Kierra Was Killed At a Graduation Party

Life Happens in the Back Seat

Subaru is onto something with their “backseat” campaign.  Anyone who has ever grown up in a family with a car has lived a lot of life in the backseat.  Whether it is going to the grocery store or on a summer vacation road trip, kids grow up seeing the back of their parents’ heads and grownups pass the time listening to the peanut gallery behind them.

Car seats for kids were actually invented in 1898.  They came in the form of a bag hooked to the seat that was intended to keep the child in the back or keep them from falling in the case of a quick stop.  A legitimate “car seat” did not come on to the market until the 1930s, and it was not until the 1960s that Swedish automakers came up with rear facing car seat to minimize injuries to children in auto accidents.  Even in the 1970s, only the most safety conscious of parents put their children in car seats,but by 1984 nearly half the population 0-4 was riding in some kind of car seat.  (from History of the Car Seat).

Any kid who has grown up in the last part of the twentieth century started their life looking at the back seat of a car, and when they were old enough, looking at their parents’ heads.   The backseat is where kids learn to sing, where they learn to play games that teach them to be alert to changes along the road of life.

Nowadays, kids play video games or listen to their ipods, riding in cars that have built-in coolers and screens in headrests that allow them to watch videos instead of the back of their parents’ heads.  Life in the backseat reflects the lives we lead outside our cars.

I remember selling my vintage Karmann Ghia in order to get a safer car when my son was born.  As a single mom, I went everywhere with him in the backseat.  My son has grown up in the backseat of VWs, Mazdas, and Volvos.  We did a lot of talking that way and he did a lot of learning.  Sometimes it was my turn to learn.   One particular day —  when 3 year old Ian was mad at me — I remember him saying : “My mind wants to hit you.”

When I remarried, the backseat became the place where we blended our families, dropping them off at school, at the movies;  taking them to the beach, the ballpark, the soccer field.

When they were old enough to drive, the backseat emptied out, presaging the empty nest that soon would come…  and later, the grandchildren who resurrect the peanut gallery, chattering away and looking at the backs of our heads.

19 shot at Mother’s Day Parade in New Orleans

After finding the site that keeps track of gun deaths, I began thinking about the real people that have lost their lives since Newtown, now some 4000+ people, and I thought I might try to find these real people and post something about one or two of them a day.

The youngest person among the nineteen who were shot at the Mother’s Day Parade in New Orleans is believed to be 10 years old.  According to another news report, there were 18 shot — among them two children and six women.  None of the shots were fatal.

The shots were fired by either two or three gunmen who fled the scene after leaving victims scattered across four corners of an intersection at 1:30 p.m. in the afternoon.

The shooting appears to be random, and a police spokeswoman called it a “very unusual occurrence.”

That’s an interesting comment, since New Orleans has one of the highest murder rates in the country, and Governor Bobby Jindal backed an NRA-backed constitutional amendment that requires any change to the gun laws in Louisiana (including the part that keeps felons from buying guns) to fall under “severe scrutiny.”

His Mother Named Him Rayshine

After finding the site that keeps track of gun deaths, I began thinking about the real people that have lost their lives since Newtown, now some 4000+ people, and I thought I might try to find these real people and post something about one or two of them a day.

After I read about the murder of Rayshine Burks in Camden, New Jersey, I couldn’t help but wonder if his mother had named him Rayshine because of the joy she felt when he was born.  Perhaps she was thinking no such thing, but once I saw his name, it was hard not to think of a small baby bringing rays of sunshine into his parents’ life.

Rayshine was just 24 years old when he was shot several times as he sat in his gold Buick outside a food market in Camden.  He drove away in an attempt to save his life but crashed into a tree and was later pronounced dead at the local hospital.

When I searched for information about Rayshine’s death online, I also found a series of mug shots that had to be him (Rayshine D Burks, Male/24 of Camden New Jersey) and thought again that he must have let his mother down several times in his short life, that he did not live up to the name she bestowed on him when he was born.

Look at the names of people killed by gunshot online and you will see the names of towns you have heard of and towns that you have not but it will confirm that many, many young men will not live to have families or see middle age.  This is the story of gun violence in our country, and it is hard not to wonder if we had stricter gun laws…

88 Year Old Man Kills 80 Year Old Woman After Argument

After finding the site that keeps track of gun deaths, I began thinking about the real people that have lost their lives since Newtown, now some 4000+ people, and I thought I might try to find these real people and post something about one or two of them a day.

Vivian Shronce, 80, a kidney cancer survivor, mother, grandmother and great grandmother was shot to death on Mother’s Day by her 88 year old roommate Charles Edwin Venn.

After Shronce returned from church on Sunday, the two started arguing.  According to police Capt. Jay Human, the fight was over the fact that Venn drank several beers that morning.

The shooting took place at the Venn Trailer Park (aka The Pine Grove Trailer Park)  which was formerly owned by Charles Venn but is now owned by his son.  Apparently, news spread fast, and as usual, everyone said that Venn “seemed like a very nice man.”   But others said they had heard the Shronce’s roommate of six years had “a bad temper and a drinking problem.”

He has been ordered to undergo a psych evaluation and is being held in jail.  Capt. Human noted “Any time you mix alcohol and guns, it is deadly.”