Some books I just can't read

There isn't enough time in the day to read all of the books I want to read, and the situation gets worse every passing year. So instead I try to read books by authors I already like, books that come highly recommended or books by debut authors. But no matter how much I love an author, there are just some subjects I can't read about any more:

• The Holocaust: In recent years, this has expanded to be WWII books in general. Reading Summer of My German Soldier this past year was harder than I expected.
• Eating Disorders: Sorry fans for Wintergirls, after reading Second Star to the Right for a YA Lit class I took in college, I just can't do it any more. Body image books are still okay, but as soon as anorexia or bulimia are mentioned, I remove the book from my to-read list.
• Dying Narrators: As the newest addition to the list, the last book narrated by a dying teen I read was Going Bovine. Now I'm done with this topic.

It's not that I don't think there are fantastic books on these subjects out there or that no other books written could possible match the excellence of the books I've already read. And saying I don't think these topics are important to read about is like saying it's not important to vote.

So why don't I read books about anorexia/WWII/death? Because I can't take the emotional turmoil they put me through.

Ring out wild bells

I took some pretty horrible pictures of the bell choir with my new phone. I really wish I had known how to adjust the white balance before I tried taking pictures. Luckily, we sounded a lot better than my poor photography skills made us look.

We played for more than a thousand people Friday night. Yes, that many people love the hand bells, especially little kids. It's not really Christmas until you've heard a bell choir.

 Our accompanist is totally amazing. I wish I could play the piano like him.

Check out that ringing action. That form, that determination, that skill.

More time to waste saving time

I'm really not sure how I feel about my new smartphone. Sometimes I think if I were smarter, I would have gotten a dumb phone that just does things like save phone numbers and make calls from remote locations like the traffic jam one mile from home or the church parking lot. Instead I had to get the phone that connects to the internet, takes pictures, finds me no matter where I am, makes Julienne fries and creates world peace.

But I can also do great things on this phone like accidently dial my dad at 1 a.m. while trying to figure out how to sync his contact information in both my phone and my email address book. I can also figure out that I've double booked myself every Saturday between now and the New Year because I can never seem to keep just one calendar that I faithfully update and check. And of course there's Tetris. And Angry Birds. And endless trivia games.

So while my new phone is supposed to save me time and make me look more intelligent by keeping all the information I need right at my fingertips, all it has succeeded in doing thus far is making me spend time trying to figure out how to work it so I don't look so stupid.

An Update

The DCPD is offering a $25,000 reward for information concerning Prince Okorie's shooting. While it's too late to prevent Prince's death and nothing will ever change that, it's not too late to help figure out why this happened and maybe, just maybe, we can prevent something like this from happening again.

More than a statistic

"A 16-year-old was fatally shot in the head Tuesday afternoon on a street corner in the Petworth area of Northwest Washington, D.C. police said.

"Police responded for the sounds of gunshots at 8th Street and Delafield Place about 4:30 p.m., and found Prince Okorie, of Northwest Washington, suffering from gunshot wounds, said Officer Hugh Carew, a spokesman. Okorie was taken to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead."

-Washington Post

What this article fails to mention is that Prince was known and loved by many people. Not only did I work with him in a tutoring program, but I attended the same church congregation, I know his family, and I see how this tragedy is leaving those who cared about Prince in shock.

According to the D.C. police department statistics, there have been 120 homicides so far this year, which continues a downward trend that has been occurring for the past two years. And compared to the 232 murders that happened in 2001, we are making great strides to improve the safety of the city. Unfortunately, 40% of these crimes are still unsolved, and about 30% of them will become "cold cases" that are no longer actively investigated.

I can't help thinking about the numbers when I think about Prince. How I don't like those numbers. How I don't find any comfort in knowing homicide rates are down. How those numbers don't represent Prince.

Prince was your average teenager. He fought with his sister and talked back to his mother and tried pushing the boundaries. But he was also quiet and sweet and smart. He could have been anything, done anything with his life. All that potential lost.

Too many children are eaten alive by the violence of the inner city. And sometimes, no matter how much people love them or how hard people try to help them, the statistics don't play in their favor. So the next time you read about the statistics, see Prince there. Those numbers are important because there are people behind them. And every one of them matters.