mrjdwyer

[mrjdwyer]

All of this!

Specifically being a black girl from texas juneteenth means a lot to me!

Happy Juneteenth 🤎✊🏽

[mrjdwyer]

[mrjdwyer]

I ❤️ this cat!!!

[mrjdwyer]

US Helplines:

Depression Hotline: 1-630-482-9696

Suicide Hotline: 1-800-784-8433

LifeLine: 1-800-273-8255

Trevor Project: 1-866-488-7386

Sexuality Support: 1-800-246-7743

Eating Disorders Hotline: 1-847-831-3438

Rape and Sexual Assault: 1-800-656-4673

Grief Support: 1-650-321-5272

Runaway: 1-800-843-5200, 1-800-843-5678, 1-800-621-4000

Exhale: After Abortion Hotline/Pro-Voice: 1-866-4394253

Child Abuse: 1-800-422-4453

UK Helplines:

Samaritans (for any problem): 08457909090 e-mail jo@samaritans.org

Childline (for anyone under 18 with any problem): 08001111

Mind infoline (mental health information): 0300 123 3393 e-mail: info@mind.org.uk

Mind legal advice (for people who need mental-health related legal advice): 0300 466 6463 legal@mind.org.uk

b-eat eating disorder support: 0845 634 14 14 (only open Mon-Fri 10.30am-8.30pm and Saturday 1pm-4.30pm) e-mail: help@b-eat.co.uk

b-eat youthline (for under 25’s with eating disorders): 08456347650 (open Mon-Fri 4.30pm - 8.30pm, Saturday 1pm-4.30pm)

Cruse Bereavement Care: 08444779400 e-mail: helpline@cruse.org.uk

Frank (information and advice on drugs): 0800776600

Drinkline: 0800 9178282

Rape Crisis England & Wales: 0808 802 9999 1(open 2 - 2.30pm 7 - 9.30pm) e-mail info@rapecrisis.org.uk

Rape Crisis Scotland: 08088 01 03 02 every day, 6pm to midnight

India Self Harm Hotline: 00 08001006614

India Suicide Helpline: 022-27546669

Kids Help Phone (Canada): 1-800-668-6868

FREE 24/7 suicide hotlines:

Argentina: 54-0223-493-0430

Australia: 13-11-14

Austria: 01-713-3374

Barbados: 429-9999

Belgium: 106

Botswana: 391-1270

Brazil: 21-233-9191

China: 852-2382-0000

(Hong Kong: 2389-2222)

Costa Rica: 606-253-5439

Croatia: 01-4833-888

Cyprus: 357-77-77-72-67

Czech Republic: 222-580-697, 476-701-908

Denmark: 70-201-201

Egypt: 762-1602

Estonia: 6-558-088

Finland: 040-5032199

France: 01-45-39-4000

Germany: 0800-181-0721

Greece: 1018

Guatemala: 502-234-1239

Holland: 0900-0767

Honduras: 504-237-3623

Hungary: 06-80-820-111

Iceland: 44-0-8457-90-90-90

Israel: 09-8892333

Italy: 06-705-4444

Japan: 3-5286-9090

Latvia: 6722-2922, 2772-2292

Malaysia: 03-756-8144

(Singapore: 1-800-221-4444)

Mexico: 525-510-2550

Netherlands: 0900-0767

New Zealand: 4-473-9739

New Guinea: 675-326-0011

Nicaragua: 505-268-6171

Norway: 47-815-33-300

Philippines: 02-896-9191

Poland: 52-70-000

Portugal: 239-72-10-10

Russia: 8-20-222-82-10

Spain: 91-459-00-50

South Africa: 0861-322-322

South Korea: 2-715-8600

Sweden: 031-711-2400

Switzerland: 143

Taiwan: 0800-788-995

Thailand: 02-249-9977

Trinidad and Tobago: 868-645-2800

Ukraine: 0487-327715

(Source)

[mrjdwyer]

Pilgrim, Reptile and Back Home- Clapton at his best

For all who know me, you know that aside from Prince, and Stevie Wonder, the musician I love the most is Eric Clapton. My love of his music goes way back to the day I was four and heard his “I Shot the Sheriff” version on Jamaican radio for the first time. Something about Marcy Levy and Yvonne Elliman’s background vocals that resonated with much more than The Wailer’s harmonies. For the record, before I get slammed by my fellow Jamaican Yardies, Marley’s lead vocals are superior to Eric’s laid-back approach on that tune.

But the love affair started there and kind of faded away until I was a teen and fell in love with rock and roll music after coming to the states in 1980. And Eric Clapton was one of the artists I totally fell in love with all over again.

In 1985 he released Behind the Sun, which, to me, a teenager who had barely listened to the thousands of albums that I was yet to own and memorize, it was as perfect an album that I had heard since Stevie Wonder’s “Songs in the Key of Life” came and took me to another level of musical experience and changed my life. The same way Prince’s “Purple Rain” shook me to my core a year earlier.

What struck me about “Behind the Sun” was the incredible album cover (still one of my all time favorites, it just compelled me to listen to it) and the incredible singer that Clapton had become. To me, he is one of the most soulful singers out there that isn’t Black. Of course, his guitar work was incredible as always, but I really liked that this album sounded fresh. “Forever Man” had two fantastic solos and the album featured some great guest musicians, like Lindsey Buckingham and the always recording, Steve Lukather, guitarist to one of my all-time favorite bands ever, Toto.

That album made me a bonafide Clapton fan. I went out and over the years and got everything he ever recorded and bought albums he loved that influenced him. He got me on the quest on going back in time and finding the masters. Through him, I discovered some of the old Blues greats like John Lee Hooker, Blind Willie McTell, Lightnin’ Hopkins and a whole range of old blues artists and then contemporary ones like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Robert Cray, Albert Colins, Buddy Guy and many, many others.

Now most Clapton fans, love him for his guitar work and that fan base is divided into 2 camps: “The Bluesbreakers and Cream years,” and the “Derek and the Dominos and the 70s years.” Almost no one rants and raves about Clapton in the 90s and 2000s years.

Almost. But I am here to tell you that those decades are the years that Clapton really resonated with me.

If you listen to Clapton’s output- especially the 70s material now, and especially after reading his autobiography, you can actually hear the drugs and alcohol. With the exception of Derek and Dominos “Layla and Assorted Love Songs”, whenever I listen to the 70s stuff, I can actually hear the effect alcoholism was taking on his life. It is particularly apparent on Backless and Another Ticket, two incredibly lackluster albums that just sound sloppy drunk to me, from singing to playing. While I love certain tracks off them, I can’t help but feel totally underwhelmed in the event that I actually play them.

During the seventies, Clapton was trying to be a singer-songwriter and not a guitar god. He wanted to be a part of the Band and then he wanted to be a country singer, but a rock god was out of the question, as he tried to drink away the demons that were haunting him in his personal life and his professional one.

Which brings me to what I think are the three seminal Eric Clapton albums that defined him not only as the guitar god that he was finally comfortable being but also as a damn fine, soulful singer— something that he admits he was never confident with, until now.

Those three albums are: “Pilgrim,” Reptile,” and “Back Home.”

To me, if you want to know who Eric Clapton, the man, and artist is today, these three albums, sum it up with grace and class and dignity with fantastic singing and guitar work.

Pilgrim is an album, that Clapton regards in his autobiography as his favorite album. He put his heart and soul into that record. He hung all his emotions out for all to hear. And it worked. He wrote the vast majority of the album, all gems either by himself or with his collaborators like Simon Climie and Greg Phillinganes. There are only two songs by other artists, and those two songs are also masterpieces as well as the others. Bob Dylan’s “Born in Time” is just a beautiful song and is the moving “Going Down Slow.” But the real, true gems on the album are “My Father’s Eyes,” a song about his experience as a father (his son Connor died tragically in 1991) and also about him not knowing what a real father was himself, and the sad and deeply moving account of the last night Clapton spent with his son- a few hours before his tragic death, “Circus.” Both are deep and heavy songs and the rest of the album is filled with plaintive, mournful songs that are actually beautiful to listen to and feel and at the end of the album, there is hope and redemption, which is really what the blues ultimately is about; you sing the blues to rid yourself of pain and to ultimately feel better. Be sure though, Pilgrim is not a blues album. It is a brilliant pop record.

Reptile is a sleeper album. Most of the critics called it a solid album, but ultimately not a revelation. To me, it is, because once again, he wrote half of the album, and the other songs the aren’t his, are once again, premium songs by Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder and Doyle Bramhall II. And there is the fact that The Impressions are there doing background vocals on the album as is Billy Preston. To me, there are 5 standouts on the record, Ray Charles’ “Come Back Baby,” James Taylor’s “Don’t Let me Be Lonely Tonight,” (to be fair, it’s really a cover of The Isley Brothers’ cover of James Taylor’s tune), Stevie Wonder’s “I Ain’t Gonna Stand For It,” Clapton’s own “Believe in Light,” and the rocking “Superman Inside” by himself, Doyle Bramhall II and Susannah Melvoin. The rest of the songs are gorgeous as well, but these songs are just stellar. And his singing and playing are superb.

Now you’ve read me ranting and raving about these two albums which are just incredible listening experiences, but the album that means the most to me is Back Home. There aren’t enough superlatives to describe my love of this album. Released in 2005, this Clapton album, like “Pilgrim” had Eric giving his all and you can hear it in every note. The album opens with “So Tired,” a fun, uptempo number about his being a father and being constantly tired. For me, I was a father just 2 years before that and I could totally relate to the song. The song was also a love letter to his daughters and his wife and his love of the simple, domestic life. I can totally relate to that as well. It is a fun song with some exquisitely understated guitar work.

Then comes the reggae “Say What You Will.” Now some can say that Eric Clapton made reggae and international sensation since he popularized it and then in return the world fell in love with it and of course, the one and only Bob Marley. But for me, Eric’s vocals on the song always seemed just okay. This goes back to the fact that he was just a few months removed from being a heroin addict, and was gong taught into being a drunk and also, he himself was not comfortable with him being a singer, even though he had a beautiful voice. Well not anymore, “Say What You Will” is beautifully performed and sung and it is not a reggae ripoff, but a genuine reggae song with lovely, subtle horns.

The album then takes a great turn into a raucous cover of the late and great Syreeta Wright’s incredible “I’m Going Left” that she wrote with her then-husband, Stevie Wonder. His singing is confident and deeply soulful. His band is also incredible throughout the entire album. The core band features one of the greatest drummers of all time, Steve Gadd, Doyle Bramhall II on guitars, Nathan East on bass, Billy Preston on keys and Hammond organ, Chris Stainton on piano and Michelle John and Sharon White on background vocals. I don’t think Eric has ever had a better band than this one. And this is coming from me who was a huge fan of the Steve Ferrone, Greg Philinganes and Nathan East rhythm section of the Journeyman album and subsequent tour that brought you the 24 Nights live album.

After the rousing “I’m Going Left,” comes one of the greatest songs ever and Eric does a cover of it that not only does justice to the original, but also takes it to another level. Those who know me, know my love of The Spinners. And “Love Don’t Love Nobody” might be their best and one the finest songs of the 20th century. It is a marvel of emotion and song arrangement by genius producer and fellow Jamaican, Thom Bell who was instrumental along with Gamble and Huff with creating the legendary Philadelphia Sound. Clapton’s take on it features a guitar solo, complete with a backing orchestra, that’s so beautiful, that will bring you to tears. Yes, it is that good!

After that emotional ride, it’s time to relax with another great reggae number, “Revolution.” This one might even be better than “Say What You Will.” It’s a great song.

His sweet and sincere cover of “Loves Comes to Everyone” is a fitting tribute to the late, great and often lamented, George Harrison. The simplicity of the song is what makes the song so beautiful.

After “Loves Comes to Everyone” is a fun and sly number written by Doyle Bramhall II and Jeremy Stacey, “Lost & Found.“ As with most things, Doyle Bramhall, it is a funky, soulful tune with a fantastic band arrangement. The infectious rhythm gets you every time.

After that is another Doyle Bramhall Ii penned tune, “Piece of My Heart”. This time his ex-wife, )former Family keyboardist and lead vocalist, and current F Deluxe keyboardist and lead vocalist and identical twin sister of guitarist Wendy Melvoin of Wendy and Lisa fame as well as former guitarist for Prince and The Revolution), Susannah Melvoin, and Mike Elizondo. Can’t say anything except that it’s a great number, as are the next two tunes, the Vince Gill, Beverly Darnall penned “One Day” and Clapton, Simon Climie penned “One Track Mind”.

But the track that gets me every single time is the incredibly moving “Run Home to Me,” another Clapton/Climie collaboration. Let’s just say, if you’re a parent that loves being a parent, there isn’t a song that sums up the love of a parent and their child like this one. It’s a deeply personal song for Eric that happens to evoke the universal love that most parents have for their children:

“When it’s 3 o'clock in the morning, And something scared you from your breast, I will gently rock you in my arms, And lay your little head on my chest,

And when you run, from my arms, Know we’ll always find you. And when you run, out of loving, And run home to me. (Run home to me)

And the years fly by so quickly, Like a plane before my eyes, And you’ve grown up into a woman, Before I had time, had time to realize.

And then you’ll run, from my arms, And we’ll always come and find you. And when you run, out of loving, Then run home to me.

Lord when you run, run out of my arms, We will always come and find you, And when you run, out of loving, Then run home to me. (Run home to me)”

Yes, this is really it. That is love. That is exactly what my wife and I have have done for our child. And it will never stop. I always get choked up hearing this song. Every time. It just gets me in a way that very few songs have done to me. And I can list those songs on one hand.

And the closer, “Back Home” is the perfect song to close this incredible song cycle. It’s all about a road wary Clapton and his need to go home to his family, where he belongs.

Where I belong.

“I’ve been on the road too long Moving in the wrong direction I don’t know where I belong I don’t know what I will do If I can’t get back home”

Perfection.

[mrjdwyer]

Irma and Me

So while I'm waiting for #Irma, I thought I'd share some of my thoughts on some of the comments I've been seeing online:

For one, I've been nervous about the storm since last week, but we were all advised to wait until mid-week to determine any actions.

I just recently started a new full-time job after being out of work for a month. Summers for freelance designers are usually, horrible, and even more so when the new business development person at your jobs decides to quit and steal the top-paying clients, leaving the agency on the verge of ruin. Long story short, I had to find another job. It took what felt like forever, but I landed one. And so far, it seems like a really like place to work.

Anyway, we were let off work early on Wednesday to prep and/or evacuate. My boss wanted everyone to leave. It was really generous of him (many people worked until Friday). This is a new job, just 2  weeks into it. Not exactly a situation where I can dictate when I can come into the office.

It seems that many people just don't understand that sometimes (many times) you just CAN'T up and leave; it's just not that easy or simple. Not unless you don't care about your job, or you have a job that gives you that kind of freedom to take days to return after a storm. Realistically, most of us don't have that option. You may not care about work right now, but afterward, you're going to need to pay the bills and rebuild. And that doesn't happen for free. So when I hear people being insensitive and writing and saying things like "well you should have evacuated and you had the time," it really ticks me off, because they act like it's no big deal and it shows a total lack of sympathy or empathy.

Let me explain a few things: Being able to evacuate is all nice and well but, but it's pretty costly. Whether you're flying or driving, it's going to be expensive. Preparing for a storm is also expensive, but not as costly (if you plan accordingly) as it is to get out of town by plane. Do I need to remind everyone that most of this country live paycheck to paycheck?

Flying wasn't an option this week as tickets were just way too expensive. Last week was the time to buy some seats. But guess what? We have jobs to do. School to attend. No vacation time. See where this is going? We don't have thousands lying around in our bank accounts to do whatever we want. More power to you if you do.

Driving until yesterday (when it's really too late since you've devoted all your time and energy into prepping your home and ensuring the safety of your family and property for days on end), wasn't a realistic situation. Why? Because as of Monday, getting gas became a real problem. Unless you're able to get up at 2:00 AM in the morning and be lucky to find a station that had a tanker come in at night, you had a real problem. In fact, I know that on Wednesday, ALL tankers coming out of Port Everglades were diverted to the keys, ensuring the local residents in the keys had fuel to evacuate.

Luckily I filled up on Sunday and Mary did the same on Monday, because gas was extremely difficult to come by for many of us. I know of folks who took US 27 north (on Friday) and luckily had no problem but I do know that the I-95 corridor and the turnpike were just a traffic nightmare. My friend's son was in town in West Palm Beach and it took him 11+ hours to get to Savannah to get a plane to NY. To put that in perspective, Ft. Lauderdale to Savannah is generally a 5-7 hour drive. Imagine doing that in traffic and having to get off multiple times to find gas for your car because many stations were limiting how much gas you could buy. What happens if you ran out of gas and were stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hotel (since most in the entire state were booked solid by Wednesday according to reports).

By Wednesday, I had a half a tank left after running errands and commuting to work. I was able to find the only gas station in a ten-mile radius according to GasBuddy, on Friday evening to fill up. It took me over an hour in line. I literally drained their tanks. They ran out totally while I was filling up. Luckily my gauge is on full. There were literally DOZENS of cars behind me though. Hopefully, they were able to get some yesterday.

So Thursday was the beginning of the mad rush to get everything that needed to be secured, secured. The good thing about hurricanes is that in prepping for them, you get to do the things you've been procrastinating for YEARS to do. Like, purge your house and garage.  

It's also an amazing way to lose weight. 12+ lbs in 3 days. Not bad.

Anyway, preparing for a hurricane is very, very hard work- especially if you don't have nice modern, impact resistant glass throughout your home or accordion shutters, or aluminum shutters.

For us, it's plywood.

1/2" plywood is not fun or easy to lift and mount. In fact, it's miserable. I had bought all my plywood in 2003 for another hurricane and had a friend of my father help me measure and drill holes and show me how to do it properly. I am still using that plywood all these years later as I've always kept them dry and secured in the garage. When I was younger, I could do the entire house in a day without any help. And that included lifting a couple of sheets on to the roof to cover our aviary/atrium (I need a little help with that one). Now that I'm approaching that half-century mark, which a number of persistent ailments, like a should er that just won't stop hurting, it's no longer something I can do by myself. Thanks to my friend, Lucas, who's the little brother I have always wanted, and his mother, who is such a sweet woman, we were able to get just about everything up and ready on Thursday in about 6 hours in 92°F with a heat index of about 100°.

Yesterday, I decided to plywood a section I had never done before (but had the wood ready for it) and Mary and I purged the garage to ensure that 1 car was able to fit in there. It worked! And it's actually neatly done to boot! It was actually a pretty big task, but we went about it very diligently and methodically. I am grateful for the tools I purchased 16 years ago, they have served me well.

During the entire time of prepping, Mary was the busy bee making sure the food supplies were all good, cooking foods ahead of time. Making sure laundry was done. Paperwork collected and secured. Being the glue in this time where stress can really take a toll on a marriage and family. The outside was my domain, the inside was hers.

A couple of other things to take into consideration: leaving your home leaves it open to theft. There is something that a lot of homeowners with alarm systems aren't aware of: lack of communication. After a hurricane, there will undoubtedly be power outages for an extended period of time. There will also undoubtedly be a lack of cell coverage as towers will be down. So there is no way for an alarm system to alert the service provider if there is a break in. Professional thieves know this, and the aftermath of a hurricane is prime time for burglars. There is just way too much LIFE in my house to not try to protect it. Personally, I am worried about identity theft along with just having a lot of my personal data and computers taken.

The other thing that is of prime importance to me is my parents. There is no way I can leave the state and have them fend for themselves. That is just not what we do. They've always been there for us, and there is no way I am not going to do what I can to be there for them-- especially as they get older. And they made up their minds to secure their house and wait it out.

My parents-in-law are also in Florida. In fact, as I write this, the hurricane is slated to run directly over where they live. They live just 45 minutes north of Ft. Myers, which at the time of this writing is where they are expecting landfall. So yes, I am especially worried about their safety at this moment. Luckily, my father-in-law lives in a nice solid concrete apartment building and my mother-in-law will be staying there with him for the duration of the storm and maybe through the aftermath.

We also have pets. Yes, there are some shelters that allow pets, but most don't. And if you know anything about our pets is that they are... different, to say it mildly. Traveling is something they don't do very well. In fact, going to the vet's which is only a half a mile away (a 3-minute ride WITH lights), usually results in them either peeing or crapping all over themselves. Or both. I would hate to abandon my house to go to a shelter and not be able to take them.

So now, the house is as secure as we could possibly make it. Mary is busy sleeping through some of these intense squalls outside. The Kid is doing the same. The A/C is set to 73° (which is freezing for us), the cats are snuggled under the blankets, I am here writing and trying to explain just what it is that people go through in a hurricane. Am I scared? Oh, hell yes, I am scared. Terrified, actually. I don't like hurricanes at all, and I remember all too clearly the last two that came through, one of which, even at Cat 2/3 did tremendous damage to Broward county and did some costly damage to my house as well.

So we're going to do our best to weather the storm and deal with life in the aftermath, and I hope this helps shed some misconceptions about just what millions of us have to go through and the reasons why we choose to stay.

