Or, as Rick Green said so well today, Julie Amero is held hostage for 432 days.

I’m waiting for the state to admit that this poor substitute teacher should never have been arrested, tried and convicted. I’m waiting for prosecutors in Norwich to do something: come up with some real evidence and try her — or drop the charges. Amero’s supporters, who include Internet security experts from around the country, have a petition urging Chief State’s Attorney Kevin Kane to drop all charges.

Perhaps the citizens of Norwich should tie yellow ribbons around their trees. It might even be more effective for them to ask their law enforcement officials to focus on real criminals and let the innocent be.

Please sign the petition. It’s time for Julie Amero to be freed from the chains she’s worn for 432 days.

And thank you, Rick Green, for being a responsible voice for justice.

Update: Thanks to a fellow member of The Julie Group, I’ve got a widget on my sidebar counting the number of days Julie has been held hostage. I’ll remove it when they free her.

There have been moments as Sticks’ mom where I’ve been exasperated, frustrated, gratified, concerned, proud, and amazed. But never speechless, at least, until today. Never.

I knew there was a surprise on today’s percussion ensemble program, because I’d been given a heads-up in advance that an original piece would be on the program, one that he composed. But even with that, I had no idea of what to expect.

Now I’m the mom, and I’m supposed to love everything he does (and I do). But seriously, the kid is not even 19 yet, and I was completely floored that this piece flowed out of some creative place that he’s managed to tap into already. Experienced listeners and composers may find areas to critique, but for this mom, it’s perfection.

The ensemble itself is something he’s been doing for four or five years during the summer. The director, Tina Curtis, is a classically trained percussionist. Every summer she puts together a group of young drummers and percussionists with some pretty progressive music. They’ve performed John Cage and contemporary performers as well. This piece is a complete departure from anything I’ve ever posted of his. To me, it’s incredible. I hope it is to you, too.

This is the intro he wrote for Tina to read:

Enjoy.

As I was giving my kids a hard time for being up at 1:30AM watching the Olympics, the loudest thunderclap I’ve ever heard sounded outside, setting off one of the most incredible thunderstorms I’ve ever seen, and certainly the most amazing storm I’ve ever seen in California. These are the Midwest-style storms (or maybe Florida) but out here we usually see none of this.

I grabbed the camera and gave it my best, but I confess to having zero clue about the best way to shoot lightning, so this was about the most I could hope for.

What an amazing night.

Since the commenters at TechcrunchIT get so aggravated anytime Steve Gillmor writes a post about Twitter’s value in the enterprise (corporate) environment, I feel compelled to provide them with two breadcrumbs on their road to clueful.

Kathy Sierra:

James Governor (monkchips)

Both of those say in 140 characters or less what I spent the better part of zillions saying in the comments here.

You can find me on Twitter here, and on Identi.ca here. I recommend Identi.ca, even though it’s in its infancy, because there is a huge community effort underway to build an infrastructure that will scale, grow, and play nice with similar services. I’m currently using identi.ca to post to twitter, so I don’t lose touch with the community and friends I have over there, but identi.ca has much stronger potential to spawn microbranded communities that can still reach out to the larger community at will. Using the identi.ca architecture permits me to place that identity at the center of a larger circle that includes Twitter and other communities.

It’s all interesting, all still in its infancy, and yet, as Kathy says, there remains a low barrier to entry.

Warning: What follows will not be safe for work or little kids. Just sayin’

Dear asshole who just rolled down a private street no wider than an alley at 25 miles an hour, completely oblivious to me and my dog…

Fuck you.

Yes, YOU. The guy in the SUV so busy texting while you were driving that you didn’t notice that you were moving at breakneck pace through a PRIVATE STREET where CHILDREN PLAY.

You. Evidently you’ve never had the unique heartbreak of seeing your child knocked flat in that very same goddamn street bleeding and bruised because another idiot just like you was so concerned with his own deal that he didn’t bother to see little kids crossing the street.

