Meridian Russo stared out the window of the subway train. Her bright green eyes seemed unresponsive, as if her thoughts were somewhere else. She ran her fingers through her long blond hair and rested her forehead against the cool surface of the glass. She didn’t want to go home. She never did. Home wasn’t safe. Never had and never would be.

Growing up on the streets of Brooklyn was rough. It wasn’t easy. Whichever rapper said, “hood life was glamorous” was full of shit. There’s nothing glamorous about the hood. Nothing glamorous about Brooklyn either. Thugs controlled the streets. Crack addicts, drug dealers, and whores walked the boulevards looking for their next fix. The hood was a place were bullets went stray up on the block. Death lingered around every corner and every waking moment was lived in constant fear. Why would anyone want to embrace a lifestyle that everyone else was trying to run from?

The thought of running away seemed to linger in the back of her mind. Running away would mean leaving Dallas behind. Meridian could never leave her sister. Dallas and Meridian only had each other. Sighing, she looked over at her twin.

Dallas’ tired green eyes looked deep in thought as she stared down at her white sneakers. Her reddish-brown hair was pulled back into a side ponytail and her bangs were swept to the left side of her face. Feeling her twins gaze on her, she looked up.

“What?”

Everything has been said best before so……Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. - John F. Kennedy

Ken Griffey Jr. is taken for granted. Look at his stats and his age compared to say, Rafael Palmeiro and they are both members of the 500 club but all you hear about Griffey is about how is isn’t the player he was. How about we just look at the player he is, and still can be. Griffey didn’t injure himself off the field, or try to be something he isn’t, he is just aging, and he is still a great baseball player who in my opinion gets overlooked. It is probably his own fault because in his prime there was not another player like him. His swing is one that would make Ted Williams proud. The problem that he has now is that the expectations on him are ahead of the reality. He has serious injuries and he is now just getting back into his game, and this year it looks like he will hit 35 or so homers, and hit near .290. Any team needs that, I’m not sure about 10 million dollars for that, but worse deals are made daily. He will never be the player he was, players change, look at Barry Bonds’ two different careers, only the difference here is not going to be so subtle. Griffey will produce, along with being a great team player, and he still has many good years ahead of him. The Griffey nay-sayers think that the injuries are the end of the road for the Griffey train, but it is just a bump on his path to greatness. Given enough at-bats he is one of the most underrated hitters of our time. He may not be “The Kid” anymore, more like, “The Player Formerly Known as The Kid”, but he still has all of his talent, and he will be around producing for at least 5 or 6 more years. Hall of Fame no doubter. Barry Bonds is jealous of Griffey. He was never a character on the Simpsons and people like Griffey, even when he’s not hitting homeruns for them. Bonds? ……

Get sick, get well
Hang around a ink well
Ring bell, hard to tell
If anything is goin’ to sell
Try hard, get barred
Get back, write braille
Get jailed, jump bail
Join the army, if you fail
Look out kid
You’re gonna get hit
But users, cheaters
Six-time losers
Hang around the theaters
Girl by the whirlpool
Lookin’ for a new fool
Don’t follow leaders
Watch the parkin’ meters

Robert Zimmerman’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues“

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