What can be done to slow or even stop gang violence?

First of all, you have to look at the root of why and how gangs form. Every human being has a tendency to join groups. We like belonging to something bigger. We need social interaction. We need others to love and for them to love us- we need a family. Many of these young kids who join gangs do not feel like they have a family of their own. Many feel like outsiders who feel like they need to belong. This is how gangs recruit so many young people.

Crime is most commonly linked to people who are either poor or are facing hard times. Economic hardship inevitably linked to gang crime. Selling illegal drugs or weapons are booming and prosperous businesses in many cities. The demand is quite for drugs in a society that is impoverished, and in a society dominated by gangs, security is a necessity in order to survive, so guns of course sell well.

An entire industry has sprouted in large part due to our laws. It's easier to get an illegal weapon or an illegal drug than it is to get legal ones. Many of these gang members actually work hard within this industry. Imagine if all drugs were legal. How would this change the game? What would be the point of buying drugs from a dealing gang member when you could purchase it from the government. In no way am I promoting the legalization of drugs, but that makes you at least think about the concepts of supply and demand. Gangs would not thrive without the illegal drug trade. So ending the drug trade somehow would probably help stop gang violence.

Gang violence only comes after gangs have matured to a point where respect, pride, revenge, and competition become major factors within their society. There was a great quote from this police office in an article I recently read. He said that the shootings were always about three things: drugs, money, guns, and respect. In my opinion, if you take drugs out of the picture, the other three will not exist.

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What I Have Accomplished over Winter "Vacation"

Well classes start up again next week at UNO. I've really just started to get used to not having to worry about classes. Oh well. One more semester. And then student teaching! I can't wait to get started with that. 

Anyway, over my "break" (I still worked full-time and the holidays were still a busy time of course) I accomplished a bit. I recorded again. Got a couple songs done for the Felt Show and Daniel Lewis Diedrich and I got some stuff of his recorded. Other than that, I finally converted all of my CDs to digital files on our computer. Ok, you may not understand...this is a process that has taken 3.5 years to complete...pretty much as long as Shannon and I have been married. It feels pretty good.  I have a total of 16, 814 songs, or 44.6 days, of songs on our computer. I could listen to my Ipod for 44.6 days straight and not hear the exact same song. Pretty amazing, eh?

Anyway, I will wrap this up while I watch the Arizona Cardinals- the ultimate underdog- who I am rooting to beat the Carolina Panthers.

Until next time.

The Untitled Record "Silent Film Soundtrack"

The second full-length album from Colorado native Drew Miller, aka The Untitled Record, hints at the heavily ambient sounds often heard by artists such as Brian Eno or Boards of Canada. Each song on the album, cleverly titled "Silent Film Soundtrack, has a mystic feel to it. As I listened to it I often was overwhelmed with a calming, almost hypnotic feeling. I probably would not advise listening to this record while driving, because it'd probably put you to sleep.

  

Not that "Silent Film Soundtrack" is boring. Quite the opposite really, for there are a lot of interesting things going on in each song that can be missed if only listened to casually. For example, in one of my favorite tracks, "Sea of Chaos," there are many so sounds loaded into the song that I've never quite heard anything like before. At only a minute and a half, you have to listen to the song multiple times to get it all in. "Sunset Lagoon" features a snarling beat with ringing sounds that all sit nicely on top of each other in pure ambience confusion. Another one of my favorites, "Soundwave Information," recalls early Moby, with striking piano chords hovering over gentle strings and hypnotic beats.