Some of you may have seen this tweet last night:
please answer back: I was the victim of a purse snatching on campus I just want to see who is out there to make me feel less alone
If you were around and responded, thank you.
I was on campus last night checking my email at a public stand up terminal, in a relatively public building on campus, the Reynold’s Club. (yes I gave you the yelp review of a campus building, but the description is apt). I was in the main hallway, towards the back. There are these bars of Linux based computer terminals for checking your email back there on the run. I had stepped up to the first set, put four books down, and a small brown alligator bag, which was my grandmothers. Right before, I had spoken to a friend of mine, who had stepped into another room, Hutchinson Commons.
There are only three exits to this building: a large front door, where there were lots of students, the exit towardfs Hutchison Courtyard and the Quads, which led you onto the Main Campus, and a really small side door, which led to a small room with a fireplace and a staircase upstairs or downstairs, to the left there is a lounge and to the right there is a curtains and cubes theater.
I saw a hand in a blue sweatshirt grab out my bag in the under five minutes I was sort of alone (the building was covered with students, because of the amount of food and lounges in the building, but none in my immediate area), and I start running after them screaming my head off, trying to get attention and perhaps get help catching them and tackling them. I saw a total of three black men, none older than 25, tallest over 6’3, shortest 5’6-5’8./ I distinctly remember one wearing a multicolored skullcap but that may be a flash of nothing.
There was nothing in the bag that isn’t replacable. Tha bag was my grandmothers.
What you should know about this story is the following: while talking all jitterly to police, apparently I did the right thing by reacting so quickly, running after them, and screaming my head off.
The reason why was someone else was able to place 5 people in the building total, and that wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t caused so much attention to myself. So if that happens to you, do the preschool thing, and be really loud (unless you think they have a weapon). The fact that you are in a public area and causing witnesses will help you in the end.
Also I got a talking to from a variety of people: keep your money and ids close to the body when you go out, since it is nearly Black Friday and the holiday shopping season.
Oddly I’m glad this happened. As seen from my I’m really depressed post. I’ve been going through a lot recently. I’ve been trying to decide how to live my life, andfwhat that should mean. I grew up in a really religious background, and I am slowly becoming err, more typical American normal. Being me and from my background and from my family, I have no clue what this means or what I should do. It seems that because this happened, I’m trying to make choices long term that will reflect my inner strengths and let me be around people that will help me become me. I hope.
I realized last night that ultimately I think for the next 6 months I need to stay in Chicago and think out life (particularly religious/spiritual life and how I want to handle that sort of future), finish up artpieces for my Bachelors, and get close to some people, who I really treasure as people. I also realized that if I don’t do so, I won’t have a healthy mental ground to start life on, I can’t run around trying to control everything, and end up doing nothing. It’s far too exhausting. I’m human, and I want a chance to explore that sense of humaness before really having to give up total control.
If I went back to New York right now, I would be ready to kill some people with a vengeance, because either I’m not ready for the positions of power they want to put me in, or they represent elements of past hurts that I can’t control, but it turns out I can rise above. I need to learn how to handle both situations better before landing and talking with a lot of people: I don’t want to be a faker, I want to really earn and own their respect. I’m trying to do too much: come up with company plans, write emails to what feels like the entire world about internet related stuff, complete a bachelors, try at least one new web product a week, and figure out life and Independence I think at least as a rapid rate as some friends, if not more so. (this includes some married friends, some with children, which scares me…)
If I am going back, I’m going back with a degree and a healthier disposition about control and how to live my life. So now I am going to have to assemble over the holiday season how I am going to do this, but I don’t think this should be a total wreck. It’s life after all. It’s what happens, and you take it one step at a time. I’m sure lots of people go through similar situations, and probably know from wisdom that this is not only a survivable situation, but one in which I should thrive.
