"Synchronicity/What a treat!"

Just days ago i told you that i wrote to npr and said that one of the most life changing shows was hearing author Alex Kotlowitz  (author of famous essay "there are no children here")

Last night he was on again!  He was on "This American Life"

They are doing a 2 part show on Harper HIgh School and what it is like for these children to have witnessed sometimes dozens of shootings by the time they are of age.

This is powerful stuff.  I was a city resident from 95 to 11 on and off.  Nearly every night i went to sleep to the sound of gunshots.  I always counted the gunshots and i always reported to police.

I recall gun fire breaking out on Greenmount Avenue in Baltimore.  I instinctively dropped flat to the ground.  When I got up i reported to a store owner who seemed to get a kick out of the fact that i bothered reporting it.

One time when i lived on Guilford Ave. my room mates were on vacation.  I heard something come crashing through the window.  I dropped to the ground and crawled to a phone and called 911.  When the cops came they made fun of me and said it wasn't bullets it was just rocks.  they did not make a report.

"I love NPR"

Today, a journalist from "Talk of the Nation" asked the audience, what was the most life changing story you heard on NPR?  I replied, "You change my life every day!"  "It's tough to pick just one.  Hearing Alex Kotlowitz was great because it validated my own life experiences, that violence in the civilian world can affect people just as deeply as it affects soldiers."

"But, the most important way that NPR changes my life is that it gives me the hope and faith that one day, the story of the last 20 years of my life, will get told/published................................."

"I' love npr"

National Public Radio.  The other day, they interviewed Alice Cooper and played his music. He's one of my favorite artists. His real name is Vince.

Do you listen to NPR? I find it very exciting and enriching.