Nope, I'm not back. Still on a blogging vacay.
But I came across a post on the murder trial for the cop who shot Oscar Grant in California and I wanted to comment. Ever since news came that Johan Mehserle would be charged with murder, and not manslaughter, I've been really pessimistic about the outcome.
As I understand it (from watching Law & Order), the difference between murder and manslaughter is that murder is intentional, and manslaughter is not. That is, in either case, someone causes the death of someone else. But a murderer does whatever they did intending to cause a death, whereas someone who commits manslaughter does something stupid or negligent that results in a death.
This is important because Mehserle has always maintained that he meant to pull out his (gun-shaped) taser in the train station, and not his gun. This is supported in some sense by his body language after the shooting. In the video of the incident he immediately raises his hands to his head in full-on "What did I just do?" posture. And if he truly was mistaken, or if even one person out of 12 believes he was, a murder conviction becomes highly improbable. On the other hand, if the charge were manslaughter, it doesn't matter what he meant to do. He committed an erroneous action that resulted in the death of another person. Case closed.
I'm hoping that California is one of the places where "lesser included charges" are part of the process. That would mean that a jury could find a murder defendant "not guilty" of the crime of murder, but still render a "guilty" verdict on the "lesser included charge" of manslaughter. I.e. "You didn't do quite what they say you did, but you did do something." That seems the only realistic road to a conviction at this point.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
77. Dead Air
I'm gonna be MIA for a bit while I attempt to get some things in order. Got some family stuff this weekend. Helping the homies move next week. Doing a writing intensive for the proposal. Trying to get the diet and run life back on track. Etcetera, blah, and so forth.
I hope to come back in a couple weeks with a lively post on how I celebrated the Celtics and Blackhawks' championships. Later kiddies.
I hope to come back in a couple weeks with a lively post on how I celebrated the Celtics and Blackhawks' championships. Later kiddies.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
75. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Living in Chicago year-round means you have to be prepared to dress for nearly every climate known to man. Whether it's 103 degrees or -17, you gotta go to work, which for most of us means leaving the house (I plan to get around this one day... but that's another post).
The best and worst thing about this is that I "have to" maintain two almost completely separate wardrobes. One for October thru May, and one for June thru September. Whatever the calendar says, summer starts when I pack up the sweaters and ends when I pull them back out. For 2010, summer started May 28th.
That was the day I pulled my box of summer gear out of the crawl space, and unpacked 19 pairs of pants and skirts, 17 dresses, and a dozen or so cute sleeveless tops. On the one hand, switching the winter clothes out is annually one of my favorite things to do. It's like getting a whole new wardrobe every year ("I totally forgot about this dress!"). On the other hand, every year I feel a little more guilty about the fact that I have enough clothing to clothe 2 or 3 people really well.
This isn't totally wasteful. Anything you wear in August in Chicago is almost certainly useless in February. But I could probably be more efficient if I tried. Not sure how, but probably. At the very least I could stop buying new stuff. Except shoes. I still got big plans for my shoe game.
The best and worst thing about this is that I "have to" maintain two almost completely separate wardrobes. One for October thru May, and one for June thru September. Whatever the calendar says, summer starts when I pack up the sweaters and ends when I pull them back out. For 2010, summer started May 28th.
That was the day I pulled my box of summer gear out of the crawl space, and unpacked 19 pairs of pants and skirts, 17 dresses, and a dozen or so cute sleeveless tops. On the one hand, switching the winter clothes out is annually one of my favorite things to do. It's like getting a whole new wardrobe every year ("I totally forgot about this dress!"). On the other hand, every year I feel a little more guilty about the fact that I have enough clothing to clothe 2 or 3 people really well.
This isn't totally wasteful. Anything you wear in August in Chicago is almost certainly useless in February. But I could probably be more efficient if I tried. Not sure how, but probably. At the very least I could stop buying new stuff. Except shoes. I still got big plans for my shoe game.