At least now I know, figuring out how to be normal is good and important, and that I’m not alone in many of my experiences, and I should explore that. So thanks thieves (though really, don’t steal stuff)
Thank you, and what you learn in Preschool
Some of you may have seen this tweet last night:
If you were around and responded, thank you.
I was on campus last night checking my email at a public stand up terminal, in a relatively public building on campus, the Reynold’s Club. (yes I gave you the yelp review of a campus building, but the description is apt). I was in the main hallway, towards the back. There are these bars of Linux based computer terminals for checking your email back there on the run. I had stepped up to the first set, put four books down, and a small brown alligator bag, which was my grandmothers. Right before, I had spoken to a friend of mine, who had stepped into another room, Hutchinson Commons.
There are only three exits to this building: a large front door, where there were lots of students, the exit towardfs Hutchison Courtyard and the Quads, which led you onto the Main Campus, and a really small side door, which led to a small room with a fireplace and a staircase upstairs or downstairs, to the left there is a lounge and to the right there is a curtains and cubes theater.
I saw a hand in a blue sweatshirt grab out my bag in the under five minutes I was sort of alone (the building was covered with students, because of the amount of food and lounges in the building, but none in my immediate area), and I start running after them screaming my head off, trying to get attention and perhaps get help catching them and tackling them. I saw a total of three black men, none older than 25, tallest over 6’3, shortest 5’6-5’8./ I distinctly remember one wearing a multicolored skullcap but that may be a flash of nothing.
There was nothing in the bag that isn’t replacable. Tha bag was my grandmothers.
What you should know about this story is the following: while talking all jitterly to police, apparently I did the right thing by reacting so quickly, running after them, and screaming my head off.
The reason why was someone else was able to place 5 people in the building total, and that wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t caused so much attention to myself. So if that happens to you, do the preschool thing, and be really loud (unless you think they have a weapon). The fact that you are in a public area and causing witnesses will help you in the end.
Also I got a talking to from a variety of people: keep your money and ids close to the body when you go out, since it is nearly Black Friday and the holiday shopping season.
Oddly I’m glad this happened. As seen from my I’m really depressed post. I’ve been going through a lot recently. I’ve been trying to decide how to live my life, andfwhat that should mean. I grew up in a really religious background, and I am slowly becoming err, more typical American normal. Being me and from my background and from my family, I have no clue what this means or what I should do. It seems that because this happened, I’m trying to make choices long term that will reflect my inner strengths and let me be around people that will help me become me. I hope.
I realized last night that ultimately I think for the next 6 months I need to stay in Chicago and think out life (particularly religious/spiritual life and how I want to handle that sort of future), finish up artpieces for my Bachelors, and get close to some people, who I really treasure as people. I also realized that if I don’t do so, I won’t have a healthy mental ground to start life on, I can’t run around trying to control everything, and end up doing nothing. It’s far too exhausting. I’m human, and I want a chance to explore that sense of humaness before really having to give up total control.
If I went back to New York right now, I would be ready to kill some people with a vengeance, because either I’m not ready for the positions of power they want to put me in, or they represent elements of past hurts that I can’t control, but it turns out I can rise above. I need to learn how to handle both situations better before landing and talking with a lot of people: I don’t want to be a faker, I want to really earn and own their respect. I’m trying to do too much: come up with company plans, write emails to what feels like the entire world about internet related stuff, complete a bachelors, try at least one new web product a week, and figure out life and Independence I think at least as a rapid rate as some friends, if not more so. (this includes some married friends, some with children, which scares me…)
If I am going back, I’m going back with a degree and a healthier disposition about control and how to live my life. So now I am going to have to assemble over the holiday season how I am going to do this, but I don’t think this should be a total wreck. It’s life after all. It’s what happens, and you take it one step at a time. I’m sure lots of people go through similar situations, and probably know from wisdom that this is not only a survivable situation, but one in which I should thrive.
At least now I know, figuring out how to be normal is good and important, and that I’m not alone in many of my experiences, and I should explore that. So thanks thieves (though really, don’t steal stuff)