(no subject)

I got to school this afternoon, in a hurry after leaving work to get my writing portfolio in the box on time, and the active shooter alarm was going off. All the doors were locked.
Now, just in the last few weeks, we've all become aware of this active shooter alarm and have had two drills. alarm goes off, lock the doors to the buildings, don't leave the rooms, lock the doors, get in the corner that's not visible from the doorway (never mind the body-sized windows next to each door). It's posted everywhere, most walls in all the buildings, on the bathroom stalls, on the entrance doors.
Today, I guess what happened was a kid pulled a gun out and just shot it in the air. Who knows why... he was teen-aged, I heard. A 15 year old kid shot up the coffee shop down the street from school last week. I have a 16 year old cousin in prison because he shot at a cop... Really, the guns aren't the topic I'm trying to focus on here... the active shooter drills are.
Perpetuating this atmosphere of fear and paranoia and violence... I feel like it's opening a door for violent behavior on campus. I mean, obviously this shit started happening before there were such things as 'active shooter drills' and happen in places where no one would ever have thought... I see the importance of having a plan in place. But, are we really going to be ducking around the fucking campus waiting for some tight wire to bust, acting like it's inevitable?
I'm real worked up about it today, more than I have been since the two drills for obvious reasons. But it's been a brewin for weeks now.

other random ponderings from the day....

I painted in a 150 year old church downtown today. gorgeous!
while there, I had an anti-evolution-theory song stuck in my head ("i didn't come from a monkey, not me!...."), and i got to thinkin. SOme people really don't believe it. Like, my dad's family, for instance. And THAT is crazy, because we look like monkeys, people!! It's quite clear that our ancestors, in particular, were primates. Dory doesn't call me Monkeyface for nothing. For fuck's sake, LOOK at my father!


And next... Toilets. All the technology and engineering genius in the world, and no one can design a fucking shitter that doesn't splash water on the seat when you flush it? OR a stall door that doesn't have a one-inch gap between the door and the frame so all can see you with your pants down or your skirt up? What, is that extra sliver of metal the icing on the cake?

There was more, but i'm sparing you.
because I love you.
xo