Where: http://www.frappr.com/reallifesuperheroes
When: Tuesday Septempber 12 8:00Pm Pacific Standard time
This was Ragensi’s idea…and a good one at that! Of course some people gotta work that night, but if not “come on out”.
There’s a saying in showbusiness that there’s “no such thing as bad press” (which of course is false, look at Michael Jackson but I digress.)
Being that this is not (entirely) showbusiness, in what cases would press NOT, be “good press” in your opinions? I’m speaking outside of the obvious such as accidentally destroying public property or somethin dumb like that.
My voice is VERY easily recognizeable and I specialize in dealing with crackheads, gang officers, etc…to bring down operations that terrorize neighborhoods in key spots of Chicago. These organizations are usually spread over the Chicagoland or Illinois area, or nationwide, and in some cases WORLDwide, consisting of hundreds of members in the city limits. My “codename” being mentioned in the media someday would be one thing. But I take certain risks to get the job done that could easily put an end to my work.
I realize awareness and “spreading the word” is important. But if you play it the way I do, or anything close…you might want to consider these points and evaluate the EXTENT to which you will “draw the line” when it comes to publicity.
I have no idea how Angle Grinder Man hasn’t been caught, but he’s lucky. Should “superheroes” only be neighborhood watchmen (and women), or is there a place in this “age of heroes” for people like Terrifica, Angle-Grinder Man and others who take that extra step?
There is a hero here in Chicago who only works alone because he works much along the same lines as me. I wont even mention his name right now, but suffice to say he has hits out of him.
As I was in the chat room tonight, I got the chance to talk to a few of our fellows, and the topic of Press came up. I’m not sure, but it seemed to me that after talking for a while, my stance on personal coverage not being something that each one of us should hunt down, the conversation quickly ended. I hope this was not the reason why.
Teams AND individuals might want to consider the corny slogan “What type of hero are you?” When teams are being constructed. There are different “specialties” for us to choose from.
We COULD stick to picking up litter and helping old ladies cross the street, but personally I see the potential for “SUPER” actions from Real Life “SUPER” heros.
The first time I designed a uniform, donned a mask, started a neighborhood patrol alliance and fought urban terrorism in this city was when I was about 15. My “legend” didn’t make it past the South East side ghettos but more than 10 years later it was surprising to find out that 2 friends of mine had heard about me (my codename) wearing the uniform and fighting for good in the middle of a 3-way turf war. They had no idea it was “a kid”. I look back upon the memories of the times that my missions went exactly as planned, the times I learned from mistakes and my heart racing when I was almost spotted doing surveillance 15 feet away from a drug spot…neighborhood thugs putting out a hit on me because I became a threat to thier dirty money, and the look of hope in the eyes of citizens who were made part of the neighborhood watch.
I always realized it, but I feel that it should be addressed that there are different archetypes at work in our community, and it’s probably in everybody’s best interest to pick one if you are starting out.
I managed to get a long-standing crackhouse (that was “doing GOOD business” I might add) shut down after trying for about a two months. Usually I’m faster than that. It’s now boarded up and being watched for a while by the local Task Force AND neighbors.
Might not sound like much, but my “secret identity” had to do a lot of work, and take a lot of risks to get this done, and location had been a “nice” lil link in a chain for the gang running it. At least this chapter of the gang. I can’t really give out any more details, but have a drink for me >:D
~X
Orange County Alert. Found this on Yahoo questions. If you can’t get to the link, email me and I’ll send it to you.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AoXuLx82JodwXFyfqoyxrHDpy6IX?qid=20060903005632AAEdle0
i got my first super-groupie tonight too..she loved my outfit,and told me she’d help me fight the crack dealers downtown while making googly eyes at me..but i realized she doesn’t love me,just the suit and the idea of me..and to make things worse, some random woman at the bus stop tried to get Mr. Silent to strip…but none of that on the job!please ladies,we’re trying to do the city a service,and we’re very flattered at the intentions and sexual attention,but please..not while we’re on patrol,ok?
Definition: Epiphany: a sudden, intuitive perception or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple occurrence or experience.
My Epiphany
I have been having multiple conversations about Prime and the creation of so many real life events and experiences. While Prime.Vox.com will be dedicated to the fictional goings on of Prime and The Night Watch, I’m making an announcement. A departure from what was and announcing what will be.
I am crossing the threshold. The real Paragon Prime is about to be born. This blog will cronicle my journey.
I hope this doesnt get confusing. I mean, many things I talk about with Prime.Vox.com are my experiences and Prime fiction is based on many of my real life events.
So lets be very clear from the get go: Anything in MySpace is real. Anything in Prime.Vox.com is a hazy meld of real life and fictional. There. Now that Ive said that, Im sure Ill have to repeat it a billion times.
So this particular blog is simply an announcement and intent to bring Prime from the dregs of my long term vision through the looking glass. I think there will be a lot of prep here so I dont expect to hit the streets tomorrow.
