National Night (??) Out

[vaskidmark]

Did anyone else remember that last night was National Night Out?

Does anyone else remember when NNO activities actually waited until the sun had set to begin, and carried on throughout the night?

Seems it has gotten so "dangerous" that the police are no longer willing to remain in the 'hood after the sun goes down.  NNO activities got underway around 5:30 PM - shortly after white-and blue-collar middle-class folks get home from their jobs, or when the heat of the day is starting to break and the alternatively-employed begin to stir.  Bounce castles were quickly inflated and gas grills fired up to warm up hot dogs, while tubs of ice-covered soda cans turned into tubs of tepid-water-covered soda cans.  Arcade-style photo booths were unloaded and lines started snaking around as droopy-drawered youtes lined up to have mug shots taken.  Little kids had fingerprint ink applied over grease, dirt, and cotton candy residue for the in-case-my-kid-goes-missing kits.  None of the youtes seemed to be bothered by the fact that they were (more than) welcomed to also have their fingerprints taken - but they had theirs done on the electronic machine over there under the pop-up canopy.

Speeches were made in a vain effort to move the humid air and/or the apathy level of the participants.  Promises were made that would make politicians blush at the level of audacity.  Highly choreographed (more than 30 seconds conferring before taking center stage) synchronized (kinda-sorta) step routines were performed in costumes (You mean they wear stuff like that every day??!!??) that would make Omar the Tent Maker and Las Vegas showgirls simultaneously envious.  (Is it a sign of depravity to recall the controlling effects of spandex and ponder if it would have been better if the fabric had appeared in abundance?  When did the concentration camp look become fashionable among the other half of the females of the 'hood - because there were no obvious needle tracks and no signs of the ravages of crack/meth.  Yes, I did look, but in spite of the rumors I did not use binoculars!)  At other venues the absence of mariachi bands (and dueña) was conspicuous, although Spanglish rap skills were highly critiqued.

As things started to wind down at around 9 PM there were comments made about "Next year we are going to hire a carnival, like <insert different racial/linguistic group>  had."    This from folks who just a few hours earlier were wondering why the church busses were cruising on a day that was not Sunday.  At 9:15 the contractors/equipment rental folks were setting up portable lighting so all the bounce tents could be loaded and hauled away, the gas grills stacked in pickup trucks to be hauled back to the police impound lot (so that's where they came from!) and the drug dogs could make a sweep of the area inorder to find anything left behind.  Everybody was done and gone by between 10 and 10:30 PM.

And everybody spent the rest of the night in The City With The Largest Collection of Second Place Trophies behind locked doors watching reality TV.

How'd your National Night Out go?

stay safe.

[RoadKingLarry]

I was out all night, only been home a little less than an hour.

[Boomhauer]

Haven't a clue of wtf you are talking about.

I just went to the grocery store after I got off work. It was raining, foggy, and miserable.

[Nick1911]

Haven't a clue of wtf you are talking about.

Agreed.  Never heard of it before.

[TechMan]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Night_Out  The only reason I have heard of it is that the promote it here in Cincy.

[BlueStarLizzard]

I got it confused with the Take Back The Night thing (i don't know if it's national or just local) which I think is retarded.
Women getting together and marching around with pots and pans with a message of stopping violence and crime on women.
I always thought about going down there, visably armed to the teeth and heckling them with comments like "if you want to 'take back the night' why don't you get some real weapons and learn how to defend your ass!"
Unfortunaly, it's usually on grounds at UVA, so I figure open carry would be a no no.   

[brimic]

I got it confused with the Take Back The Night thing (i don't know if it's national or just local) which I think is retarded.
Women getting together and marching around with pots and pans with a message of stopping violence and crime on women.
I always thought about going down there, visably armed to the teeth and heckling them with comments like "if you want to 'take back the night' why don't you get some real weapons and learn how to defend your ass!"

Its been around a long time and your impression is about right.
When I was a freshman in college and a bit more naïve and impressionable than now, our RA encouraged us all to go to this TBTN rally. I thought ‘rape=bad, ah what the heck, I’ll go.’  Never having lived in a city larger than 1000, I had never heard of a radical feminist nor could I understand why some of these rather unkempt women were turning on me and the other guys there and calling us rapists and other nasty stuff. I decided that I no longer needed to waste my time on this nonsense because it could be better spent back at the dorm watching Seinfeld or doing laundry.

[Strings]

We went to the local event: was NOT impressed. Of course, small town Wisconsin generally won't do anything big...

I've only once had a Feminazi (the radical "hate men" subgroup of the feminist movement) start on me about being a rapist. Don't think going into my response here would be in keeping with the second word of the forum title

[Perd Hapley]

I've only once had a Feminazi (the radical "hate men" subgroup of the feminist movement) start on me about being a rapist. Don't think going into my response here would be in keeping with the second word of the forum title

Did you offer to substantiate the charge?

[TechMan]

Did you offer to substantiate the charge?

Damn it fistful you owe me a new keyboard!!!  It is all your fault.

[HankB]

These are the sort of "non-events" I sometimes hear about on TV, but have never seen in person, much less attended.

 

[Strings]

It was someone I knew by reputation: lesbian, who tended to get physically forceful with her partners (or would-be partners). She didn't like having our reputations compared: went downhill from there

[BlueStarLizzard]

It was someone I knew by reputation: lesbian, who tended to get physically forceful with her partners (or would-be partners). She didn't like having our reputations compared: went downhill from there

Those who have demons in their closets generally accuse others of the same demons to hide their own.

I've always heard, from various sources, that domestic abuse within lesbian households is a notorious problem. Anyone have some stats?

[HankB]

Those who have demons in their closets generally accuse others of the same demons to hide their own.

Isn't that how Democrats generally campaign?

[Scout26]

Ah, yes.  Another Do-Gooder event that "raises awareness" about a particular "problem" without actually doing anything; other than demanding money from some level of .gov; usually local, who get it from the feds; to "do something" (that something being to enrich the do-gooders) about said problem.

Here, it's the National Night Out for the Homeless.  Rather than inviting a homeless person into your home (ewwww, ick),or running them out of town on a rail (my idea), we're going to go spend the night (aka "camp") in one of the city parks (none of which are open to camping or spending the night on a bench), for one night, so that we can see what's it's like to be homeless.  (It's like camping.) Then we pack up our sleeping bag and go home and feel really good about ourselves, because we "raised awareness".  (No, you just "camped out.")

It's all about "feeling good", not "doing good".

[vaskidmark]

But did you make S'mores?

stay safe.

[Scout26]

No.  I didn't go, but I imagine they were too busy singing Kum-bi-ya while double checking that the local gendarmes were keeping any real homeless away from the park to make s'mores.