Peace in Annapolis - Part II
I know - I know.
It has been a while since the last post.
While I do apologize, I have to admit I have been puzzling a lot over some things and it has clouded my search for Annapolis somewhat.
I promised you some posts on the Naval Academy, a letter from a reader and some other material and they will come, but let me address this issue first.
You may have noticed we have had some vigorous commenting by residents of Annapolis, Eastport and other parts of Anne Arundel County on a couple of stories having to do with residential security in certain neighborhoods (gunfire in Eastport) and who gets to go to what school and why (a basketball player leaves a rough life to go to Severna Park High) click links to go to the stories.
Read the stories - then read the comments.
Both stories have some common elements.
Guns.
Who lives in which neighborhoods.
Official responses.
A desire for security - a chance - hope.
The comments from people who read the stories also have some commonalities:
How to characterize a neighborhood (or school).
What you should or should not expect from the place you live - home.
Who gets what from the government.
A sense of protecting something we want to feel is safe.
There are some uncommonalities.
One story is about a young man trying to get a better life.
The other is about long-time residents trying to live safer lives.
One is about sports and a chance to restart life.
The other is about random (or stray) gunfire.
One has a hopeful upswing.
The other seems to have a fearful repetition of theme.
In my search for the real Annapolis, I cannot escape wrestling with things brought up in these stories and in the comments following them. Most everyone involved in the stories and the commenting live here. They are all part of that greater region I call "Annapolis."
If this is my home, and where my family is to live, how do I react? I have a 2 year old son. Do I want him in one school or the other? Do I have to fear for my family's lives if we live on one street and not another? How do I look at the legions of other parents who also love their children and want them in another school than the ones they are in?
What is 'safe?'
Why are bullets bouncing around in residential neighborhoods?
It shocks me.
My grandfather was a babe in a cradle and a bullet came in off the street and passed through the wood in the headboard inches above his head. He went on and lived 84 years, which is good because it helped get me here.
Difference is, that was Norwood Colorado. 1902 or thereabouts. Gold and silver mining town between Durango and Telluride. The Wild West. Gunfights in the streets. Wild miners on Saturday nights.
This is Annapolis.
I have to ask - is Annapolis the Wild West? Are we supposed to accept that as part of life here? True, a bullet is a bullet but somehow I expected something different in Annapolis.
After living here a while I see why people retreat to certain "neighborhoods" and send their kids to certain schools. The fear of violence in some parts of the county is truly palpable, at least to a newcomer from a much more secure part of the country.
But then what happens when another family also wants to retreat to a better school and a better neighborhood. Are we to allow some and not allow others? And why do people have to retreat at all? Can we not have an Annapolis where people do not have to hide and do not have to retreat?
I know I sound naive, but was it not Bobby Kennedy, paraphrasing George Bernard Shaw who said: "There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not? "
Cannot Annapolis, home of a national military academy which trains future world leaders and national protectors, come up with something better?
I wonder about these things.
In my last post I was very hopeful, having seen a spirit of this city which could help nudge weary countries half a globe away towards peace.
The last few weeks I have seen darker shadows, skirting around under our own historic dome, stealing peace away.
The search goes on.
It has been a while since the last post.
While I do apologize, I have to admit I have been puzzling a lot over some things and it has clouded my search for Annapolis somewhat.
I promised you some posts on the Naval Academy, a letter from a reader and some other material and they will come, but let me address this issue first.
You may have noticed we have had some vigorous commenting by residents of Annapolis, Eastport and other parts of Anne Arundel County on a couple of stories having to do with residential security in certain neighborhoods (gunfire in Eastport) and who gets to go to what school and why (a basketball player leaves a rough life to go to Severna Park High) click links to go to the stories.
Read the stories - then read the comments.
Both stories have some common elements.
Guns.
Who lives in which neighborhoods.
Official responses.
A desire for security - a chance - hope.
The comments from people who read the stories also have some commonalities:
How to characterize a neighborhood (or school).
What you should or should not expect from the place you live - home.
Who gets what from the government.
A sense of protecting something we want to feel is safe.
There are some uncommonalities.
One story is about a young man trying to get a better life.
The other is about long-time residents trying to live safer lives.
One is about sports and a chance to restart life.
The other is about random (or stray) gunfire.
One has a hopeful upswing.
The other seems to have a fearful repetition of theme.
In my search for the real Annapolis, I cannot escape wrestling with things brought up in these stories and in the comments following them. Most everyone involved in the stories and the commenting live here. They are all part of that greater region I call "Annapolis."
If this is my home, and where my family is to live, how do I react? I have a 2 year old son. Do I want him in one school or the other? Do I have to fear for my family's lives if we live on one street and not another? How do I look at the legions of other parents who also love their children and want them in another school than the ones they are in?
What is 'safe?'
Why are bullets bouncing around in residential neighborhoods?
It shocks me.
My grandfather was a babe in a cradle and a bullet came in off the street and passed through the wood in the headboard inches above his head. He went on and lived 84 years, which is good because it helped get me here.
Difference is, that was Norwood Colorado. 1902 or thereabouts. Gold and silver mining town between Durango and Telluride. The Wild West. Gunfights in the streets. Wild miners on Saturday nights.
This is Annapolis.
I have to ask - is Annapolis the Wild West? Are we supposed to accept that as part of life here? True, a bullet is a bullet but somehow I expected something different in Annapolis.
After living here a while I see why people retreat to certain "neighborhoods" and send their kids to certain schools. The fear of violence in some parts of the county is truly palpable, at least to a newcomer from a much more secure part of the country.
But then what happens when another family also wants to retreat to a better school and a better neighborhood. Are we to allow some and not allow others? And why do people have to retreat at all? Can we not have an Annapolis where people do not have to hide and do not have to retreat?
I know I sound naive, but was it not Bobby Kennedy, paraphrasing George Bernard Shaw who said: "There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not? "
Cannot Annapolis, home of a national military academy which trains future world leaders and national protectors, come up with something better?
I wonder about these things.
In my last post I was very hopeful, having seen a spirit of this city which could help nudge weary countries half a globe away towards peace.
The last few weeks I have seen darker shadows, skirting around under our own historic dome, stealing peace away.
The search goes on.
posted by Alan Eason at
1:20 PM
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