Being charged as an adult

I recently wrote a commentary, published in the Baltimore edition of the AFRO American Newspapers, entitled "Calling It For The Cop." This was my reaction to the police shooting of a 14-year-old suspect during the course of a robbery in Baltimore.
According to the Baltimore City Police spokesperson, the officer came up on a robbery in progress, where the suspect was pointing a gun at the neck of his victim and did not comply with the officer's instruction to put it down. It was only afterward that the age of the suspect was known and the weapon identified as a BB gun.
I wrote -- and have heard no facts to change this opinion -- that I believe this to be good police work and that a plausible consequence of pointing a weapon is to be shot by the police. I added that at 14 years old, the suspect was able to form the intent to carry out his actions and knows right from wrong.
What I did not add is that at 14 years old, he should not be tried as an adult.

Palin's latest move

Few were more surprised than I to hear Sarah Palin is stepping down at the end of the month from the governorship of Alaska. I didn't see her leaving before she was forced, screaming, from the Alaska state house.

My first exposure to what happened and her remarks came from news articles and commentary. Because I don't like Palin – her politics or her rhetoric – it was easy to buy into the spin of the pieces.

The columnists, and to a lesser degree the news articles, presented her position as off the cuff, backwards, laughable and just short of obtuse. None of that was hard to believe – it's what I think of her anyway.

But, I think it's of the utmost importance to hear what a person has said – or read what a person has written – for myself. I want to follow the nuance, to determine the main ideas and themes, before considering myself informed enough to have an opinion. Otherwise I'm just a parrot for someone else's thoughts, impressions and ideas, even if their statement reinforce what I already think and believe.

So, I read the text of her remarks at the press conference where she announced her resignation. And while I don't believe she's anywhere near the sharpest knife in the drawer –her ability to execute the English language being the biggest indicator of that – her decision and reasons for same are not as silly or arcane as all the writers I've read proffer.

Musings about Michael

I remember the first time I saw Michael Jackson perform. He was about 12 and on television - I honestly don't remember what he was singing with his brothers - and I was smitten. He was such a cute boy with a great voice, I remember thinking.

I started collecting MJ photos and asking for his music ...

Well, I stopped the photos by the time I was 14 - real boyfriends were a lot more, well, real. But I continued to be a fan of his music.

I never saw him in concert, but I purchased the albums and 45s. I was a devotee.

I remember the last time I saw him perform. I loved the Thriller video. As a rule, I don't like music videos - music is an auditory and emotional experience for me, the visuals mess with that. But Thriller was something else, something special.

While I have continued to like his music - and I believe he was a transformative figure in the music industry and in our time - long before he stopped regularly performing, long before his strange relationships and legal troubles became attached as a definition of him, he was dead to me. So I find myself oddly detached from the response of the rest of the world.

We are all seekers in this life, searching for answers about who we are becoming, why we are here, what we destined to do, accomplish. Sometimes this is the hardest thing we do and it is easy to get lost, to stumble ... It happens to us all.

I think Michael struggled with this for most of his adulthood, perhaps more than most of us and his struggle impacted his work and his behavior, which made it worse. Through he struggle he became troubled, instead of gaining small measures of clarity and wisdom. And when his confusion began to transform his work and his very being, the Michael I was smitten with, followed and greatly appreciated died. And I mourned him then.

What I have now is shock over the death of someone so young - and the impact of that on my own feelings of mortality - and my prayers that the man I mourned years ago and the man that died last week can both now find peace and rest.

It's more than the receipt

Over the weekend, I stopped at McDonald's and purchased ice cream sundaes. It was the three window drive thru - order at one, pay at one and pick up at the last.

Everything went well until I picked up the order. The pleasant young lady at the window handed me the ice cream order and some napkins, but no receipt. So, I asked her for the receipt.

She gave me a quizzical look. So I asked again.

After getting the same look, I tried to describe what I wanted - tells what I spent, square piece of paper - but to no avail. The response was the same look.

Then I said receipt again and she handed me a pack of peanuts.

Finally she got another employee to come to the window, hear my request and get the receipt.

Now, I understand that often, long before a person that has immigrated to the United States becomes conversant with the language they need to work. But I think it is wrong to assign to the front lines of service a person that can not speak with the majority of your customers. Especially in McDonald's, there are several jobs that can be done without speaking a lot of the language, but working in the drive thru is not one of them.