How Much is Enough?

This week in the world of Real-Life SuperHeroes, I became aware of a citizen-in-need who had accused an RLSH of not helping him enough, and that is something worth discussing.  I think I'm going to offer a distinct opinion or two here, so please know I'll do my best to label them as such, to differentiate them from the more objective "things to think about" points I usually try to make.

When you or I see someone who is "down on their luck" or whatever term fits best, there are a number of factors that present themselves in that situation.  First, I think most of us identify immediately that that person is having a problem and at least the "food and shelter" aspect of his or her life isn't where s/he would like it to be.  There are then a number of split-second decisions your brain makes that determine how the rest of that moment will be handled.  See, the first thought we have after seeing someone in a bad place already begins our classification: is this someone with whom we empathize, or is s/he a "tough shit; best of luck" scenario?  If you see someone and simply say "Oh well - better him than me," that really is the end of that.  You then likely move on with the rest of your day, which is your choice to make, and there's no more to say about it.  I've found, though, there are indeed people who hesitate, even if just for a moment, to consider that person's misfortune, and their following actions are what I'd like to discuss.

There are those who pause at seeing a person who has fallen on hard times and decide how to act based on how much of that person's misfortune is "their own fault."  Assuming we are taking people on a case-by-case basis, and not the "all homeless people are junkies/drunks" generalization, it is still a part of human nature to judge people based on what you see at a first impression and to subconsciously identify differences and barriers between you and that person.  Here, some people will decide there are enough differences between them and the unfortunate citizen that they can blame him for his fate and they can move on guilt-free.  "Well, he was drinking when I saw him; I'm sure he got himself into that mess so he can get himself out."  Again, at this point, this is the end of the scenario for that person.  Some others will not blame the person for his/her misfortune and they will continue on to the next step.

Next, there are those who see that person in bad shape (whether it's "their own fault" or not) and immediately, irreversibly empathize.  So what does the person who empathizes do then?  It is at this point that I offer an opinion.  I often hear people in some kind of trouble say to others, "It's enough to know that you care."  Now, that's interesting.  Sometimes I agree with that; it boosts my spirits to know when I'm having a hardship that someone out there is pulling for me, made more aware of the situation through my example, etc.  I like that I can help people lose their preconceptions about whatever crap I'm going through by seeing me go through it.  However, it is of my opinion that people can start using that as a crutch.  If someone gets laid off and loses their pension, their house, their car, simply saying to yourself "Man...too bad" is not only not helping that person, but it's not helping anyone else who has fallen or may fall into that same trap.  Now, no law says that person is your responsibility (which I'll get into in a minute), but I don't understand that people feel better about themselves in regards to that person's life just because they shook their head and felt bad for a second.  End opinion.


It may seem like splitting hairs, but the alternative option to that step in social empathy is actually a crucial one.  When you empathize with someone's situation, we just discussed not doing anything for them besides feeling bad.  Well, even then, the most indirect seed of helping has already been planted in your mind. It's a possibility that even if you don't help this person immediately, maybe they stick in your mind (and you decide in 10 or 20 years to advocate a law or elected official dedicated to helping people get back on their feet) - or maybe they don't.  This step in your mental process is that of empowerment.  We ask ourselves, "Can I do anything about this?"  If not, see the previous paragraph.  If so, maybe you take the "eventual assistance" route that you see enough hopelessness in the world that one day you do something about it.

And it is here that we must first ask the question of the day:  Is that enough?  Is it enough to see enough hunger, poverty, crime, whatever on the streets victimizing Persons A through C that eventually we help Persons D through F?  In the general mindset that "helping your fellow person" is a good thing as opposed to a bad thing, then the first few people's plight leading up to your decision to support the next few people is certainly a step in the right direction.  Up until this point, we discussed being willing or unwilling to help someone in need.  Then we discussed believing ourselves to be able or unable to do the same.  Now that we're looking at being willing and able, what then?  How active is active?  What responsibility does one have to his or her fellow human?  Where does helping meet enabling?

Essentially...how much is enough?

That's a question that predates my research into the RLSH community and I don't have a simple answer for it.  I will present all the philosophies of the argument I've heard, though, without taking a side.  Some people, RLSH or not, believe the best way to help society at large is to ignore people down on their luck.  This is, as close as I understand it, a pretty hardcore sense of Darwinism - only the strong survive; the weak ones will eventually just die off and society will be stronger without them.  This closely parallels some hard calls that officers in the military have to make, as well: is it right or wrong to sacrifice one to save many?

Others seem to believe in the old proverb: "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day; teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime."  The closest parallel for this in modern life is that these people believe it may be alright to bring food-and-supply packs to those homeless/unfortunate folks, which will help them in the short-term, but that by giving them their immediate needs, one is simply enabling them and teaching them to rely on others.  These same people will either commit themselves to "teaching them how to fish," e.g. helping the downtrodden find jobs and low-rent housing and so on, or they will simply offer no alternative solution and resign themselves to decry those "giving a fish" as being "part of the problem."

A third group of people believe in helping others in any way they can.  I've heard many RLSH look at the opposite side of the same coin as the previous group - that "I may not be able to turn their whole life around myself, but I was able to buy this family some more time with food and supplies."  There are plenty of RLSH featured in Penny Cavalier and elsewhere who leave their homes with supply packs to hand out to the homeless, none of which are necessarily inexpensive.

The final group of people believe in attacking the problem at its earliest source - whether that source is an unfair employer, a bad economy, a drug dealer or whatever else put the misfortune into someone's life.

