Yesterday, I'm sitting in my room in Oakland, and I hear a series of gunshots very close to my house. I look out of the windows, but don't see much. The police block off the street, and apparently, someone was at least gravely injured, but I haven't heard details. But of course, this was only one of many incidents of gun violence, in Oakland, in Californai, and in the United States. 

I was reading this op-ed peice about the tragedy in Colorado. It's a good and balanced view of the politics around gun control. I think it's reasonable, and deals with the fact that for the most part, both sides talk past each other. But he mentions, then sort of discards something important. A quote:

I was in my car, on the way back from a shopping trip to *cough* Whole Foods, when I spied a man and what seemed to be his female partner and their little kid. They were young, and he was wearing his jeans past his you-know-what, and that little litany began in my head, "why...?" Then, I realized something about fashion. Now I would say that I never really liked what is called "fashion," and I've never been one to be fashionable (I thought.) I realize what's true is that I don't like fashions from other people's subcultures.

I gave this sermon this morning at First Congregational Church of Oakland.