Half a Week.

It's only the middle of the week and so far too much has happened. We all know about the tragedy that happened at Virginia Tech so I won't say much more on that. I really don't have anything "new" to add other than that I keep hearing that Nickelback song play on and on and it depresses me.

I'm one of only a handful of people that know about a recent hate crime committed against a homeless person that happened in Cleveland. I personally spoke to the victim and he asked me to respect his privacy so there's not much I'm going to say other than that this is a full-out national epidemic. This man was beaten on the head with a 2x4 by some kids. Apparently the new trend in teenage entertainment is to beat/throw things at/set fire to people that happen to be homeless. Across the state, across the nation, it is happening all the time with many incidents not even reported to the police.

A few weeks ago, a man in Florida was beaten with a cinder block by three kids--one of them was seventeen and the other two were ten years old. The man nearly died.

The National Coalition for the Homeless released their 2006 Hate Crimes Committed Against Homeless People report. Check it out to get a full portrait of this epidemic.

Also this week: I got notice that ODOT is doing a sweep of a homeless camp. Why--It's located near a freeway in a marginal area. Who cares. If these people are safe, let them be so they aren't forced into a more dangerous area, making them become the next victims.

War on the Streets, War in the Garden.

A woman living on E. 71st gets cited for a fence she constructed around a homemade healing garden. In the St. Clair-Superior neighbor, officials are worried about a fence that surrounds a garden dedicated to the people who've been murdered on the street??? Our city officials at work, I guess...

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/117671261030590.xml&coll=2

Gray City.

[I started writing this last week....then stopped. I figured I should as least post what I have.]
Finally the sun is making an appearance over the snow engulfed city, reminding us that all gray skies must come to an end. For the past few days, it's been February all over again. The Indians have yet to finish a game and now they're moving their "home" games to Milwaukee. Easter was colder and more snow-packed than Christmas. We had one day of almost 80 degree weather only to wake up to below 30 degrees the next day. Some say "well that's Cleveland for you--don't be surprised."

We are a city of browns and grays.

[And I swear this was going somewhere... probably to my "Let's Be Positive, Cleveland!" rant, but I'm sure that will spill over into another post.]