As far as leading up to this, I’m sure that’s why I was drawn here. I’ve always been leading up to this, I think. I was accepted to be in the LAPD an age ago. I didn’t like how they treated people, inluding their own and never accepted the commision. I was in Army Intelligence and that played a part in making me who I am today. I have discussed joining the Guardian Angels … the only reason I have not is distance from the nearest chapter (about 100 miles). My three dogs and me play the neighborhood watch. When someone breaks down, I stop and help. I see trouble, I pull over and see what I can do or I call the cops if outgunned or outmanned (hey, Im not mental!). Finally, I feel it coming together. The foundation has been build over the years. Now, its time to build the house of Paragon Prime.
Initially, there really isnt a lot of difference from what I do today, except I’ll be able to do more as I’ll be outfitted and loaded for bear. And being one of the primary models of excellence in the hero biz is what I will work to achieve, hence Paragon Prime will be my name as, really, it has been for a long time.
Hopefully, reading both the real Prime and the fictional Prime will bring you a fuller picture of where I see this whole nationwide hero awakening going. To be honest, I saw myself becoming a part of it from the get go. While everyone is finding their way in all this, I’ve been playing this pretty close to the vest. I feel I can now open up a little and share my real plans as well as the fictional vision. I dont see any harm and, frankly, I see a lot of good as we all share and make each other better, stronger and respected in a world that will have to get used to Professional Heroes.
Prime, Out …
Well now that I’m back in town I took a quick look around last night to see if the local precinct had been able to make any progress w/ the tips I left them before I flew out of the city.
All of the gang graffiti for at least a 2 block radius has been cleaned up, and there were no signs of drug dealers at 10:30 PM which is rare in the area I pinpointed. So rare it almost never happens at night.
Within the next few days I’ll get to see how much of a long-term impact this makes (things move fast around here), and see if somebody else tries to take the turf…which in that case, the Tac Force has already been tipped off, so I probably wouldn’t have to prod too much to stop a turf war.
Now I wait…
I just posted up some pics of progress on my new uniform so far…FYI bandana fighting is a real self-defense/street fighting technique that I decided it might be prudent to take back up. If you wanna find out more, Google it and buy a book or somethin.
There are elbow pads underneath the jacket, and I’m wearin re-inforced adjustable kneepads. Why? Because rollerblades will be a future source of mobility. I always use wheels when I can. I don’t drive. The construction of the whole uniform makes a little more sense now, huh?
The vest unzips down the front, and has 2 cargo pockets. I only have 1 small utility pouch attached to the belt right now, which conceals nicely.
You can’t really see my backpack in any of the pics, but it’s waterproof and lightweight. This carries my water and literature, also any special supplies I might need for the night.
The Ankh (dubbed the X-Ankh) stands for the ancient key of Life (and Death). True Liberation can only come from knowledge, since you can only work with what you know. If you didn’t know you could walk, how could you make it to work without a wheelchair? But I’m goin on and on…
The edges of the X-Ankh glow in the dark after being exposed to lite for at least 60 seconds.
I’m workin on the rollerblades.
Location: The Blog Scrap Yard
Time: The Dawn of Today
The wreckage of the Blog Scrap Yard was silhouetted like a hair-tangled, mish-mash against the vapor of an orange horizon. New daybreak heated the misshapen pyramids of discarded blog-scrap, simmering the sunrise in silent anticipation.
A movement. A tumbling of conjunctions skidded down a piled high blog-heap. Then a low, steady rumble. Seagulls bolted, echoing iron shreeched warnings in the morning expanse. The ground shook. And shook again. Then silence. For a heartbeat.
BOOM! An explosion of noun, verb, and adjective shrapnel flew like hot metal across the abandoned Blog Yard. The largest mountain of tousled prose bubbled up, spitting out volcanic verse, sending whole sentences tumbling down the mile high blog-rock face.
Then the tip of something, just visible through the wreckage, reflected with borrowed light from the ascending, curious sun. A liquid, mirrored blog-thing rose and formed and flew from the scraps, humming with power, to streak like a bullet high above the yard. It shot into the morning sky, blazing with light and sound. It bellowed like a cosmic foghorn in the expansive firmament.
Prime.vox.com
Neighbors scurried out of their houses in robes and t-shirts, squinting up at the clarion colossus, the thunderous broadcast now emblazoned on its vast obelisk form.
Prime.vox.com
And everywhere, around the blogsphere, the name echoed like a new promise.
Prime.vox.com
Under the unimaginable pressure of countless, forgotten blog tonnage, a new blog was formed, with a promise to be different. With a promise to change everything.
Well since it’s been a while since I’ve been out on patrol in any kind of costume, I started a new one from scratch. I got a lotta ideas in my head…I’ll post pics when I get some real progress goin with that.
Meanwhile my regular clandestine activities will continue. A lot of which I’m loathe to speak about much over somethin like Myspace and for good reason. The people I deal with ain’t what you would call model citizens. My “Secret Identity” has to do a lot of the “dirty work”. The police can only do so much unless you give them somethin in a lot of cases in the neighborhoods I’ve lived in. So at least I got SOME “help”…it’s like washin dishes and takin out the trash. SOMEbodys gotta do it *shrug*
The higher the risk, the more careful I gotta be of course. You pick your battles ya know? >:D
~X