Liz at the very amusingly named blog, “Granny Gets a Vibrator,” has written a provocative post recommending a book called The Gift of Fear,” by Gavin de Becker. It doesn’t sound like my kind of book, but it didn’t initially sound like her kind of book either, and she wound up liking it a lot. Read her post here.
On a related note, yesterday I got an e-mail from my neighbor advising me that she had learned (via a forwarded e-mail) that other neighbors of ours were recently the victims of an armed robbery while out walking their dogs late one afternoon. I can’t find any mention of it in our local newspaper. All I carry when I walk my dog are empty plastic bags, and eventually, poop-filled ones. But one of the robbery victims was, according to the e-mail, relieved of his wallet.
According to one flyer I just received at home, crime in my neighborhood has increased recently, while budget cuts have simultaneously reduced the size of the local police force. I can’t seem to confim (or deny) either of these assertions either. The flyer invited me to join a neighborhood “crime watch” organization. Several other flyers that have been tucked into my mailbox or door of late invite me to purchase an alarm system from ADT. Channeling my inner conspiracy theororist for a second, I have to wonder if these things are all related, because I got a salescall a year or so ago from a women who started to reel off the details of a number of crimes that had supposedly but undocumentably occurred in my area as a preface to trying to sell me an ADT alarm system. I have no idea whether ADT was (or is) simply being opportunistic, or if the company is making shit up.
I had an ADT alarm system once. I had to sign a five year contract to get it. I couldn’t afford to alarm my windows, only the doors, and I couldn’t use the motion detector because I had pets who would constantly trigger it by, you know, moving. As I understood the system, all someone had to do to foil it was clip the telephone line anyway. So I’m not sure why I bought it then, but I’m pretty sure I don’t want one now. I might buy this book, though.
–Ann Bartow
I read this book and enjoyed it quite a bit. The title is a bit of a putoff, I agree, but it’s really about listening to your instincts and developing your awareness. In particular, many things about socialization of women are discussed, because many of them are detrimental to using your instincts (eg, being trained to be a “nice” person and giving people a chance can be used against you quite easily. It’s not about hiding out in your house so that nothing happens to you.