Welcome friend to Create Art Podcast where I help you tame your inner critic and create more than you consume. I am Timothy Kimo Brien your thankful head instigator with over 20 years in arts and education. How I accomplish this is by providing you with commentary, interviews, discussions, and projects that will inspire you to create art. This month I will be podcasting daily and writing a novel in 30 days. I am participating in NaPodPoMo and NaNoWriMo again this year as I did last year and you can hear those episodes here. You will be able to listen and read along with what I wrote for the day. I like to practice what I preach when it comes to art so I am challenging myself to write and having you come along for the ride. It is my hope this inspires you to accomplish your goals with your art and if you would like to share what you are doing email me at timothy@createartpodcast.com
History of NaNoWriMo and NaPodPoMo
NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month began in 1999 as a daunting but straightforward challenge: to write 50,000 words of a novel in thirty days. Now, each year on November 1, hundreds of thousands of people around the world begin to write, determined to end the month with 50,000 words of a brand-new novel. They enter the month as elementary school teachers, mechanics, or stay-at-home parents. They leave novelists.
NaPodPoMo: NaPodPoMo* is a month-long event similar to National Novel Writing Month aka NaNoWriMo. The difference? Well, instead of writing a 50,000-word novel, you post a podcast episode every day for 30 days from November 1st-30th. Use any platform you desire. From full production studio to iPhone app and just about anything in between. The goal is to use the challenge of podcasting daily as a form of podcasting boot camp.
The Writing So Far
10 Nov 2022 words today 1729 words total 15620
The sky had cleared from the fog earlier in the day that helped camouflage Wolfgang's escape. Detective Courtney had on his best suit for TV appearances. The Police Chief and the Mayor were in attendance as they stood in front of the police station. The podium with microphones from the various news agencies was attached and the mayor began the conference.
“I am sorry to have to address the fine citizens of Alewell this way, but the unthinkable has happened. We have an individual who has attacked one of our schools, Swan Victor Elementary School to be exact, and there is one reported casualty, one of the children. This is not who we are as a community, we do not accept this type of violence or any type of violence in our community. We don’t know who this individual or individuals are, but we will find them and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. Since we do not have the individual in custody, we are asking for the community to be vigilant about their surroundings. If you see something say something. Our prayers are with the family impacted by this tragedy. Our police chief wanted to say a few words before taking questions. Chief,” said the mayor.
“First, I want to echo what our mayor has said, this is a tragedy, and it is not who we are, and it is not welcome in our community. I want everyone in the community to be on guard and to call the police if anything seems out of place. We have an individual who has used a handgun to kill a child. Gun violence has plagued our country and especially our schools for far too long. That is why this department supports sensible gun control measures. We are asking for those of you out there that are as enraged as we are about this coming to our doorstep to not try to find and hunt this individual on your own. Let us handle that part, the last thing we need is to have a “good guy with a gun” fire off and shoot innocent people. We already have one child down; we don’t need any others. For those of you who go by the idea of an eye for an eye, you are not a judge, jury, or executioner. Let us do the job you have hired us to do We will find this individual and bring them to justice. We do need your help in reporting any unusual activity in the community, that is the job you signed up for by living in this community. We have a responsibility to each other. At this time, I want to introduce the lead detective on this case, Detective Maurice Courtney, “said the police chief as he stepped away from the microphone and Detective Courtney took his place.
“Thank you chief. One of the duties no police officer wants is to inform a parent that their child has died. I was called upon today to do just that as many police officers and detectives do all around our country every day. I am reminded of Seneca who said, ‘Only time can heal what reason cannot’, we don’t understand these monsters among us, and we don’t always know their reasoning. What we do have is those of us behind the badge to keep everyone safe. Today we failed, and I don’t take failure well. I wasn’t hired here to fail; I was hired to solve these types of crimes. Trust me, I would love to be put out of a job, but here we are today. I want to echo what the chief said, don’t go after this individual on your own, that is what we are trained to do so let us do our job. You are not going to bring this child back by going off half-cocked and taking this fiend out. You will rob these grieving parents closure and justice. The best help we can get from the public is reporting anything suspicious, see something say something. I know it’s something we all say and don’t think about, but today and until we catch the perpetrator see something say something. I’ll take questions from the press,” said Detective Courtney.
“The mayor said individual or individuals, are to assume that means there may be more than one person involved,” asked the female TV reporter.