In a crosswalk, I might add, just like I was tonight.

Asshole, you missed me and my pug by about a hair. Even if you had noticed us, you wouldn’t have been able to stop in time because you were too fucking busy with your little text conversation or whatever to see that there were people who had been in the crosswalk longer than you had been on the street, since you wheeled around the corner like you were on the Indianapolis racetrack. If I hadn’t pulled back the dog, tossed my own phone in the process, and lunged, she’d have been dead and I’d have been injured.

The thing is, I’ve actually stopped you in the street and TOLD YOU OVER AND OVER TO SLOW THE FUCK DOWN. This is not the first time; it’s just the closest.

I would publish your address but I don’t believe in stuff like that, because I’m not quite as big an asshole as you are. But I swear to God, the next time you put my life, the life of my dog, or any CHILD’s life at risk again with your idiocy, I will not only publish your address, I will publish your name, your license plate and your fucking cell phone number if I get hold of it.

Do you get it yet? If not, come on over and let me educate you in person. I can even show you the photos of what it looks like to have that cute teenage girl run completely over at the ripe old age of five and 12 days after a van rolls over her front to back. Yeah, that’s right, we’re the house on the corner down from you, with the crazy pug and the PTSD-ridden woman who shrieks at you to slow down about six times a day.

Please, learn it this time, so someone isn’t killed because you are the biggest selfish prick I’ve ever seen. Either that, or plan to pay for a lifetime supply of Xanax to calm my constantly jangled nerves from your lunacy.

(This happened in Lakeside Village, Camarillo, East side of the lake, just in case anyone happens to fall on this post via Google.)

I can’t even believe I wrote that title. Honest to God, I can’t. Never in a hundred million years could I have imagined that I would be writing a blog post protesting (vehemently) the characterization of Thomas as some kind of upskirting downshirting whacko photographer type.

But I am. Last Friday, for some unintelligbly inexplicable reason, Thomas was tossed from the San Francisco MOMA by Simon Blint, director of Visitor Relations, after taking photographs in an area where non-flash photography was expressly allowed.

There wasn’t much conversation. There was certainly no reasonable discussion. According to this so-called “director”, Hawk’s 14mm ultra wide-angle lens was a “telephoto” lens that Thomas was using to shoot photos from the 2nd floor looking down; specifically, down the blouse of a female employee wearing a low-cut blouse.

Thomas writes in a follow-up post:

One allegation that has been raised is that Blint threw me out because he felt that I was shooting down a low cut blouse of one of his employees sitting in the atrium below where I was shooting. The photo above is a photo that I snapped of Blint as he was publicly admonishing me from the floor, that’s him with his arms crossed there — he’s about the size of an ant in the photo. As you will see, the female employee in question also appears in the photograph (the ticket taker next to Blint). She is not wearing a low cut blouse. In fact she’s wearing some sort of a yellowish/orangish sweater or jacket sort of thing — she’s sort of hard to see as a 14mm lens makes people look super far away. Her arms, shoulders, in fact every visible area of her except her hands are completely covered in clothing.

I have never heard anything more absurd in my life. As one who has had the fun of doing a photowalk with the guy in Santa Monica along with many others, I can attest only to this: Thomas Hawk is one of the finest photographers and artists that I’ve ever had the privilege of meeting, and he would be free and welcome to take my photo from two inches away or two stories up. I absolutely trust his artistic sense and sensitivity with his camera. In fact, I’d be honored if he did it. I’d even let him keep his $2.

Because seriously, the man has an eye like no one I’ve ever seen. One hour watching him is worth 10 figuring it out on my own. Not only should he have not been ejected, his work should be hanging in the SF MOMA.

