Sun - April 15, 2007
Georgia's Chili Avenue Kids
Given the recent tragedy on Genesee Street, I decided to
take part of my Sunday afternoon and put together more video clips and
stills of my Chili Avenue kids having a blast and making me
laugh.
Posted at 06:54 PM Read More
Mon - January 29, 2007
It's sno' fun on Chili Avenue! (Fight Crime: Build a "SnowGirl"!)
Having a blast with my next-door-neighbor kids who are a hoot and a half. Some pics and a video of a skit they developed while warming up with hot chocolate on my porch on Saturday. Be prepared to giggle!
Posted at 10:47 PM Read More
Mon - January 8, 2007
Generations Lost: And something to do about it
Posted this in response to a story by Greg Livadas in today's Democrat and
Chronicle regarding Rochester's 2006 homicides and the victims' families'
experience. The paper is doing an excellent series on violence in the city,
starting with Sunday's detailed assessment by Patrick
Flanigan of the statistics for the year.
Posted at 03:01 PM Read More
Sat - January 6, 2007
Hot night on Chili
The peaceful spell is broken. Shot fired
at the Last Stop Grocery around 10:30 last night, saw man running, reported
it...
Earlier tonight I got stopped myself driving up Thurston. Now THAT's a funny story.
Earlier tonight I got stopped myself driving up Thurston. Now THAT's a funny story.
Posted at 09:24 AM Read More
Wed - December 13, 2006
Suburban pot-smoking friends "just don't get it"
I wrote this in February and just decided
to publish it now as these issues have been very much on my mind as I work on
the Community Forums on Violence. Seems to me to be particularly at this point,
while we are dealing with the stabbings and shootings and beatings and murders
in our neighborhood related to the drug trade. We cannot reduce violence in this
city without dramatically changing the drug economy that controls the streets in
so many of our inner city neighboorhds.
Posted at 12:05 AM Read More
Tue - December 5, 2006
Progress on Chili Avenue -- but what about the rest of the city?
I can't complain about how the police
have been handling Chili Avenue lately. But I have to wonder about the rest of
the city.
Posted at 06:39 PM Read More
A song to sing, some light to shine
For fun & entertainment (and possible
inspiration), I am posting some lyrics I wrote, adapting “This Little
Light of Mine” as a “theme song” I would sing to myself to
give me courage back when I was facing down the dealers on Union St. Songs have
always been central to any movement, so I offer this as one for ours.
Posted at 06:19 PM Read More
Sat - December 2, 2006
Rochester Police Citizens Interaction Committee meeting information
PCIC meeting schedule and locations
compiled in order to help people participate more easily.
Posted at 03:37 PM Read More
Wed - November 29, 2006
Pastors to Patrol with Police
Today's Rochester Democrat and Chronicle says
Police Chief David Moore is planning to pair clergy with officers on the street,
particularly in hard hit areas like mine in the Chili/Thurston neighborhood,
home to two gangs, the "Mafia Associates" and the Thurston Zoo.
Posted at 02:36 PM Read More
Sun - November 26, 2006
Remember the innocents
What the neighborhood children see as
police crack down on the drug corners and the gang bangers.
Posted at 01:25 PM Read More
Fri - November 24, 2006
Shots fired on Chili Avenue and related developments
Life gets a little scarier, but I will
not be moved.
Posted at 11:42 AM Read More
Wed - November 15, 2006
RPD initiative against violence and related issues
As part of Chief David Moore's new anti-violence initiative, our Crime Prevention
Officers have been pulled from the NET offices to serve on details on the street.
Although I support the Chief's emphasis on community policing, I do not think
this is wise.
Posted at 10:59 AM Read More
Fri - November 10, 2006
Developments on Chili Avenue
A really big scare. First time in my life
I've ever thought I could be about to be shot.
Posted at 11:15 AM Read More
Mon - August 14, 2006
Fri - July 21, 2006
The good, the bad, the ugly -- a visit to Union & Weld/Kenilworth
Thoroughly exhausted from my move. Much
to write about and no time or energy. But thought I'd post this, a reflection on
my return visit yesterday to Union and Weld/Kenilworth...
Posted at 02:48 PM Read More
Fri - June 16, 2006
More news links
Still no time to do any writing here. As
you can imagine, I am swamped -- between media and other calls, the work I do to
earn a living, having to run about getting all the paper work taken care of so I
can move as a Section 8 tenant to a new place...and I haven't even begun to
pack. But there's been more in the news about me.
Posted at 08:25 PM Read More
Wed - June 14, 2006
Divine intervention -- met Rochester's new Police Chief David Moore at Spot Coffee!
Another case (like so many other
instances) when I needed the police to show up and I didn’t even have to
call. Message seems to have passed by divine intervention!
Posted at 08:29 PM Read More
Fri - June 9, 2006
Links to the stories, editorial about me, my activism, my eviction
Overwhelmed with things to do but I
figured I needed to get something up here for my regular readers to get a sense
of the context for all that has happened. I literally went to a meeting February
6, emerged a full-fledged community activist...and ultimately ended up evicted
from my apartment. More about that later.
