Indeed. Getting jumped outside of your apartment is not a lot of fun.
That's right, I have become a statistic. Yesterday, I took the day off from graduate school to go have lunch with an old college friend in the Loop. After that, I did some shopping in the snow on North Michigan Avenue (all looking, no buying - thankfully). It was a long bus ride home, as it was snowing and getting near rush hour. But, about 4pm, the bus deposited me a scant two blocks from my home.
On the way home, I pass right in front of the lovely Kenwood Academy. In so doing, I passed through a whole throng of high school kids. One of them made some comment about tossing me in the snow, which I just ignored as I kept moving (I'm 26 - far too old to get involved in chest thumping with a 16 year old would-be hoodlum). I crossed the street, and was about 5 feet from my building when someone pushed me hard from behind. Now, I'm pretty non-confrontational and am not about to throw down over someone being stupid - especially when I'm two steps from my front door. I turned to look and say something like "Come on, man." Only as I did that, I got pushed and tripped.
Well, this time I *did* go down. I tried to stand, but you know, all the kicking kept that from happening. Pretty quickly I realized I *wasn't* getting up anytime soon, so I had to adopt the ever-dignified fetal position. I did manage to grab my glasses and tuck them under me, as they'd falled off sometime during my beatdown. Some high school girls told the 2 or 3 guys who were wailing on me to "cut it out" and they did eventually, once they snagged my wallet. Oh, and hey, thanks to everyone for *not* calling the police.
So, these girls helped me pick up my stuff - my bag was about 10 feet away and so on. One arm of my glasses is bent a good 30 degrees out the wrong way. I scraped my eyebrow, and my cheek. I have a bruised knee, and a nicely sprained ankle. No permanet damage. They didn't get/damage my cell phone or iPod. They didn't take my bag or anything in it. Just the wallet, which probably had about 50 bucks in it. So, on the whole, I wasn't too hurt physically or financially.
I dragged myself inside, upstairs. Called the University Police. Began the task of cancelling my MasterCard, my Citibank card, my Chicago Card, and my Marshall Field's card. I had to get a new student ID today too. I called to request a form to get a new copy of my Social Security card. The police came, I filed a statement. For some reason, this then goes to the Dean of my division. So Dean-On-Call (I didn't even know we HAD one of those, much less *why* we have one) gave me a call last night, to check on me. Which was nice, if a bit odd.
I was a total mess when the cop came. I kept babbling. I couldn't find my glasses. See, I had grabbed an old pair, but then taken them off so I could ice my eye. Only I couldn't find where I put the glasses down. Then I was babbling about how when I took my new ID picture I'd have a black eye (no need to worry - not only did the eye not turn black, they just print the picture for my ID card from a file). I was a goofball. But I was pretty much freaking out.
After the police left, I picked up my stuff (which I had strewn across the apartment), put a frozen roast on my ankle (we only have one ice pack...), and kept icing my eye. I took some Advil. I waited for my wife to come home.
My wife, by and by, was PISSED. I think she wanted to out and like whoop some ass. It was sweet.
So, I survived and stuff.
Now, like a poster child for middle class lame-os everywhere, we're seriously planning on moving. I'm the *thrid* person that I know personally who's been mugged by the local high school kids. All the good liberals in my department just brush it off as "kids being stupid." But, last spring - the hobby of the local punks was beating down graduate students in the middle of the day. On two other occasions, I've had teenage boys try to fight me. My wife used to have guys hit on her. A shot (or two) have been fired just outside my buildings. One of my friends had a creepy guy hit on her, and follow her in the buildings. I've come in late at night and seen local kids hanging out in our lobby. During their lunch hour, high school kids hang out on the stoops of private residence and in the freight entrance of my building. That sucks.
Part of what really pisses me off is the *audacity* of it. If I was being stupid - wandering a residential street at 1am or 10:30am (re: when no one is around, b/c they are respectively in bed or at work), or taking a "shortcut through an alley - well, at least it would make sense. But what do you do when it is 4pm, you're 35 feet from a busy intersection, 10 feet from an *open* business, and 3 feet away from your own building (which is 70-some units, and has over 100 residents) - and you're STILL not safe? I mean, as my friend M. put it, my "expectations of safety" have totally been violated. Even worse - I'm totally worried about my *wife* now. Sure, sure the odds of it happening to us again, or to anyone getting hurt are slim. I'm not quivering in my boots or gone irrational here. The thing is though: this is just *shitty,* and just how much shit am I required to take?
To add to my bitter brew, last spring there was a big huff because the local McDonald's made all the Kenwood students sit in a special part of the restaurant. It's totally discriminatory, based on age (b/c the neighborhood is almost all African American, and that franchise is owned by an African American man). The problem, of course, is that the kids were loud, obnoxious, and probably hardly spent any cash. In fact, this is a persistent problem in the neighborhood - and lots of busineses restrict how many students can be in them at a time. Anyway, this McDonald's policy caused a big uproar, especially in political science since a niece of one of the faculty was involved with the conflict. This lead to a protest and everything...
And now I can't help but wonder: I'm at least the 2nd political science student to get his ass whooped by Kenwood Academy students. When do I get my protest?
Totally stupid, juvenille, and a somewhat spurious comparison I know. But my eye hurts and my ankle hurts. So fuck it.
Worst of all.... What do I tell my mom? She'll totally flip.... :le sigh:
That's right, I have become a statistic. Yesterday, I took the day off from graduate school to go have lunch with an old college friend in the Loop. After that, I did some shopping in the snow on North Michigan Avenue (all looking, no buying - thankfully). It was a long bus ride home, as it was snowing and getting near rush hour. But, about 4pm, the bus deposited me a scant two blocks from my home.
