morning number thirty-two, waking up without you I sorta feel like I'm the last one to read this book, but I purchased The Tipping Point a few months ago, and I'm finally getting into the meat of it lately. It's intriguing and surpringly well written. Actually, I probably shouldn't say "surprisingly" because it's Malcolm Gladwell and I knew from some of his previous articles that he was a terrific writer. This book was (and maybe still is) a best-seller, and with good reason. It explores how an idea reaches the point where it "tips" and spreads quickly to seemingly unrelated sectors of society. Whether it be the resurgence of Hush Puppies, Paul Revere's successful night ride, a flu, or a well-crafted television show... what makes a message "sticky"? And what makes a person influential enough to start a trend?

Anyway, I won't get into all that right now. I was reading an article in the New York Times today and it made me think of the section I'm in right now - "The Power of Context". More specifically within this section he addressed something called the "Broken Windows Theory".

"Broken Windows was the brainchild of the criminologists James Q. Wilson and George Kelling. Wilson and Kelling argued that crime is the inevitable result of disorder. If a window is broken and left unrepaired, people walking by will conclude that no one cares and no one is in charge. Soon, more windows will be broken, and the sense of anarchy will spread from the building to the street on which it faces, sending a signal that anything goes. In a city, relatively minor problems like graffiti, public disorder, and aggressive panhandling, they write, are all the equivalent of broken windows, invitations to more serious crimes."

I used to wonder why some community groups seemed so focussed on cleaning up graffiti. The instant it happened, they tackled it and got it cleaned up. It just seemed to me that there were these aspiring street artist types that had a rebellious side and would continue to plaster their message wherever and whenever they could. So what was the point...? This story about the dude charged with cleaning up the New York City subway system in the late 80s kinda made the point clear to me:

"'We had a yard up in Harlem on one hundred thirty-fifth Street where the trains would lay up over night,' Gunn said. 'The kids would come the first night and paint the side of the train white. They they would come the next night, after it was dry, and draw the outline. Then they would come the third night and color it in. It was a three-day job. We knew the kids would be working on one of the dirty trains, and what we would do is wait for them to finish their mural. Then we'd walk over with rollers and paint it over. The kids would be in tears, but we'd just be going up and down, up and down. It was a message to them. If you want to spend three nights of your time vandalizing a train, fine. But it's never going to see the light of day.'"

Bravo, eh. Don't let the petty criminal be rewarded for his behaviour and maybe you stem the problem.

Anyway, the headline in the New York Times today was "Crime Rising, New Orleans Asks for National Guard". I can only imagine the chaos in that city right now. The unfulfilled promises of the Shrub and his gang to do whatever it takes to clean up the disaster of Katrina cannot result in any real quality of life for the citizens in that city. I mean, I know it's a much broader issue than aesthetics, but from what I know of the situation, successfully tackling even one of the issues facing New Orleans would be a tiny step forward. George is full of words but seriously lacking in follow-through... well, we all know that by now.

"The mayor's plea for help came after five teenagers were shot to death with semiautomatic weapons in the Central City neighborhood while sitting in a sport-utility vehicle Saturday morning. It was the deadliest single shooting attack in the city in 11 years, raising to 53 the number of homicides this year."

Mostly it's sad. We've been witness to this debacle since the storm hit, and although it's not typically headline news these days, if you check in now and then you realize that it hasn't gotten much better. We all know that if adequate manpower and financial resources were dedicated to fixing the problem - political will, you might call it - something resembling a functioning community could be developed much more quickly than the pace they're currently working at. You just have to look at the example of the U.S. or Canadian militaries working overseas. You know they're capable of building virtual cities over there in near-desert conditions - American food chains, Canadian coffee shops, movie theaters, beauty salons (okay, barber shops..), etc, etc, etc.

But the poor city of New Orleans is not worthy of re-building. No "spreading of democracy" or freedom there. Where's your oil, New Orleans? Okay, well, we'll get back to you.

You're doing a heckuva job, Shrubbie.  | ¶ 9:42 p.m.