Home, sweet home

A man attacks an off-duty sheriff's deputy with not just one, but two knives. He's my neighbor. A man stomps a woman's face in with his boot. Then he proceeds to kick her in the ribs. That was two blocks away.

Both were just last night.

A week ago I was running past my house -- yes, me, running -- and heard a guy yell, "Shut up or I'll f---ing kill you!" Pleadings for mercy followed. Don't worry, I called the cops. Everyone lived.

There's still a bullet lodged about five inches underneath my window from a shoot out next door about a month ago. It's the window I sit by when I write.

Welcome to my home. It's where on one side guys deal drugs out in the open and junkies come and go. The cops are there all of the time. On the other side is SkateChurch, where almost every week 200-300 kids to come and skate to forget everything going on just outside our doors.

It's two blocks away where a drive-by last year killed a 19-year-old girl.

Why is my writing filled with a certain element of dispair and violence? Come and spend a weekend at my apartment and I'll tell you why. And no, I'm not planning on moving.

Hello Quad-Cities...

For anyone in the Quad-Cities, listen into the Quad-Cities Forum this Sunday to hear me dribble on about nothing...and the book. Today I was interviewed by legendary Q-C newsman Phil Roberts of the Quad-Cities Radio Group. But, for those of you outside the Q-C, you can download and listen after it airs on www.woc1420.com It will be under the podcast links.

The interview will air Sunday:
6 a.m. - WOC 1420 AM
7 a.m. - KMXG 96.1 FM
7:30 a.m. - WLLR 103.7 FM
11:30 p.m. - KCQQ 106.5 FM
11:30 p.m. - KUUL 101.3 FM