On the way home, I pass right in front of the lovely Kenwood Academy. In so doing, I passed through a whole throng of high school kids. One of them made some comment about tossing me in the snow, which I just ignored as I kept moving (I'm 26 - far too old to get involved in chest thumping with a 16 year old would-be hoodlum). I crossed the street, and was about 5 feet from my building when someone pushed me hard from behind. Now, I'm pretty non-confrontational and am not about to throw down over someone being stupid - especially when I'm two steps from my front door. I turned to look and say something like "Come on, man." Only as I did that, I got pushed and tripped.
Well, this time I *did* go down. I tried to stand, but you know, all the kicking kept that from happening. Pretty quickly I realized I *wasn't* getting up anytime soon, so I had to adopt the ever-dignified fetal position. I did manage to grab my glasses and tuck them under me, as they'd falled off sometime during my beatdown. Some high school girls told the 2 or 3 guys who were wailing on me to "cut it out" and they did eventually, once they snagged my wallet. Oh, and hey, thanks to everyone for *not* calling the police.
So, these girls helped me pick up my stuff - my bag was about 10 feet away and so on. One arm of my glasses is bent a good 30 degrees out the wrong way. I scraped my eyebrow, and my cheek. I have a bruised knee, and a nicely sprained ankle. No permanet damage. They didn't get/damage my cell phone or iPod. They didn't take my bag or anything in it. Just the wallet, which probably had about 50 bucks in it. So, on the whole, I wasn't too hurt physically or financially.
I dragged myself inside, upstairs. Called the University Police. Began the task of cancelling my MasterCard, my Citibank card, my Chicago Card, and my Marshall Field's card. I had to get a new student ID today too. I called to request a form to get a new copy of my Social Security card. The police came, I filed a statement. For some reason, this then goes to the Dean of my division. So Dean-On-Call (I didn't even know we HAD one of those, much less *why* we have one) gave me a call last night, to check on me. Which was nice, if a bit odd.
I was a total mess when the cop came. I kept babbling. I couldn't find my glasses. See, I had grabbed an old pair, but then taken them off so I could ice my eye. Only I couldn't find where I put the glasses down. Then I was babbling about how when I took my new ID picture I'd have a black eye (no need to worry - not only did the eye not turn black, they just print the picture for my ID card from a file). I was a goofball. But I was pretty much freaking out.
After the police left, I picked up my stuff (which I had strewn across the apartment), put a frozen roast on my ankle (we only have one ice pack...), and kept icing my eye. I took some Advil. I waited for my wife to come home.
My wife, by and by, was PISSED. I think she wanted to out and like whoop some ass. It was sweet.
So, I survived and stuff.
Now, like a poster child for middle class lame-os everywhere, we're seriously planning on moving. I'm the *thrid* person that I know personally who's been mugged by the local high school kids. All the good liberals in my department just brush it off as "kids being stupid." But, last spring - the hobby of the local punks was beating down graduate students in the middle of the day. On two other occasions, I've had teenage boys try to fight me. My wife used to have guys hit on her. A shot (or two) have been fired just outside my buildings. One of my friends had a creepy guy hit on her, and follow her in the buildings. I've come in late at night and seen local kids hanging out in our lobby. During their lunch hour, high school kids hang out on the stoops of private residence and in the freight entrance of my building. That sucks.
Part of what really pisses me off is the *audacity* of it. If I was being stupid - wandering a residential street at 1am or 10:30am (re: when no one is around, b/c they are respectively in bed or at work), or taking a "shortcut through an alley - well, at least it would make sense. But what do you do when it is 4pm, you're 35 feet from a busy intersection, 10 feet from an *open* business, and 3 feet away from your own building (which is 70-some units, and has over 100 residents) - and you're STILL not safe? I mean, as my friend M. put it, my "expectations of safety" have totally been violated. Even worse - I'm totally worried about my *wife* now. Sure, sure the odds of it happening to us again, or to anyone getting hurt are slim. I'm not quivering in my boots or gone irrational here. The thing is though: this is just *shitty,* and just how much shit am I required to take?
To add to my bitter brew, last spring there was a big huff because the local McDonald's made all the Kenwood students sit in a special part of the restaurant. It's totally discriminatory, based on age (b/c the neighborhood is almost all African American, and that franchise is owned by an African American man). The problem, of course, is that the kids were loud, obnoxious, and probably hardly spent any cash. In fact, this is a persistent problem in the neighborhood - and lots of busineses restrict how many students can be in them at a time. Anyway, this McDonald's policy caused a big uproar, especially in political science since a niece of one of the faculty was involved with the conflict. This lead to a protest and everything...
And now I can't help but wonder: I'm at least the 2nd political science student to get his ass whooped by Kenwood Academy students. When do I get my protest?
Totally stupid, juvenille, and a somewhat spurious comparison I know. But my eye hurts and my ankle hurts. So fuck it.
Worst of all.... What do I tell my mom? She'll totally flip.... :le sigh:
VIEW 17 of 17 COMMENTS
Don't get me wrong. I loved the neighborhood, and never felt unsafe there... just that the frequent attack upadates the paper was running were starting to get to my psychologically.
Just moved up to Ravenswood - love the area, and the overall feel is similiar to HP - just more convenient to the rest of the city.
Glad you are Ok.
Take a look at my old neighborhood, Logan Square. It's on the blue line and you could still get to U of C in a reasonable amount of time. I lived in the city all of my life so feel free to ask me any neighborhood questions if you're seriously moving.
And, I'm glad you're okay.