Oh, by the way, here’s an example of the type of photo he was taking:

And here’s Simon Blint, in high dudgeon upon being informed that the entire incident would be blogged:

For the life of me, I cannot understand why a man with such a lack of gift for managing visitors and visitor issues has been placed in a position of authority over visitors. It boggles the mind. The guy has no clue when it comes to photography for sure, because anyone who would mistake an ultra-high wide angle lens for a telephoto probably relies on his cell phone for any pictures he takes. I could even forgive that, but to simply refuse to hear the other side and forcibly eject Thomas for an utterly bogus, trumped-up charge uttered in the heat of a hissy fit? Unbelieveable.

I count myself lucky to be the beneficiary of his lens, even in shadow. (Did I mention that this shot is in his fav10 set?)

Simon maybe doesn’t feel the same way. That’s his problem. If the SF MOMA has any sense at all, they will require Blint to make a formal, written apology to Thomas, retracting all suggestion of impropriety or misbehavior, and then should immediately reassign Simon away from the public to garbage management.

What a frickin’ putz.

(Photo Credit: Thomas Hawk)

Here’s the backstory on Lawrence King, the 14-year old boy shot a few miles up the road from me while in his homeroom class.

Ventura County Star

“This is not a complicated case, who did it and the manner of death,” he said. “The issue is Brandon’s age and what was going on at E.O. Green School.”

McInerney feels remorse and does not understand the seriousness of what he’s facing, he said.

“Going from being on the beach to being locked in a cage until he dies,” Quest said. “It’s hard for anyone to contemplate that, much less a 14-year-old.”

Memo to William Quest: Do NOT make excuses for Brandon McInerney. And whatever you do, do NOT blame the school or place the responsibility for Lawrence King’s shooting on their heads.

Just. Don’t.

I fully understand that every defendant deserves a vigorous defense. I also understand that McInerney is 14 years old (the same age as my daughter, by the way). I don’t begrudge McInerney a defense. I also understand the gravity of the sentence he faces if convicted, which he will be.

What is at stake here is the question of whether Brandon McInerney should spend the rest of his life in prison, or should instead be tried and convicted in juvenile court, where he will be released at age 25 - 11 years maximum time.

As a somewhat bleeding-heart liberal, you’d think I’d be in support of the juvenile court option, right? Wrong. I’m not, in this case, because in my opinion the consequence is not grave enough for the crime. Period.

I cannot think of an age more critical than 14 for discovering that crimes have consequences. While my idea sentence for McInerney would be 1 year for each year of Lawrence King’s life at a minimum, served in a maximum security juvenile facility, that’s not an option. The only options on the table are to try him as an adult with a very heavy and onerous sentence, or to send him to juvenile court where the sentence will be far too gentle.

It’s undisputed that Brandon brought a gun to school. It’s undisputed that he walked up to Larry King at the start of homeroom, pulled the gun out of his backpack, placed it point-blank at his head and shot him in front of a classroom full of peers. These are not disputed.

The only question is why he did it, and frankly I don’t care. I don’t care if the school was lax about sexual identity issues, I don’t care if Brandon was raised in a broken and intolerant environment, I don’t care that the beach kid might spend the rest of his life in prison.

Because the fact is, it could have been my daughter’s classroom, or your child’s. Because the fact is, at the moment that Brandon McInerney crossed the decision matrix and chose to pull out that gun and shoot an innocent classmate not once, but twice, the ‘why’ no longer matters. Only the “what” matters.

The “what” is that Larry King is dead because Brandon McInerney didn’t like who he was, how he dressed, and how he behaved. This is not something the school caused. It is not something Larry King caused. It is not something society caused. It is not something McInerney’s parents caused.

It is the act of a coward and a bully with absolutely no regard for anyone but himself. A narcissist, a sociopath.

These are not qualities to be gentle with. They need to be taken out of society, condemned.

[Disclosure: My dad was a juvenile probation officer in LA County Probation camps, the hardcore of the convicted. I know exactly how much easier these places are. They're a cakewalk compared to prison.]