Archives October 2010

L.A. Aids Walk

More Information at: http://www.aidswalk.net/losangeles/
AIDS Walk Los Angeles Day of Event Information:
Date: Sunday, October 17
Time:
8:30 a.m. Sign-In
9:15 a.m. Opening Ceremony
10:00 a.m. Walk Begins
Location: West Hollywood Park (647 N. San Vicente Blvd. in West Hollywood)
Length: 10 kilometers / 6.2 miles
The AIDS Walk will start and end in West Hollywood Park, at the corner of Melrose Avenue and Santa Monica Blvd.
In order to ensure the safety of the walkers, the Departments of Transportation for the City of Los Angeles and the City of West Hollywood will establish the following street closures from 6:00 a.m. until approximately 2:00 p.m.
Individuals in Attendance:

  • Bearman
  • Good Samaritan
  • King Snake
  • Mega Rad
  • Motor Mouth
  • Mr. Xtreme
  • Peter Tangen
  • Urban Avenger

 

Library Patrol

Urban libraries by default, have become de facto social service providers; counseling centers; shelters and regrettably, crime scenes.
Staff find themselves adding “security officer”; “guidance counselor” and sadly, “victim” to their job descriptions.
Crime prevention and humanitarian activists should build alliances with local libraries because employees and patrons deserve extra assistance.
Being a bibliophile already places me inside libraries. As a security consultant/activist these very public spaces are often a soft underbelly for disorder given their open door policies.
Library patronage provide an accurate snapshot of area socio-economic trends, good and bad.
As an activist and volunteer I’ve reported crime; shelved books; applied bar codes; given speeches and hosted meetings inside various libraries.
Obviously my love of libraries includes promoting greater safety and service delivery to embattled urban locations.
As a library “super friend” I encourage activists and book lovers to unofficially help local branches or do so officially as volunteers and/or as Friends of The Library.
Library patrol will open your eyes to profound needs beyond hoping new bestsellers are available.
Library patrol shows you just how serious the mission of urban libraries has become as difficult issues in human form literally cross their doorsteps on a daily basis!
NADRA ENZI AKA CAPT BLACK is a library super friend who has assisted libraries in several states as part of his promotion of crime prevention and self-development. http://www.captblack.info

The Watchman – Milwaukee’s Real Life Superhero

By Spooky on October 8th, 2010
Armed with a flashlight, a can of pepper spray and a cell phone, the Watchman patrols the streets of Riverwest, hunting for criminals and evil doers. But he’s got a job, so he only plays superhero on weekends.
Although he doesn’t have any real superpowers (or even weapons), The Watchman likes to refer to himself as a real life superhero. Instead of gadgets and weapons, he opted for a simple Motorola phone, which he uses to report the crimes he happens to witness while patrolling. Contacting the police or calling an ambulance is sometimes more important than intervening in person, so he prefers to let authorities handle emergencies.
The 6-foot, 200-pound superhero wears a red mask over half his face, to conceal his identity, so that his family doesn’t have to suffer from his crime-fighting activities. He has always felt that anyone can do something to make our world better, and after contemplating about becoming a police officer, he decided to become the Watchman. While he understands some people may think his superhero outfit is somewhat funny, he’s out there to show people everyone can do their part.
But the Watchman is not the only superhero patrolling the streets at night. He actually belongs to the Great Lakes Heroes Guild, a group of real life superheroes who exchange resources and information in order to make the world a better place.
Most of the Riverwest locals who know about the Watchman think it’s actually pretty cool that they have their own superhero who actually cares about their safety and well-being, but he does get into trouble every once in a while. For example, he once saw four boys leaving an underaged party with a 15-year-old drunk girl. It seemed like they were going to take advantage of her, so he stepped in, but then her big brother came out, who seeing his masked face, thought he was the bad guy and pulled out a knife. All the Watchman could do was jump in his car and get the hell out of there. Not very superhero-like, but even a scared superhero is better than no superhero, right? Wait, that doesn’t sound right…

Crossfire stops attempted murder

Blog report from Crossfire
Just got home from the police station…Heres the story
I was not in gimmick – I was in bed trying to catch a nap before work tonight. I grabbed a pair of shorts as I ran for the door and responded. I told Silver that I was in my Submariner costume.
Earlier this week my neighbor was attacked by her ex boyfriend and we were afraid he would come back to try again so we’ve been on guard. The ex boyfriend hid in the building that time and attacked them when they came home. Tonight he got into their apartment somehow and waited for them there. He was in their shower with the knife when they arrived home. He sat there for hours with his knife watching for them to come home tonight.
I had just drifted off when I heard a commotion outside my door. I grabbed a pair of shorts and my nightstick and ran out the door. I could hear fighting from the room across the hall. The downstairs neighbor came running up and I told him to call the police. I banged on the door with the nightstick and the young lady opened the door. She had been cut on the hand and was covered in blood. She shouted “Help us!” and pointed to the living room.
I ran in and found her boyfriend struggling with her ex boyfriend who had an eight inch knife. They were half on the couch with the knife between them and the blade was between the boyfriends shirt and his skin. The boyfriendwas holding the blade away from him and had the ex pinned to the couch with his bodyweight.
I stuck the nightstick between the blade and the man’s chest and ordered the ex boyfriend to release the knife. He refused and I told him several more times. I noticed that he had released his grip on the blade a little and asked the girlfriend to grab the knife if she could get it. He tightened his grip and I moved the nightstick and put it to his forehead and told him “let it go NOW!”
He dropped the knife and we wrestled him to the floor and held him there until the police arrived.
When the police arrived the neighbors told them that the superhero stopped him…they said I was going to trade my clown suit in for a cape. (None of them know about Crossfire yet…LOL)
The perp has been arrested and the young lady is safe once again.
I got a good laugh at the station as I heard the perp telling the officers how the fat guy with the bat took his knife away.
That’s the story and now Im dealing with an adrenaline hangover…and I gotta get ready for work.
 