Monday, June 7, 2010
74. By the By...
Last night was another very decent sports night for me. Celtics got the split in L.A. (best we could hope for) and the Blackhawks are one win away from the Stanley Cup. Question is: If I had to choose, would I rather have the Cup or another Celtics title (Lakers loss)? Hmmmmmm...
73. Ctrl + Alt + Delete
I've done a fair bit of traveling lately. Not a legendary amount, but more than I have been doing. This means that I've been away from my disciplined space (home), eating other people's food, sleeping when and where I could, and most unfortunately, not running.
But... never fear. Unless I'm forgetting something, I'm home for the next two months without interruption. That ought to mean reading, writing, running, eating and sleeping with a much more regular frequency. I have big things planned for school. I'm trying to get offcrack ice cream. My running shoes are ready to go. And I'm working my way back toward a decent bedtime.
So... Deep breath. In... Out... Reboot.
But... never fear. Unless I'm forgetting something, I'm home for the next two months without interruption. That ought to mean reading, writing, running, eating and sleeping with a much more regular frequency. I have big things planned for school. I'm trying to get off
So... Deep breath. In... Out... Reboot.
72. This Can't Be Life
As an unmarried, unchilded person, I have a tremendous amount of free time. And I spend a good bit of it thinking of what to do with myself in lieu of getting married and having children. Perhaps more than any living person I know, I am possessed with the question of what one ought properly to do with a life. How do we spend it without wasting it?
If it's possible to waste one's money, which is infinitely replaceable, it must be possible to waste one's life, which is not. And so, if a life is worth spending well, and I'm certain it is, how are we to spend it? For parents I think this question answers itself. Life begets life, and parents spend a good portion of their lives in raising their children. While I wonder if simply making more people is the whole point of life, I have to acknowledge that it's a least one helluva contribution. So... 2 points for parents.
What about the rest of us though? I could cheat and say I'll make a contribution by teaching or helping to enrich the lives of other people's children. I do plan to do those things. But I don't think that's the point. Why bother raising good people who raise good people who only raise more good people? What are they being raised to do? What are they being educated for? Why are they taught to speak? What is it that might one day be worth saying?
I have to think that the point of living isn't simply to make other living things; that the point of our existence isn't simply to ensure that we continue to exist. Human beings are uniquely capable of making and un-making the world, of leaving it differently than we found it (for better or worse), of doing things. And so what will I do?
The truth is that I have a fairly good idea why I'm here. I'm a writer. Whatever I contribute to the world will almost undoubtedly involve words printed on a page somewhere. But beyond that... beyond the work... In the day-to-day, what are we to do? How are we to breathe? How are we to live? How are we to speak and of what sorts of things? The answers to these questions feel, in a very real way, like matters of life and death.
If it's possible to waste one's money, which is infinitely replaceable, it must be possible to waste one's life, which is not. And so, if a life is worth spending well, and I'm certain it is, how are we to spend it? For parents I think this question answers itself. Life begets life, and parents spend a good portion of their lives in raising their children. While I wonder if simply making more people is the whole point of life, I have to acknowledge that it's a least one helluva contribution. So... 2 points for parents.
What about the rest of us though? I could cheat and say I'll make a contribution by teaching or helping to enrich the lives of other people's children. I do plan to do those things. But I don't think that's the point. Why bother raising good people who raise good people who only raise more good people? What are they being raised to do? What are they being educated for? Why are they taught to speak? What is it that might one day be worth saying?
I have to think that the point of living isn't simply to make other living things; that the point of our existence isn't simply to ensure that we continue to exist. Human beings are uniquely capable of making and un-making the world, of leaving it differently than we found it (for better or worse), of doing things. And so what will I do?
The truth is that I have a fairly good idea why I'm here. I'm a writer. Whatever I contribute to the world will almost undoubtedly involve words printed on a page somewhere. But beyond that... beyond the work... In the day-to-day, what are we to do? How are we to breathe? How are we to live? How are we to speak and of what sorts of things? The answers to these questions feel, in a very real way, like matters of life and death.
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