I don’t know if I’ve read anything as tragic. I mean, I’m sure I have. Even written a few, but generally involving death, though. Having just finished a piece by the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jan Hefler about how Brucie Jackson has been cut off from the brothers with whom he suffered incomprehensible abuse, I’ll actually say a prayer that the world becomes a better place. Every time I think it can’t get worse, it does…
[W]hether they fit the definition of “family” is a gray area. As foster children adopted by the Jackson family, they are not related by blood. And their legal ties to Jackson may have changed after their adoption by new parents.
Jackson’s last visit with his brothers – he watched them play football – ended abruptly in October 2006, when his caregivers said he couldn’t go out with them for pizza.
Getting through to Jackson is difficult, the Parrishes say. He sometimes calls and the boys chat about music, girls, and video games, but his number is usually blocked and they can’t call back. They don’t know where he lives and don’t know who his lawyers are.
A few months ago, James Parrish said, he was able to get a caregiver on the phone and asked for a post office box where he could send pictures of the brothers. He said the caretakers had told him no.
The boys “just want to be with him . . . to play kickball, basketball” and to see how he is doing, Amber Parrish said. She said they worried about how he was doing.
Plans for a reunion may finally be in the works.
Critchley said last month that discussions were under way – “hopefully in the near future.”
The decision, he said, rests with Jackson’s care team.
I implore you to read this story.
• The release this week of a study of the city’s DROP program will force Mayor Nutter to balance the competing interests of the city’s pension problems and the public demand for a leaner government against the mayor’s relationships with City Council and the municipal unions. [Inquirer]
• When UGA Frat Boys Attack (Over a $105 Tailgate-Parking Bill) [Deadspin, me]
• [W]hen businesspeople feel poorly treated they’ll just take their ball and go home, even if that means giving up chances for profit. This isn’t a completely crazy idea: as Keynes argued, “animal spirits” play an important role in driving business decisions, and there are historical examples of so-called “capital strikes”—where investors pulled capital out of an economy in reaction to anti-business policies. But there’s no evidence that anything like this is happening in the U.S. right now. [New Yorker]
• The song is “Lover, You Should’ve Come Over,” 1 of 20 by Jeff Buckley that, in “The Last Goodbye,” are threaded through Shakespeare’s play with a studied care that can border on the eerie, given that Buckley wasn’t involved with the musical. [New York Times]
• Because of the way that things have been going with my popularity and the Situation brand, I’m able to sit back and make the right choice as per my career, as per the Situation’s career or Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino’s career, as per should I do one more year of reality, two more shows, or should I take a stab at Dancing With the Stars or should I do scripted TV with NBC? [Rolling Stone]
• Mike Tyson. Jason McElwain. Brian Collins. Natalie Gilbert. Caddyshack. [Sports Illustrated]