“We are in the beginning stages of the investigation. Right now, we are looking for one person because of the location of the shooting and the nature of the wounds. Again, it is still early on in the investigation, and we will provide information as it becomes available,” replied Detective Courtney.
“To be clear, I did not mean to infer that there is more than one individual of interest. As Detective Courtney pointed out, we are still early in the investigation so my apologies,” replied the mayor.
“Do you have any leads at this time,” asked another female TV reporter.
“Right now no, the victim was shot inside the vestibule of Swan Victor Elementary School this morning and the cameras showed nothing,” replied Detective Courtney. “Before you ask a follow-up question, the cameras were working perfectly, somehow their signal was jammed right before and right after the shooting. So, we do have a good timeline, but no description of who has done this.”
“Good afternoon, Detective Courtney, I am Mack Hale with the Alewell Podcast journal where he who is brave is free. Have the parents been called in for questioning and what is the name of the victim,” asked Mark Hale. There were snickers and murmuring among the reporters. More than once you could hear a podcast isn’t the press, why is that guy here he isn’t a reporter or how can he ask such a heartless question?
“We have talked with the parents and ruled them out as suspects. At this time, they would like their privacy respected. We are not revealing the name of the child at this time because it will not help our investigation and the victim is a minor, “replied Detective Courtney, seemingly annoyed with the question.
“Just a follow-up question Detective, when you reviewed the tapes for the camera you didn’t detect anything wrong with the tape machine or the camera correct,” asked mark.
“That’s correct, we think that something interfered with the camera’s ability to record,” said Detective Courtney.
“So, you want us to believe that there was a shooting that no one heard, no one saw, and you are not giving out names of the victim nor a description of the alleged assailant. You and the chief don’t want people to go out and defend their community. Isn’t this just a ploy to get the mayor elected for another term,” said Mack. The rest of the reporters were stunned to hear such blatant disrespect and heartlessness and turned to Mack.
The mayor pushed Detective Courtney aside and said,“Mr. Hale, a journalist knows there is a fine line between slander and free speech. You are teetering on the edge with these claims. You are making statements instead of asking questions, do you have any information on this shooting?”
“I am not making statements; I am postulating other options that you may not have considered. And I did it in the form of a question, much like Jeopardy. It is telling that you haven’t answered my question of is this alleged shooting is part of your plan to get reelected. Your silence is most telling and most deafening,” said Mack.
Detective Courtney pushed the mayor out of the way and took his place at the podium. “You didn’t have to tell the parents their child died, you didn’t have to see the father's face when he returned from identifying her body. You didn’t have to answer the mother’s question, ‘did my child suffer,'. I am the one who did that, and I am the one who is going to find this animal among us and bring him to justice!”
“So, you think it was a man who did this, how do you figure it was a man, could have been a woman in the way you are framing this alleged shooting,” said Mack.
Just then the police chief motioned to two officers standing by to remove Mark Hale. “I think we are all just a little stressed out because this concerns a minor. It is understandable that tempers will fly, but we have our best detective on the case. I would just say, see something say something, we will reach out and have another press conference when we have more information to share,” said the police chief.
As the chief was speaking two officers escorted Mark Hale out of the press conference and down to the corner at the intersection. Some of the reporters noticed this and turned their attention to the scuffle they expected.
“I know my rights, that is a press conference, and I am a member of the press,” yelled Mark. The officers continued to escort him silently until they turned the corner and Mark turned and walked into an adjoining office building. When a few of the reporters who followed made it to the corner, they saw the two police officers walking back without Mark.
“Hey, where did you take that guy,” asked one of the reporters.
“He left of his own accord. Have a good day,” replied one of the officers. They returned to the site of the press conference and packed up the podium while the TV reporters and camera crews were packing up their equipment.
The police chief pulled Detective Courtney aside,” do we need to reassign you for this case? I don’t need you to take this so personally. I need the perp behind bars and a closed case. Keep your professionalism about you.”
“I am sorry chief, the couple and everything was a bit much, I won’t let that happen again. Next time I will be the silent partner okay, I want to get this guy too. I just haven’t heard anyone so heartless and such a kook spouting that stuff since the high school shooting,” said Detective Courtney.
“I was on that case, it was my last one before I became chief. Just keep your head about you and don’t let the buzzards eat for free,” said the chief.
Reaching Out
To reach out to me, email timothy@createartpodcast.com I would love to hear about your journey and what you are working on. If you would like to be on the show or have me discuss a topic that is giving you trouble write in and let's start that conversation.
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