urbanmennonite.com

So how’s that checkpoint thing going? Well, no one got shot in the neighborhood since they set it up so if you are using that as your guidepost, then everything is great! Just ignore the 8 people that did get shot last night because you’ll notice on the map that none of them were in my area.

And it sort of has a street fair appearance, at least the weekend one did. The neighbors are out; everyone milling around; people parking around the corner and walking to their destinations, the camera crews; hey, is that the mayor?

And it’s going so well that they are going to extend it. Goody.

People on my bus keep joking about how “people” and “they” are calling it Baghdad. But from what I read, it isn’t anywhere near as bad as it used to be. The difference. Well, frankly, there’s a lot of white people living there now.

So it’s still weird and still doesn’t feel right for a lot of reasons. And when the police leave, I’m not so sure that I won’t be hearing gunfire at night again. Because it’s going to be a long, hot summer.

On the plus side? I’m totally crushing on the hot cop (and I don’t normally go for blonds) who’s been hanging out at the corner.