2. Criminal
After my first day with this experiment, I’m already getting suggested podcasts. Thank you! You can send me your ideas at timcigelske@gmail.com.
Yesterday I received this email from Taylor Stivers:
I listen to both of these podcasts, and “The Accidental Gay Parents” is a great episode. I wrote about it awhile back in my newsletter:
On the Gist, Supreme Court correspondent Dahlia Lithwick talks about how the SCOTUS ruling reflects how “the ship has sailed” on same-sex marriage. In other words, long before this week gay people were getting married, starting families, paying taxes, and getting on with their lives. Parental podcast The Longest Shortest Time tells another one of those examples in the accidental gay parents, the story of two gay twenty-somethings who become the legal guardians of children in desperate need of a safe home.
I’ve also listened to a few episodes of Criminal and I like what I hear. Criminal is about “stories of people who’ve done wrong, been wronged, or gotten caught somewhere in the middle.”
What I like about Criminal is it makes you think about a basic function of society, and how we get it right, get it wrong, or are still figuring it out.
When host Phoebe Judge says the tagline, “This is Criminal,” you realize that phrase can refer to a lot of things: Stories about perpetrators, failures in the justice system or even how society treats victims.
“He’s Neutral” is a more light-hearted and even inspiring episode.
It tells the story of Dan Stevenson, who was fed up with crime and people dumping garbage in his Oakland neighborhood. He didn’t think he could rely on the police and he was getting sick of dealing with problems himself.
So in desperation, he went to a hardware store, bought a statue of Buddha and stuck it in front of his house.
His reasoning? Buddha is “neutral.” Whether you are religious or not, you will probably show some respect for a statue of Buddha.
He was right.
SFGate reported on the post-Buddha situation and checked into the statistics after Stevenson’s solution:
Overall year-to-date crime has dropped by 82 percent. Robbery reports went from 14 to three, aggravated assaults from five to zero, burglaries from eight to four, narcotics from three to none, and prostitution from three to none.
But it didn’t just affect crime. It completely transformed the character of the neighborhood.
This is a fun and unexpected story, but I think the deeper message is how small changes in your environment can make a dramatic impact.
There’s a similar situation here in Milwaukee.
About 20 years ago, Riverside Park had a major crime and drug problem in their area. They had a park next to the river, but it was neglected and fell into disrepair.
The community’s solution was simple. START USING THE PARK for its intended purpose. Simply by families hiking, weeding invasive plant species, caring for it and using it, crime started to go down and the area improved. Today, the area is a flourishing arboretum, hiking and cycling trail, and community and education center.
It’s a slice of nature in the heart of the city. This small group started with zero budget or legal authority and used nature to solve their crime problem, and completely transform the area.
This week I had the students in creativity seminar visit the Urban Ecology Center in Riverside Park to think about how they too can use the environment to solve problems that are important to them.
Maybe just sticking a statue of a Buddha somewhere may be a solution.
You can hear the full episode of “He’s Neutral” here.
