And also the cat in the tree is bothering the finches

And normally I like the cat, though he is needy and I think his owner is spacey and doesn't take care of him. The finches are feeding the baby finches who are nesting under our balcony awning, and I chased Finley the cat away several times, twice from our balcony and once from the tree. I was nervous enough last year when the baby finches fledged, and there wasn't even a frisky cat around. The Black Cat in the Green Grass is not a threat to the birds. He just purrs and smells flowers. Really.

And also also this: It is a good thing that people cannot be arrested for not breaking the law even if it seems they are likely to. This doesn't make me feel safe, more institutional safety wouldn't make me feel safe either. And then there's feeling safe and being safe. I think back to the students I've known personally or indirectly who did commit suicide or were violent. Often there were no particular warning signs in their creative work.

fanatic

[fhu-nat-ik]
noun: a person with an extreme and uncritical enthusiasm or zeal, as in religion or politics.

Or guns.

And nothing new or useful is going to come from this awful tragedy, either. The boring, gross, cliched argument that "guns don't kill people, people do" is already being made. Again.

A friend of mine was shot last January--he's ok because it hit him in the elbow, but he described it as a random, "I got a gun for Christmas" shooting.