Mad as hell

Photo by Brian Jacobson

Photo by Brian Jacobson


Originally posted:http://thirdcoastdigest.com/2010/10/podcast-mad-as-hell/
By Mark Metcalf
The children (and now, adults) of Generations X and Y spent their formative years deeply immersed in a culture of fantasy. Between comic books and Saturday morning cartoons, the cultural fascination with super heroes — specifically those who, underneath the masks and capes, are just average people — grows with each new generation.
But America’s love, and in some ways, yen for a hero is nothing new. In fact, those well-known characters of fantasy were all borne out of a collective desire to have control when the world seems to be going down the toilet. When senseless crime is on the rise and the people and institutions put in place to protect us can barely keep an adequate staff on the payroll.
He calls himself the Watchman. Armed with a flashlight, pepper spray and a cell phone, he spends his weekend evenings hunting out suspicious activity in Riverwest.

He calls himself the Watchman. Armed with a flashlight, pepper spray and a cell phone, he spends his weekend evenings hunting out suspicious activity in Riverwest.


In pop culture, people have found hope in fictional Everyday-Joe-cum-caped-crusader stories since the early days of Spider-Man. But in real life– and right here in Milwaukee — there are a few among us who have taken the concept and run with it.
Several years ago, Tea Krulos caught wind of a real-life superhero movement happening right here in the Midwest and, as he learned, beyond. Though apprehensive, Krulos immersed himself in their world, interviewing as many people as possible and traveling as far as Vancouver and as near as his own backyard of Riverwest to learn more.
Local author Tea Krulos.
What he found was a diverse group of people, fed up with the state of their own neighborhoods and cities who decided to do something about it… mask, cape and all.
You can learn more about Tea’s book Heroes in the Night here, and more about his research here. Be my hero and subscribe to Backstage with Mark Metcalf through iTunes.
bestteakrulos

Finding Your Super

Everyone is ” super ” at something, meaning each has unique gifts to offer.
My ” super ” includes inspirational and sometimes inflammatory (lol ) communication; promoting worthy causes; and stretching the line between fantasy and a life fantastic into new fields.
I’ve followed my ” super ” for a lifetime into adventures routinely leaving me shaking my head when the proverbial smoke clears.
Real Life Superheroes ( RLSH ) are obviously folks who’ve found their ” super ” and aren’t shy about it.
This Movement challenges people to accept being ordinary or finally expressing their ” super. ”
The right to be ” super ” is a human right RLSH steadily push toward the forefront of popular consciousness.
Mainstream vocations like crime prevention and humanitarianism need people who express their ” super ” to revitalize civic institutions with unusual approaches and new attention.
I found my ” super ” during childhood and first express it as a twenty-something cloaking superhero motivation as activism; writing; public speaking and other efforts.
Finding your ” super ” does promise soul deep satisfaction and experiences dreamed of by captives of the conventional.
NADRA ENZI AKA CAPT. BLACK promotes finding your ” super ” through crime prevention and self-development. http://www.captblack.info
 

Profiling

By Mega-Rad
There’s this thing you can do in “the field” which basically amounts to making a quick educated guess about the personality traits of people you encounter. It was presented to me originally as “profiling,” but it has nothing to do with ethnicities or figuring out the mindset of hypothetical serial killers.
There are two reasonable ways that I know of to do it. One involves using the Meyers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). You basically observe the person briefly and make some snap judgements about four personality dimensions they exhibit.
Are they Introverted or Extroverted, iNtuitive or Sensory, Thinking or Feeling, Perceiving or Judging?
Then you come up with a result, like for me I’m an “INTP” leaning toward “ENTJ.”
Why this is valuable to you, and you have to do some studying to make it so, is that each of the possible 16 types have common characteristics and can generally be dealt with in ways that consider those characteristics.
A way to make the typing faster and aid in understanding how to approach people is to have a few famous examples of each type in your head and basically guess which famous person an individual is most like. For instance, if someone gives off a “Bill Clinton” vibe, you might assume they’re an ESFP and deal with them “how you would deal with Bill Clinton.”
This is not so hard as it seems and you can kind of assess people in like 12 seconds or so after a while. You’ll make errors, but it’s systematic and can help sometimes. The more you read about the MBTI and the more you practice the better you get at it.
The other system I’m aware of is simpler and is used by some airlines in flight attendant (or Sexy Stewardess, as I like to call them Razz) training.
Basically you decide whether anyone you encounter is most like a Panther, Penguin, Dolphin, or Owl. Then you deal with them according to your experiences in dealing with similar people. I’m an Owl.
I imagine bouncers, cops, and such must have something similar. If any of you do I’d be very interested to hear about it.

