Is Bloomington Dangerous?

So, lots of bad things have been happening around here lately. Stuff that's got me down, and stuff that has Lisa telling me I need to move to Chicago to make sure I'm in a safe city. Ha!

First, I'm sure most of you by now have heard about IU student Lauren Spierer's disappearance. It's very scary and unfortunately I fear the worst, but I hope that no matter what the outcome, they find her quickly. Back in 2000, an IU student disappeared when she was on a bike ride and her body wasn't discovered for four years. Thinking about what her parents went through, just not knowing, for years - I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Lauren has been gone almost a week now and I know that the chances she's okay are slim - especially when you add in her heart condition. Bloomington has been swarming with news crews, volunteer search parties, and posters with her information. It's all very heartbreaking.

And then ... I found out yesterday that the mother of one of my students was stabbed to death. Ahhh. Her ex-boyfriend got out of jail on Monday and stabbed her to death on Tuesday. Neighbors witnessed him trying to break in through a window with a butter knife. While he was still working on the window, she came home and they had an argument. He forced his way into her home and neighbors heard several thumps and a "loud commotion." He then came outside and drove away in her car. Nobody - nobody - called the police. Instead, her 16 year old daughter came home from school with her grandma and found the door locked and her mom's car gone. They had maintenance unlock the door for them, and ... yeah. She found her mom's body. According to the newspaper, mom was stabbed nine times in the neck and upper chest with ... the butter knife.

This man is still at large, and that freaks me the hell out. Can I just add that there were two other stabbings in Bloomington that day? Can we all just ... put the knives down? Please?

The whole situation is just awful, but I think what bothers me the most is that nobody called the police. According to the newspaper, several neighbors witnessed all of this (minus the stabbing of course, which occurred inside the apartment) and nobody reacted. Nobody did anything. I wonder if someone would have called 911 the second they saw him trying to break in through the window, would she still be alive?

And then ... our neighbor's apartment got broken into! As in ... our immediate neighbor. He lives upstairs from us, and just happens to be a cop. A bunch of kids were hanging around the other day and got into his apartment and stole his duty gun. Thankfully the gun was recovered only a few hours later. The girl who stole it? One of my former students. Well, that is kind of a stretch - she was referred to me but I don't think I was ever able to see her because she skipped so frequently. She dropped out last year, and that was the end of that.

I reeeeally don't like something like ... a robbery involving a stolen gun happening at my home. Despite it not being my apartment, it sure hits close to home. Literally. No more leaving the apartment (ever) without locking the door. A few cars at our complex were broken into recently, as well ... leading me to wonder what on earth is going on around here.

ANOTHER student of mine (a current student) is in juvenile detention because he was involved in an armed robbery. And ANOTHER current student of mine is also in juvenile detention for threatening her mom and sisters and running away to stay with a drug dealer when she has two pending criminal charges (unrelated) and a failure to appear in court.

The last day of school was yesterday, but I'm having a hard time de-stressing. It doesn't help that, unlike 99.9% of everyone else that works in the school, I don't have my summer off. Nope! I'll be right back on Monday morning to check in on my kids who are doing summer school.

Someone ... anyone ... pass the wine.