After Newtown

What happens next to those kids who survived last week's horrible Newtown tragedy? I thought this piece on NRO about a fire at a Catholic school in Chicago in the 1950s was quite interesting. The fire on December 1, 1958 killed many: 

Ninety-two children and three teachers died in the Our Lady of Angels fire. Many died of smoke inhalation — the solid exterior of the building kept the smoke inside or funneled it into rooms where the children were trapped. Some children, guided by teachers, escaped through the hallways. But others found it impossible to outrun the deadly smoke. As one fireman was ready to rescue a group of children, they died suddenly, incinerated by the incredibly high temperatures.

 How was this remembered?

About 40 years after the Our Lady of Angels fire, a small group of survivors came together to create a durable memory and reminder of what had occurred. They created a website with scores of photos of the fire and funerals. There was also photos from “better days” to remind everyone that their entire identity need not be consumed by tragedy. A discussion board now ten years old expresses what happened to many specific individuals. This showed the many different ways of grieving and rebuilding lives, affirmations that this was possible. Perhaps these stories may offer some kind of roadmap to those affected by Newtown.

I think back at the awful tragedies of Columbine, the CO movie theater showing Batman, smaller incidents like that GMU student who drowned my first semester there, VA Tech, etc. You survive, somehow. I remember when Star closed and how I felt like it was the end of the world. It wasn't, and it wasn't as horrific is this. But you survive, one day at a time. But you never forget. 

Unimaginable

From a story in today's Post:

About 3 p.m., Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy came into the room. The gruesome announcement was his to make: 27 people inside the school had been killed, and 20 were children. All would be taken to the medical examiner’s office.

With the news came the most raw display of human grief that Weiss had ever seen or imagined — wailing, weeping, screaming, people sinking to the floor.

Some parents wanted to go inside the school and see their children. They insisted or begged. They wanted to go inside the school. The answer was no. The school was a crime scene and couldn’t be disrupted. The parents did not yet know an assault rifle had been used to kill the children.

The room began to clear out. At 3:20, a mother’s cellphone rang with the reminder to take her son to Cub Scouts.

Remember the victims, and all of the first responders and priests and religious who bore witness.  You don't need to be a parent to feel this kind of pain. We all do.

On Race

This was an excellent column in response to the comments about RGIII not being black enough, or he's a Republican, or engaged to a white woman.

Because the woman he wants to marry is white and because he might be a republican, ESPN's Rob Parker determined the superstar Washington quarterback is "not really down with the cause. He's not one of us. He's kind of black, but he's not really, like, the guy you want to hang out with because he's off to something else."...

Let me get this straight, a brother who handles his business on and off the field, who earned a college degree, has national advertising campaigns and has way too many grown men walking around with his name on the backs of their jerseys can be deemed not black enough....

Parker, who made his comments Thursday on First Take, comes across as a hater. Griffin III is exactly who my ancestors would want a young black man to be: successful, talented, respectful and rich. Who wouldn't want to hang out with him?

To counter the stereotype, let's not pretend that color does not matter or pretend we do not see it.

In this country, black people have been seen as a monolithic group. If one person behaved badly it reflected on all of us. Conversely if one person made it or moved on up, he or she was the exception. Newsflash -- Griffin III is not the exception. Not all black male athletes have been arrested or fail to take care of their children. That is often the image we get from newspapers, TV shows, radio, the internet. Another one that irks me is that of white coaches saving all these young men. Lazy story tellers have long gravitated to that storyline.

No words

Prayers for all involved, because there's no way to make sense of this, even if these children are with God now.  There is no way to justify this, none, not even with a note. When I think of kids not much older than Joe's age...no words at all.

What's Left in Detroit

Some sobering statistics about the continued decline of Detroit:

Very few of the people who are staying out of the labor force in Detroit are staying out because they are stay-at-home moms with working husbands. Of the 264,209 households in Detroit, only 24,275 — or 9.2 percent — are married couple families with children under 18. Another 78,438 households — or 29.7 percent of the total — are "families" headed by women with no husband present. Of these, 43,742 have children under 18.

There were 12,103 babies born in Detroit in the 12 months prior to the Census Bureau survey, and 9,124 of them — or 75.4 percent — were born to unmarried women.

Of the 363,281 housing units in Detroit, 99,072 are vacant. Indeed, vacant houses have become a powerful visual symbol of what advancing socialism has done to the city. Traditional family life is nearing extinction in this once vibrant corner of America.

Wow. 27% of Detroit homes are vacant. 75% of babies are born to unwed mothers. Only 9.2% of families are traditional, two parent, married homes.  Only 7% of 8th graders are proficient in reading, and only 4% are proficient in math.

No wonder that the city is on an accelerating downward trajectory. The traditional family works, more often than not. And that's not present. I didn't even go into the workforce statistics, but if 45% of Detroiters over 16 aren't active or seeking employment, then damn. You can't recover from this. Something drastic needs to change, and soon.

Last Full Week

I am already, mentally, ready for the Bahamas. Unfortunately, I can't quite get to that point yet because of a pesky thing like my 9-6 job. But I digress...

It's been an interesting year. The song "fire and rain" has been in my head for so long. Good things and bad things.

Like a burst pipe.
A week with my family over the 4th of July in DC. Joey's lemonade outburst. And Joey's police routine.
Easter with our parents.
A new niece. And soon to be a new nephew.
Steve's 20th HS reunion.
A good friend losing her dad. Another friend dealing with illness.
Evenings like Saturday with new and old friends, way too much wine, potluck, and random conversations.
An election party. And an election wake.
More work travel than I care to truly remember.
The Tigers coming so damn close....
And the Lions going nowhere.
The book release.
Painting the entire damn house. And refinancing, again.
An awesome block party and a chance to feel at home in our neighborhood.
Obsessed with Mad Men. 
Dad's retirement.
The Springsteen concert, and seeing Fanfarlo and Frightened Rabbit.
Steve getting into the National. 
The anticipation and the agony of the Obamacare verdict.
And an unforgettable trip to Africa, from the flight to the safari to the wedding to the time spent with friends. And ebola.
And hopefully one more wonderful getaway and more time with family, more time with friends.
It's been quite a year.

Bankruptcy?

Supposedly Governor Rick Scott is laying the groundwork for managed bankruptcy for the City of Detroit. The articles states, "It would be the largest municipal bankruptcy in the nation's history, an unambiguous symbol of the city's epic failure and a chance for a fresh start."

Planning for a possible bankruptcy of Detroit should not be surprising coming from Snyder, an accountant-turned-CEO, and [Treasurer Andy] Dillon, a former investment banker. Both possess keen financial minds, strategic savvy and a habit for planning further ahead than most politicians, particularly the elected officials in Detroit flailing from one crisis to the next.

In anticipation of Detroit's financial collapse, for example, Dillon retained an investment banking firm in December 2010 — before taking office — to advise the Treasury on ways to restructure Detroit's balance sheet, reduce its liabilities and return the city's credit rating to investment grade.

City Council, by comparison, is blocking the mayor's effort to hire a local law firm, Miller Canfield, citing conflicts of interest. Nor has the city, likely about a month away from Snyder appointing an emergency financial manager, showed any inkling of forward planning and retained bankruptcy counsel.

This is what the City Council thinks:

Councilman Kwame Kenyatta said he will be among those fighting hardest against appointment of an emergency financial manager. He called the state's threat a matter of "do all that we say when we say, or we're going to take our marbles off the table and we're going to bring in an emergency financial manager.

"You have a governor, a treasurer and a mayor who say to hell with democracy and the citizens of Detroit," he said.

The most irresponsible thing that could happen would be an Obama bailout. That's what the City Council wants. The morons on the city council may think that will happen, but they will be sorely disappointed. Obama owes the city nothing. He’s been reelected. And Detroiters will vote for him no matter what.

The city should feel lucky that Snyder, not Granholm, is governor. But yet when he saved the city, they will have no loyalty or gratitude for that.

When you have no solutions, you really lose any right to say what is going to happen. It's a desperate situation. And desperate times call for very desperate measures. 

For the Love of Bacon

Detroit City Council Member JoAnn Watson wants some bacon from Washington.

"Our people in an overwhelming way supported the re-election of this president and there ought to be a quid pro quo and you ought to exercise leadership on that," said Watson. "Of course, not just that, but why not?"

Nearly 75 percent of Wayne County voters pulled the lever for Obama in November.

"After the election of Jimmy Carter, the honorable Coleman Alexander Young, he went to Washington, D.C. He came home with some bacon," said Watson. "That's what you do."

Young served as Detroit's mayor for 20 years and served as vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1977 to 1981.

Yes, indeed, that is how it works. Since the federal government is just rolling in dough and pork these days...

Life in a Prison Camp

Frightening portrait of North Korea on 60 Minutes last night. He grew up in a North Korean prison camp and lived to escape and tell about it.