances from my bldg. go in and order some food. They are both in a wheelchair. R. is African American and about 50. S. is white and 43. S. was beaten up as a 9 year old by some school kids and left with brain damage. I don't know what the scoop is with R. But when they came out of the restaurant they asked if they could sit with me. This is a first. I don't have friends in my bldg., just acquaintances, and with the horrible conditions at my bldg. I'm friendly, but guarded. Especially with the men. (guarded that is)

So, it was nice to talk with the 2 of them away from my bldg. where I feel like I am living in a fish bowl and have no privacy. I told them that I am sitting here reading the crime and violence issue, and encouraged them to pick one up. We talk about the burglaries at our bldg. and R. Says that if she catches them she's going to kill them. I told her I understand her anger so well. S. says he doesn't want to move because of the friendships he has in the bldg.

Neither S. nor R. have ever given off an angry vibe and I do feel safe with both of them. After we talk for 1/2 hour or so, another neighbor comes by, he is in a wheelchair too. His name is J. He's about 53, I think he said, and African American. Anyway he has lost the use of both legs and one arm, in 96. I talk with him about the burglaries too. He said he knows they come in his apt because they move his belongings around. (this is a fact, I found my deodorant in my bathtub, and 1/2 stick chewing gum on my dresser for example, and I always chew an entire stick of gum) J. says he has a gun for protection. He seems very nice, and I feel safe with him too.

I particularly enjoy the one on one dynamic especially with the right people. R. and S. left so I asked J. how he ended up in a wheelchair. He was living in the Edmondson area of Baltimore near route 40. He was a trucker. Every night, he'd go out for a late night bicycle ride in his neighborhood. He woke up in shock trauma in traction one night in 96. The staff told him he'd never walk again. He said it was the most devastating news of his life. "You got hit by a car?" I asked. "No, a boy beat me to paralysis because he wanted to steal my bicycle." He felt especially devastated by losing work. He said (and I've found this to be true for most African Americans) that Jesus and christianity are what keep him going.

He really wants to have a friendship with me, but I'm extremely reticent about giving out my phone #, given all that I"m going thru at that bldg. I'll try to take the time to talk to him when I see him on the street, and I did invite him up for raisin bran today, (he declined) (I don't think I've ever let anyone from the bldg. in my place in 3 years) so for me that's a pretty big deal.

Needless to say, he can't wait to get his hands on the May issue of Urbanite magazine.