The Bostonian Abroad

Well, they got the kid. I was glued to the news that whole last day, flipping from HLN, to CNN, to FoxNews, and even to AlJazeera at one point. I was desperate to be there with my people in any way I could reasonably manage. Finally, I ended up on CNN on the TV, FoxNews on the computer, and the Live Scanner on the computer as well. The scanner turned out to be the most interesting and revealing, and I was able to figure out what they were saying based on my experience in security in Boston and Henniker. I was heartened to hear accents and voices so familiar to me, and they were all speaking in such a real and professional way. I heard the moment they announced that they had that asshole fuck in custody. Ten minutes later, the news announced it. I felt like I was right there!! I spent the next few hours celebrating on my front porch with my neighbor from New Hampshire, raising toasts of scotch and screaming out into the night that "they got that sonofabitch!!!!" And so

And yet, there are people out there who claim that there were not even any victims. There are people out there who claim that FEMA has actors who pretend to be victims. I read about how Jeff Bauman, the poor kid that got his legs blown off was some Afghan War vet who was just acting and that his grievous wounds were just a lot of plastic and makeup. This is outrageous! It is EVIL. It needs to be, it DEMANDS to be opposed, fought against, obstructed, shouted at, fought at ever turn. Why? Because the victims are being victimized all over again for the selfish, sick pleasure of keyboard cowards, people who would never dare to shout their claims in the places these atrocities happened or in front of the homes of the victims. These cowardly people will scan the Internet to find all manner of photos to "prove" that the bombing was a fake, that the victims were actors, that the dead are not dead. Imagine that you are Jeff Bauman, and you come across the ridiculous photos compar

This is what I should be doing. There is a whole lot I should be doing. I have umpteen things on my to-do list. And yet, here I sit, on my man chair, watching TV yet again. It's Sunday. the weather outside is bright and clear, with a perfect temperature of 70-something. But I am hiding indoors. The sun is so bright, and I can still feel the sunburn on my face from my long drive yesterday to South Carolina and back. Seems I did not use enough sunscreen. The sickeningly thick yellow pollen of the Piedmont of North Carolina coats everything, and my allergies are going mad. I'm on a Fexophenadine and two benadryls, and this is keeping the sneezing and itching eyes from becoming unbearable. And so I sit indoors once again, waiting to feel ready to go out and do something with the myself. I feel guilty to be "wasting" this beautiful day, like I always do. But does this guilt move me off my butt and into action? No. I will go when I feel like going; all I wish is not t