books and deep thoughts.

Stack o'summer books

Magazines: The New Yorker, like any good MFA student; Publisher's Weekly; Garden & Gun; and the new J.Crew catalog - which they are now calling a "style guide"

So. Above are what I have to look forward to this summer. The bookstore around the corner from me gives store credit for books, and since I had a ton of books, I was able to make several trips to the bookstore and get credit. This is a very good thing, since I am trying to save money. Thrown in there are some ARCs I was able to get, and who doesn't like free advance copies of books? 

I am kind of stunned right now. My old neighborhood in Chapel Hill had an elementary school in it - it was right across from my first townhouse there. The neighborhood is a planned community, and it resembles Pleasantville. There is a village green, people see each other in the co-op and have breakfast together, and many of my professors and even my doctor lived in my 'hood. Each house had a porch to encourage socialization, and the homes were/are beautiful. There were houses, townhouses and apartments. It was perfect, and I loved it. I still do. There are parks, a dog run, green spaces and a running/bike trail. It's an awesome place, in my opinion. The family I babysat for would leave their house unlocked, and really, there was no crime there. I don't remember any, anyway. Well, today, a woman was shot multiple times by her significant other while in the carpool line, waiting to pick up the kids. The same carpool line that I would wait in countless times last year, waiting for the little boy to get let out of school. In broad daylight, in front of the other parents waiting in the carpool line, he drove up to her and shot her. You have to know, this is unheard of in this neighborhood. I mean, this is a place where little kids ride their bikes to school and park them on the lawn outside - and nothing happens to them. Everyone says hi and smiles. In the summer, there is music on the village green every sunday, and on fridays and saturdays, there's outdoor movies on the green. It is pretty idyllic. 

I know crime happens everywhere, but wow, I am just shocked. I can't even put it into words.