[mrjdwyer]

My hero.

The New Mutants by Bill Sienkiewicz

[mrjdwyer]

[mrjdwyer]

Awesome!

Old Man Logan # 1 B&W

[mrjdwyer]

A beautiful piece from my friend...

Since June

It was easier to be silent. After Tulip died, Pan died. Two days later. It was an odd coincidence that spooked me. The part about Pan dying that was most upsetting was that as a tortoise we didn’t know he was suffering. Instead of dealing with the upset I retreated. I was angry. I’ve been angry. Loss after loss. So I was silent too here on this blog. It was a long summer. There was some expectation coming from my relatives, coming from within me, that I would travel to Korea to see my mother. The girls didn’t have school, I wasn’t teaching in July and August. We didn’t have a dog to kennel or a tortoise to ask a friend to look after. And then news of MERS in Korea gave me a reason to table the trip indefinitely. It was a relief. I’d been sick in Seoul years ago and remembered waking up in a hospital hooked up to an IV. It was because of a stomach ailment and I was out after an overnight stay but I didn’t want to find myself there again, not while MERS was an issue. Nor did I want to expose my children to it. But others travelled to Korea that summer despite MERS. Airfares fell. To be fair, I was desperate to see my mother but my father stood like a rock in my way. He claimed that he would let me visit but would he? Last summer he had installed her in a nursing home south of Seoul, in a remote town. We’d have to drive several hours after we landed and I have trouble reading Korean signs. The whole trip felt like a trap. Admittedly, it was a difficult but not an impossible task to get to her. I just didn’t want to let my father think this could be a permanent situation–that he could have her in Korea and we would visit on occasion. But I knew then, as I do now and have always, that he doesn’t change his mind. As many times as we moved in my childhood, as much as he veers off course on some new scheme of his, I’ve never been able to change his mind about anything. I used to think it was a failing of mine that I couldn’t outwit my father, all during those crazy first months after my mother’s stroke, but that’s because wit had nothing to do with it. And why was I trying? 

We adopted a new puppy in September. She was at a shelter in Port Washington. She’s as different from Tulip as can be. A mandarine brindle fifty pounder. She bays like a hound and has the fluffy ears and energy-level of a border collie. Her name is Mika. Sahra came up with the name. It made me think of mikahng– which means tangerine in Korean. We thought Mika was easier for everyone to pronounce. She’s our dream dog in size and sweetness. Our nightmare in having a sensitive stomach and need for attention. I can’t walk around the house without her being at my heels every moment. I schedule her walks and hours at the dog nursery like I do my children’s activities. She can’t be left alone for long in the house. She’s chewed paint off the walls. She shows me how little we did for Tulip and the pain is telling. She’s my fifth child, spoiled like none of the others. And like the most spoiled child she has the endearing quality of comforting me when I’m at my low point. She gives lovely licks to the chin, she’s not a wet kisser. The best way to get her to stop some bad behavior is to whimper and she’s done with it, at my side wondering how to make amends. (But she has some very bad behaviors and I could go on and on about my Mika.)

My life became very small through the fall and winter months. It consisted of taking care of my children, my husband, our dog, my book, my students. I did very little else. Each week was the same. The friends I saw were the closest ones who required very little energy but gave me much needed support. My therapist and I went over my worries. I put my head down and wrote whenever I could. It was lonely. To avoid thinking about my mother, I escaped into my book. I used “creative procrastination,” as Linda Rodriguez described it, to work on other books when the one in front of me wasn’t going well. It takes longer, but in the end you have three novels instead of one.

In February I heard some news and that news turned into better news and then it was a little uncertain news and then it was great news. It happened faster than I expected and that has been a welcome surprise.

There are things I miss, people I miss most especially. People whom I wish I could share news of my book’s publication next year. My mother, before her stroke, my friend Amy who died a decade ago, and others. Amy used to call me Jamo and she’d say, “Jamo, you did it. I knew you would. About time.” 

[mrjdwyer]

Spider-man vs. Green Goblin by Alex Ross

[mrjdwyer]

Craww | Tumblr

[mrjdwyer]

[mrjdwyer]

On Tamir Rice

Today I saw a post on Facebook by a Sandra Booker who was obviously angry about the Tamir Rice shooting. If anyone knows me, I’ve been pretty pissed about this killing since the say I heard about it, which was the day it occurred. I’ve been pretty outspoken about it from day one. I’ve been pretty outspoken about all the police killings this year and last year and the imaginary war on cops that right wingers love to spout about. I’ve pointed out to facts that show that despite the highest number of civilian killings by policemen and and overwhelming majority of them black men, that it has been the safest year on record for policemen.

