Thursday, April 27, 2006

Theresa Carter: Mugged In Chicago - A Love Letter (of sorts) to the Windy City

Update: I wondered if anyone was going to comment this post is out-of-scope for Illinoize. I wondered myself. I posted on Englewood and commenters said security wasn't even an issue for government.

I sometimes wonder though if much of what we chat about isn't the politician's ruse for keeping us from talking about how we can't manage to keep a city safe.

Theresa writes,

I was mugged/attacked on April 15 in Chicago and have been chronicling my experience in my blog. I’m trying to get the word out to help others avoid this painful experience. Would you be willing to post an excerpt and a link? Here are two potential excerpts, but please use whatever you think is appropriate for your readers:

I left shortly after 2am to catch a cab back home. Alone. Yes, I know, that was my first mistake. My second was that I'm impatient. I don't like standing around waiting for a cab. So instead of going back into the bar and calling for one, or waiting in front of the bar, I started walking down Diversey. Now don't for one second think that I am blaming myself in any way, shape, or form for what happened that evening. The fact that I was a woman walking alone on a Chicago street late at night did not justify the brutality that ensued."

Writing about my experience is, admittedly, an exercise for the internal. It may not be bringing those memories to the surface, but it is providing an outlet for my frustration, fear, anger, hope, and thankfulness. This afternoon a friend of mine told me he'd called his 24-year-old sister in Princeton, NJ. He told her to read my blog. She called him back and said she would never, ever leave a bar alone again.


The blog is located at http://www.thelocaltourist.com/blog.htm.
cross posted at Bill Baar's West Side

8 comments:

Levois 9:02 AM  

Oh man they got her good. Well hopefully she'll be better soon enough. Hopefully they'll catch the perps eventually. Who ever did this was a coward.

Cal Skinner 9:49 AM  

Now, if Illinois would allow her to carry some personal protection...

Skeeter 10:14 AM  

Cal,

Did you even read it?

She was jumped from behind.

If she had a gun, the bad guy would have used it to shoot her.

No wonder you people keep losing elections.

pathickey 1:30 PM  

President Palmer,

Absolutely. No weapon will be a deterent to any professional thug and only another in his/her arsenal:

Getting a beat down is, sadly, a fact of Urban living. Vigilance can help. It is going to happen. It happened in the Kilgubbin in 1890; Hell in 1900; and Englewood today. It will happen in whatever they call a neighborhod in 2106 as well.

Anonymous,  4:12 PM  

Her account says this vicious attack occured near the 2000 block of West Diversey. Hmmmm. That is also the exact location of the Lathrop Homes, one of the few remaining public housing clusters on the north side.

Probably just a coincidence. I'm sure the attacker could have been one of the yuppie condo/townhome owners in that area.

Tip to other tourists: when leaving a bar at Ashland and Diversey at 2:00AM, you'd be safer walking EAST, not west.

Cal Skinner 8:19 PM  

If the muggers know some women have guns, they will be less likely to take chances.

You may be right with muggers. Fortunately, I have no experience.

But I suspect rapists are not as careful.

Skeeter 8:07 AM  

Cal,

SHE WAS JUMPED FROM BEHIND!

Is that not clear?

Enlighten, us Cal. Tell us how the potential of a weapon would make the slighest difference on a sneak attack.

Skeeter 9:09 AM  

To clarify one point:

I am not saying that there are no solid reasons to support a concealed weapon law. Richard Clarke has written a great piece on that. I am saying that a women getting mugged when jumpe from behind is not a solid reason to support such a law.

  © Blogger template The Professional Template by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP