Word To The Ys

Here’s an off-the-cuff, straight-from-the-hip post for ya, until I get my latest brain activity written in bloggy format.

Dear Media in our fair Twin Cities:

For Pete’s sake, PLEASE stop using the name of my neighborhood all fast-and-loose-like at the beginning of every tragic news story within a 5-mile radius of said neighborhood. Yes, I realize that some dangerous things happened here about a year ago at the lake, but don’t get me started on all the mitigating factors that were not taken into consideration as you reported those stories. I’ve lived here for 8 years and, even as paranoid as I’ve always been in life, I FEEL SAFE HERE. It is a lovely neighborhood and the lake amenities are first-rate.   This recent incident, while sad and violent, was one played out among family members in a location 2 MILES from the lake (3.5 from our house, for those of you who might worry).  This address barely qualifies as part of the Payne-Phalen neighborhood, but I’m sure you get more buzz on the story by bandying our name about thanks to your negative media crusade last summer.

Thanks to you, our home prices have suffered more than any other neighborhood in the Metro, save North Minneapolis.  (Well, maybe I should thank you for your part in qualifying home sales in this area for the Pohlad grant…)  This is a PR nightmare.  No one seems to want to move to any of the wonderful houses in this lovely area lest they be beaten or shot.  Meanwhile, the residents of this area try harder than ever to develop good relationships with their neighbors, start neighborhood groups/watch programs, and talk the area up to any and all who will listen.

Next time, just name the cross streets, like you do in every other story of metro violence…save North Minneapolis, who also gets the Royal (pain-in-the-ass) Naming Treatment.  OUR NEIGHBORHOOD IS NOT A BUZZ WORD.  It’s our home.

Sincerely,

Courtney

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In a home with 3 (4?) boys growing and playing their way through the days, it was inevitable that Superheros and villains would be part of the everyday lexicon. Max became enamored of them a few years back, probably after Free Comic Book Day afforded him that new genre of reading material. There were several months where Max wore a cape (I made one for Super Max for a birthday gift) and a pair of play goggles everywhere we went. The goggles were from a child’s workshop, and people would often be charmed into asking Max if he was Bob the Builder. This would cause him to say in his most indignant voice, “NO, I’m SUPERMAX.” He wore the get-up to the store, to bed, to church…everywhere.

Part of me thought he’d never remove the goggles, but he did eventually grow out of that particular stage. The superhero play didn’t stop, though. It’s one of our most frequent “imagination games”, and it allows me to repeat almost daily my favorite recurring role: Mustard Girl, a villainess whose dastardly acts usually include spraying mustard at her arch nemeses.  (Side note: Mustard Girl has no love for Ketchup Boy, as his is obviously the inferior condiment.) 

At the beginning of kindergarten, Max and his fellow students had a brief questionnaire to complete to be posted with their picture in the hallway at school.  One of the leading questions was, “When I grow up, I want to be….”  I’m sure it comes as no surprise (thanks to all this exposition) that his answer was “A Superhero!”  This poster/picture came home with him the other day and we were looking at it together during our daily afterschool paper review.  Now that he’s older and wiser, with a more refined sense of what’s “real” and what’s fantasy, he was a little wary of his answer to the question of future profession from the start of the year.

“I wish I could change that so it said something else.  I would want it to say ‘Astronaut’ now, since I know Superheros aren’t real, just pretend” he said.

“Well, maybe if you do something like this when you start first grade, you could say you want to be an astronaut,” I replied.

And here’s the part where he blows my mind once again, the little dynamo:

“Well…superheros aren’t real, so I can’t become a superhero, but I can still be Super.  And I can still be a Hero if I do good things.  So I could be a super hero.”

Man, I just love this kid.

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