Kenmore Square safety

To any of you who regularly use the Kenmore Square T station, or know anyone who does--

Last night I had a run-in with a panhandler in the Beacon Street entrance to the Kenmore Square T station.  Panhandlers frequently stand at the bottom of the stairs at that entrance because it is sheltered from the weather and also because due to the angles of the corridor there, they cannot be seen from the token booth area.  Some of the panhandlers are particularly aggressive towards women, usually just verbally.

I entered the T station just after 7pm and ignored the panhandler who was demanding money from the passersby.  In my experience, if you make any kind of eye contact with the more aggressive guys, they take that as an invitation to make inappropriate comments.  Apparently this angered him, and as I walked past him he punched me in the arm.  Not hard enough to have bruised, but hard enough that it was meant to hurt, he wasn't just trying to get my attention or anything.  As I mentioned before, you can't see into that corner from anywhere else in the station, so he felt like he could get away with it.

I kept on walking but glared at him as I went.  His response was "Don't be mean, I only hit you with one hand."  I suppose this appeal to my better nature was supposed to make me think it would be unreasonable to report him.  I called the MBTA police this morning, and they said they will step up patrols in that area (incidentally, I've never seen any patrols coming through there) and the officer I spoke to agreed that there was a problem there with aggressive panhandlers. This particular panhandler was about 5'8" or so, African American, shaved head, wearing a new-looking black leather jacket, and dress shirt/pants/shoes.   The officer I spoke to said he sounded like somebody they were already familiar with, though he could have said that to make me feel like they were on the case.  I am a little skeptical about the T police, since this corner must have been a problem since the day the station was opened.  Hopefully the T police will actually do something about this, but in the meanwhile, if you use that station or know anybody who does, be careful.  Feel free to forward this message.

And for my next performance...

Amira Jamal's Spring Student Recital:

Please join us for our Spring Recital on Saturday, May
14, at 1PM at 775 Commonwealth Avenue, Second Floor
Conference Auditorium (George Sherman Student Union on
the BU campus).

We are going to have a FABULOUS Karsilima Finale and
many many performances leading up to it, including
some of the finest professional dancers in the Boston
area.  Special number by the Sweet and Nasties.

All for $5 admission - you can't go wrong!  And bring
your zills and hip scarves for audience participation
after the finale!

(I am not at all sure what the Sweet and Nasties are, and I can tell you that my personal karsilima will be adequate at best, but this does promise to be a very entertaining afternoon featuring dances in a wide variety of styles.  I'm doing a solo to M.I.A.'s Pull Up the People, I'll be the fusion element ;-)

weird

Wil Wheaton's journal mentions "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" playing on his iPod.  Did somebody else besides Specimen do a song by that title?  Is Wil Wheaton a Specimen fan?  How odd...