lil Moghadishu is Burning and a Cactus Blooms in Ghettoville

lil' Moghadishu is Burning

lil' Moghadishu is Burning

That was the chant on Albert Avenue or Alberet Avenue depending on which street sign you read.

Although it is not quite aparant from the photo the smoke and fire are from the Capitol South Apartments burning last night on Fathers Day. That spectacle was in the front of the little bungalow I call home here in my exile of love from Belgique c'est chic. The cactus blooms in the adjacent photo are from the backyard garden. Who would have known at this latitutde cactus could not just survive winter and thrive to bloom but that at this longitude many Somalians have made their home and become a vibrant part of life over on this side of town. Regretably the media's take on the fire last night was to blame the Somalians who called 911 for a communication problem thus delaying emergency help to a poorly built high density neighborhood built on the borderline of Columbus and Mifflinville. The local media (the idiot news from the networks) repeatedly fails to report that crime in this corner which ran so high that police still admit they never came down this street at night for fear of getting shot. Now with a large Somalian community making their homes here crime has dropped, liquor use is down and the new Mosque has revitalized a sagging community area. This is the story the media ignores but they wasted no time in blaming this whole collosal sized fire on the victims not on our decaying emergency broadcast/911 systems. Of course I heard the FBI was there too but I doubt they were there to help anyone. It was an impressive display of heavy rescue equipment and burley firemen and cops and mischievous media types and their technicians who nobody can trust.

Life over here in Mifflin-town or Ghettoville as I affectionately call this unique quartier of a generic midwestern town with the lame name of Columbus - such a name for a landlocked city no less! But this quartier has become strangely beautiful and colorful which is not to say it isn't culturally challenging but a unique urban vibrancy is happening here all the same - I'm looking forward to the opening a new Somalian Suq anyday now this summer despite the Bush II economic woes we are all stricken with. Like Kucinich has pointed out it still isn't too late to IMPEACH THE BUSH II/CHENEY JUNTA...