So it really upset me today when I saw this woman’s post on with the image of a tweet by MSNBC’s Chris Hayes asking this: “Ohio is an open carry state, and the cops say they thought Rice was an adult, so what law, exactly, was he breaking?” along with this question: “If Ohio Allows Citizens To Openly Carry Guns, Why Was Tamir Rice Killed?”

First off, the second question, not Chris Hayes’ very valid question- is not a very good question, because Tamir Rice was a child with a toy gun, not an adult with an open carry permit with a real gun– so that was a false equivalence right there. Secondly, Tamir Rice, as much as it pains me to say this, DID do something wrong: he pointed a gun at strangers who thought enough about the behavior to call the cops (even though a caller thought the gun was probably fake and the person was a child. Whether or not that part of the message was conveyed to the police seems to remain unknown.). 

This is in NO WAY a justification to shoot a child within 2 seconds of policemen pulling up to him. Did he deserve to get gunned down by a cop in a Police Department that has a long sordid history of abuse towards blacks and other minorities? Of course not. It is angering that a black kid doesn’t even get a chance to live while holding a toy gun while Dylann Roof, a white adult can go into a church, kill 9 people in cold blood JUST BECAUSE THEY WERE BLACK and never even be shot at by the police and be given due process under the law while Tamir Rice never was given the same opportunity? Damn right. It pisses me off immensely!

But that’s not what the question was. The question was “If Ohio Allows Citizens To Openly Carry Guns, Why Was Tamir Rice Killed?

It’s not a cut and dry answer as much as I’d like it to be. In a fair world, Tamir Rice should still be alive today, and the cops should have either confiscated the gun or taken him home and have a talk with his mother and/or father. That would be the responsible thing to do.

I do know that race has a great deal to play in it. I do believe in my heart that if Tamir Rice was white, he’d be alive today and he would have been afforded all the rights due to him. I do believe that the officer hand the mindset that black lives don’t matter as much as white lives, which is why he responded the way he did. I do know that institutional racism is here and it oozes into every fabric of our lives whether we realize it or not. I do know the consequences firsthand of being a Black Man in a very white world.

Even in a state with open carry you still must adhere to the rules of open carry. From Wikipedia on Ohio’s open carry rules: Ohio is a traditional open-carry state. The open-carry of firearms by those who legally possess the firearm is a legal activity in Ohio with or without a license. One must have a concealed handgun license to carry a loaded handgun in a motor vehicle regardless of whether or not it is concealed. Similarly, one must have a concealed handgun license to possess a firearm in an establishment that is licensed to serve alcohol for on premises consumption, even if the firearm is openly carried.

Now I remember when I was a child and I got toy guns as presents from my father. My father was so careful to tell me to NEVER, EVER aim it at anyone especially a policeman. I obeyed that. Always. And that was 1974/75 Kingston, Jamaica, and even then I knew that playing with guns– even though these were clearly plastic and were red– had real consequences. I don’t know if Tamir’s mother or family told him that, but I get the feeling he didn’t know that and I wish he knew that.

But this person lashed out at me and called me a white racist (which is humorous to an extent, although it brings up painful memories of being accused of never being black or white enough for certain folks, including apparently Ms. Booker) because I mentioned the circumstance that prompted the 911 call. Again, none of this justifies a child being gunned down without even being given a chance to drop the weapon or even answer the cops had they even stopped to ask talk to him.

Her insults an accusations hurt me. Of course Ms. Booker, who apparently is an acclaimed R&B singer, and even has a podcast or radio program, didn’t even attempt to engage in any kind of civil discourse with me- she just went all in hurling a litany of insults and subsequently blocked me before I could even respond.

And I thought I had to explain that to folks who might actually think I am some jerk who is defending this heinous act.

This VOX article is a good piece on open carry.

[mrjdwyer]

A drug which boosts the brain's immune response may prevent or cure Alzheimer's disease, scientists believe

Has Stanford University found a cure for Alzheimer's disease? - Telegraph

[mrjdwyer]

A very well written, very disturbing story.

[mrjdwyer]

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