Suing City Hall

In the news today:

A teacher who was bonked on the head with a book thrown by a student is suing the city for "negligently and carelessly" causing "the school's activities to become and remain dangerous." The city tried to get the suit dismissed claiming that the teacher, as a Board of Education employee, cannot sue the city. So far, teacher 1, city 0.

And there is the case of the man who is suing the city for false arrest, claiming the city has a policy of arresting "innocent persons in order to meet stated 'productivity quotas.'" Apparently, he'd been helping his friends move some DJ equipment at around 12:30 a.m. when he was approached & detained by police officers. He showed his ID as requested, they knocked it from his hands (so he alleges) then grabbed him, threw him to the ground, handcuffed him, and kept him 2 days, accusing him of resisting arrest, after which the charges against him were dismissed. (Me, I tend to believe the guy. Police are brutal. Especially against minorities of all stripes.)

Barefoot into the Future

Here's a quote from the book I'm currently reading (checked out from the NYPL), "The City in Crimson Cloak" by Asli Erdogan (translated from the Turkish by Amy Spangler):

She felt a strong desire to run barefoot into the future; an urge to draw her sword and run her horse at full gallop, straight into the formidable front battle line of life... This, she thought, was probably what they meant by "joie de vivre."

Besides wishing I could write like that (if only!) ... this particularly spoke to me; it describes precisely how I feel about my self and my situation just now.

All hail to thee, barefoot lass ...

Overheard

Overheard on the Q train:

"His brother died pushing him out of the way of a car."

Inch by Inch

Here is a poem I read just today and really like.

There is one technical flaw, a line that's missing a syllable. It does not, however, detract from the poem ... it was just something I noted because I was counting on purpose, wondering if the poet had held strictly to the Rule of 17 for Haiku. And perhaps it's not a flaw at all, anyway. I do very much like the idea of haiku stretched into a 5-stanza poem. Now my ignorance will show: I am not aware of this having been done before. No doubt I should be reading far more poetry than I do.

Also-too this is a case of the form itself in service to the message.

Oh, to write like that! The gills grow green and admiration abounds.

Intelligent Life: newsclip

And I quote:

A man, 57, told police that he "vaguely remembered" that someone was with him when he left Barracuda, the bar at _____, shortly after midnight on Sat., May 3, and went home to _____. (2 blocks from the bar) But when he woke up in the morning he was alone, and all his drawers and closets were ajar. His watch, cell phone, diamond ring, leather jacket, $800 in cash and credit cards were all gone.