Costumed crime fighter watches Milwaukee

Originally posted: http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2010/10/04/Costumed-crime-fighter-watches-Milwaukee/UPI-51441286227453/
MILWAUKEE, Oct. 4 (UPI) — Somebody in Milwaukee is on a personal anti-crime crusade — and he’s got the costume to prove it, observers say.
Armed with a flashlight and pepper spray, the Watchman — he won’t give his real name — patrols the streets of Milwaukee’s Riverwest neighborhood dressed all in black except for a bright red face mask and a large yellow W on his shirt, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
“I’m what people refer to as a real-life superhero,” the 6-foot, 200-pound, 30-something crime fighter says.
“Somebody needs to do something,” explains the Watchman, who says he thought about becoming a police officer before donning his mask.
“While most reactions to what I do are positive, there are a few negative responses,” he says, adding that the disguise protects his family — a wife and two young sons — from any of that.
“I’m the one who decided to do this, not them,” he says. “They should not have to suffer for it.”
Despite the pepper spray, he says his cellphone is his weapon of choice, the newspaper said.
“It’s about reporting it,” he says. “Contacting police, or getting an ambulance out here if it’s a medical situation.”
Super powers? None, he says. “I’m just a guy. I may look a little funny, but I’m just a guy. And I’m out here to let everybody know that they can do their part.”

Riverwest has real-life masked avenger

He calls himself the Watchman. Armed with a flashlight, pepper spray and a cell phone, he spends his weekend evenings hunting out suspicious activity in Riverwest.

He calls himself the Watchman. Armed with a flashlight, pepper spray and a cell phone, he spends his weekend evenings hunting out suspicious activity in Riverwest.


Originally posted: http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/104252724.html

He’s hitting the streets to root out injustice – without superpowers

By Mike De Sisti ?•

Oct. 3, 2010 10:46 p.m. |
When the two main loves in your life are helping people and reading comic books, the call is loud and clear: Become a superhero.
He calls himself the Watchman. He won’t give his real name.
His identity is obscured by a bright red mask that covers half his goateed face. He wears black boots, black pants, black leather gloves and a black trench coat, but there’s a large yellow circle on the chest of his black hooded sweatshirt, with a big W.
“I’m what people refer to as a real-life superhero,” he says.
By night, on weekends, he patrols Milwaukee’s Riverwest neighborhood, looking for injustice and evildoers. By day? That’s a mystery.
“While most reactions to what I do are positive, there are a few negative responses,” he explains, adding that the disguise protects his family – a wife and two young sons – from any of that. “I’m the one who decided to do this, not them,” he says. “They should not have to suffer for it.”
For him, it’s not about fulfilling a childhood fantasy, or getting the attention of late-night bar patrons.
“Somebody needs to do something,” explains the Watchman, who contemplated becoming a police officer before donning his mask.
“There’s something everybody can do to make the world a little bit better,” he says.
So the 6-foot, 200-pound, 30-something crime fighter patrols Riverwest in costume, with a flashlight and pepper spray on hand – and a black Motorola cell phone as his weapon of choice.
“It’s about reporting it,” he says. “Contacting police, or getting an ambulance out here if it’s a medical situation.”
As for super powers? None, he says. “I’m just a guy. I may look a little funny, but I’m just a guy. And I’m out here to let everybody know that they can do their part.”
He’s not the only guy. The Watchman belongs to the Great Lakes Heroes Guild. “We combine resources, work together and share information,” he says.
Milwaukee area freelance writer Tea Krulos is chronicling him and others like him around the nation.
“Heroes in the Night: Inside the Real Life Superhero Movement” is a book Krulos hopes to self-publish by December or January.
“I think one of the most interesting things about this story is that most of the guys are pretty normal,” Krulos says. “They’re just sick of sitting around watching TV. They want to go out and do something, even if it is a small act, to make their community a better place.”
But on a typical night in the Riverwest area, the Watchman needs no book to draw attention. The mysterious red mask does the trick as reactions from mortals come throughout the night.
Patrick Georgeson is hanging out with a few friends in his garage as the Watchman makes his rounds. “I’ve seen him around here before,” says Georgeson.
His friend Meghan Bundy chimes in: “It’s awesome to know we have a little Batman here.”
“I really think he actually cares.” Georgeson says. “There’s enough stuff that goes on in this neighborhood that I’ve seen.?.?.?.?If there’s one more person looking out for it, it’s probably a good thing.”
Looking out for people is what the Watchman plans on doing for a long time to come.
“In some form or another, I will do this for the rest of my life.”
JSOnline.com To see a video, go to jsonline.com/ multimedia. On the Web To read Tea Krulos’ blog about real-life superheroes, go to heroesinthenight. blogspot.com/