Posted at 11:49 AM Read More
Sat - June 3, 2006
I DO THIS OUT OF LOVE -- PLEASE JOIN ME IN CARING
It is important to me that people reading
my blog posts about the Marketview Heights neighborhood understand that I hold
no anger, but bear only love for everyone who lives here -- including the drug
dealers. I love every single one of them. Including whoever it was who threw
rocks through the windows. I could not stay here if I did not feel that
love.
Posted at 09:49 AM Read More
Sat - May 27, 2006
WE CANNOT GIVE IN TO TERRORISTS -- SUPPORT YOUR FRONT LINE COMMUNITY ACTIVISTS
We cannot let thugs frighten us into
submission — whether they are thugs from the other side of the world, or
right here in our own back yard. People in this community need to stand together
with the front line community activists so that the burden of the cost of our
fight does not fall on our shoulders alone.
Posted at 10:07 AM Read More
Fri - May 19, 2006
EVEN SOME DRUG DEALERS HAVE GOOD HEARTS
A sweet encounter with a drug dealer upon
my return from Maryland.
Posted at 10:08 AM Read More
Sun - May 14, 2006
HOPE, DESPAIR, HISTORY, RENEWAL
I wrote this in response to something
another member of the Marketview Heights Community Action Group wrote in an
e-mail about the long history that people in this community have with working
hard to bring about change only to have political, social and economic
environments change, and despair return. I draw a lot of lessons from my own
personal struggle with despair when I approach what needs to be done to help
bring this neighborhood back to life.
Posted at 10:12 AM Read More
Mon - May 8, 2006
ROCHESTER NEW YORK: PAC-TAC SATURATION AT UNION AND WELD STREETS 5/8/06
A link to my photo page from last night's Rochester Police And Citizens Together Against Crime saturation at Union and Weld Streets (my corner, just across from me). I WALKED on Weld Street for the first time in the near seven years I've been here.
Posted at 10:04 AM Read More
Sat - April 29, 2006
BITCH IS BEAUTIFUL
Got a drive-by "BITCH!" shouted at me
this morning. Hallelujah! Thank you for the compliment!
Posted at 09:54 AM Read More
Sun - April 23, 2006
Fri - April 21, 2006
Double Dare Confrontation
Today they pushed things a lot farther,
pretending to do a deal in a car parked directly behind mine while I was washing
and cleaning it out with my kid pal "T". They are like children, always testing
limits. Eventually they will understand that nothing they do scares me. And I'm
not going away.
Posted at 11:03 AM Read More
Wed - April 19, 2006
God(dess) is with me story: what protects me in this fight
Have had many reasons to be thinking
about this story, which happened 22 years ago March 18. Listening to my inner
voice telling me when something is not quite right and I need to take protective
action...this is what is keeping me safe and sane.
Posted at 04:42 PM Read More
Tue - April 18, 2006
FIGHT CRIME! DO YARDWORK! (STORY #2)
Lions and tigers and bears, oh
my!
Posted at 10:11 AM Read More
Sun - April 16, 2006
FIGHT CRIME! DO YARDWORK! (STORY 1)
How I have finally begun to take back
ownership of my corner at Union and Kenilworth in Rochester. First story (more
to come).
Posted at 10:01 AM Read More
Quick Links
About The Author
My name is Georgia NeSmith. "Random Acts of Love" is my weblog, but I have numerous other websites you can link to through this blog. "Random Acts of Love" began in February, 2004, and I have been posting to it fairly steadily ever since, although there are a few months when illness and other issues have kept me away. I write about nearly everything under the sun. I also do a lot of photography and digital art and I teach journalism online. Recently I've also started posting videos to YouTube.
When I am not doing that, I am trouble-shooting Mac computer issues. Oh, yeah. I also do a lot of community activism. (Can anyone say ADD? I call it AEG -- "attention excess gift.")
I hope you enjoy reading what you find here, and that you will respond to the things you like (and argue with me over things you don't!). You can e-mail me directly from the "Feedback" link that is included with every post.
This weblog is provided free of charge. However, if you like what you read here and want to ensure that it stays online, you can make a donation through PayPal below. Or you can go to my giftshop at CafePress.com and purchase my greeting cards, post cards, pillows, mugs, and soon posters and prints.
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Quotes
"The difficult I'll do right now
The impossible will take a little while."
-- From "Crazy, He Calls Me"
written by: Bob Russell / Carl Sigman
Sung by Billie Holiday
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
-- Margaret Mead
"Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all..."
-- Emily Dickinson
"In our sleep, pain, which we cannot forget, falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom, through the awful grace of God.
-- Aeschylus, Agamemnon
-- From "Crazy, He Calls Me"
written by: Bob Russell / Carl Sigman
Sung by Billie Holiday
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
-- Margaret Mead
"Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all..."
-- Emily Dickinson
"In our sleep, pain, which we cannot forget, falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom, through the awful grace of God.
-- Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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Published On: Aug 25, 2007 11:27 AM
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Published On: Aug 25, 2007 11:27 AM