So who needs or deserves help?  Whereas earlier we looked at the empowered side of the issue of responsibility for a stranger, here we have to decide that individual's sense of responsibility and ability for him/herself.  It's the "willing and able" tool we used for our helpers, only with different qualifying circumstances - if someone is willing and able to take care of him/herself, s/he absolutely wouldn't need the assistance of another person or government agency.

Another common view of the needy, which is the stereotype of them, is that they are "able but unwilling" to take care of themselves - and thus undeserving of any help.  If a particular person in need sees himself as "able but unwilling" to get back on his feet, he is saying that the rest of the world owes him a living, and for whatever reason, he shouldn't have to work for it.  Again, this is only if the person is truly able but not interested in taking care of himself.  It's harder to reconcile this school of thought with a logical gauge of mutually-beneficial life in the western world.

Finally, there are those who are "willing but unable" to be in the same productive place in society as most of us are.  They suffer from some kind of disadvantage - be it physical, mental, economic or otherwise - that places them in the awkward position of wanting to lead a better life than they do but being helpless to make it happen.  This is a very real scenario, one with which people live every day.  It becomes difficult then to determine who is truly unable and who is truly unwilling to support themselves, which is a decision that everyone from their family members to social workers to RLSH must each make, one case at a time.

Once the decision is made, however, what can that person expect in terms of help, short- and long-term?  Now that we've identified all the elements in the equation, we can address that question again: How much is enough?  In the end it's not up to me to decide; there are as many variables as different cases.  In all my research into the world of the RLSH I keep coming back to having to take everything at face value in their lives - a necessary practice, but one as exhausting as learning a new language in every instance.  The only person legally responsible for each of us is ourselves.  On the other hand, the volunteer has pledged to be A Person Who Helps - but whether you think the extent of their help is enough or not isn't up to them.

Avengers Vs. Wu-Tang.

It's no secret that rappers love comic books.  MF Doom has based much of his solo career on Dr. Doom, and members of the Wu-Tang Clan have taken on the ideology of some of their favorite comic characters.  Ghostface Killah's first album is called Ironman (and he calls himself Tony Stark on a regular basis), Method Man goes by Johnny Blaze aka Ghost Rider, etc.  RZA even created a new superhero, Bobby Digital, and invested much of his fortune into developing him into an RLSH, complete with a bulletproof outfit and a themed, souped-up car.

But besides rap's fascination with comic culture, what could Marvel's Avengers team possibly have to do with the rap group the Wu-Tang Clan?  The answer may surprise you.  Several years ago I wrote an essay for my first book about going to see the Wu-Tang Clan in Orlando in 2005.  It was a great concert, but one of the things I focused on for my essay was the business end of the Wu and how they'd built an empire based on correlating products.

The short(est) version of it is this.  In 1993, Wu-Tang released their debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang, which was a blowout success.  It's a great album, featuring all nine emcees in the band throughout, besides being a welcome change from the poppy direction the genre had taken in the late '80s.  The real genius of Wu-Tang, though, lay in the group itself.  After the release of Enter the Wu-Tang, most of the members of the band released a solo album, mostly showcasing their own talents, but with guest spots from the band and other talent they'd recruited.  It's not hard to tell who's who on Enter the Wu-Tang - half their songs feature the rappers calling themselves out for easy identification - and fans found themselves gravitating towards each member's solo albums depending on each fan's preference.  The debut album became, in a sense, a sampler for the rest of the Clan's independent effort.

Even stronger for the business was the paperwork.  The group's leader, RZA, rallied the other members to sign to different record labels.  The band were so hot at the time, the labels agreed to unheard-of clauses in their contracts - including that a percentage of each artist's royalties would go back to the Wu-Tang group itself and divided up between all nine men.  Also, any talent that one Wu member would recruit and sign to his label would pay that member royalties on their albums, which would sell better with guest spots the main Wu-Tang artists performed.  Essentially, in a matter of a couple years, nine kids from New York City controlled over 30% of the money in the hip-hop industry and record labels were competing with one another to sell their albums, not realizing they were in fact putting all their money directly towards their own (and one another's) artists.  Now stick a pin in that whole idea, reverse it and you'll see where where this is headed.

Fast forward to 2008, when Marvel Studios releases a modern take on Iron Man, starring the amazing Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark.  Of course it didn't hurt that Downey's supporting cast included the stellar Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges and Terence Howard - not to mention being in the capable hands of Jon Favreau - but the mainstream movie crowd was still struggling what to think of superhero movies in terms of the 21st-century market.  On the one hand, Christopher Nolan's Batman films had done very well - at the time, The Dark Knight was near the top of a short list of highest-grossing movies of all time - as had the first two Tobey Maguire Spider-Man efforts.  However, two attempts at bringing The Hulk back (and Spider-Man 3, whose double-time jazz hands still cause me to wake up screaming at night) failed to impress audiences.  We were only a year or so out from the poorly-received portrayal of Eddie Brock/Venom by Topher Grace, so in a way, Marvel Studios (and Iron Man) had to cut its jibs and prove itself from scratch.

The same way Batman Begins had to just three years prior.

The same way Wu-Tang had to in 1993.

Perhaps taking a cue from the Caped Crusader's recent successes, all parties involved in Iron Man made an effort to focus less on the campier, classic style of superhero media developed from the '40s to the '80s and update Tony Stark to fit in a little more with contemporary mainstream movies and their more realistic, toned-down portrayals.  The last three Best Picture winners were The Departed, No Country for Old Men and Slumdog Millionaire - how much good do you think pun-filled one-liners would do for Marvel Studios?  The result was a Tony Stark who was sometimes funny or goofy - again owing to Robert Downey Jr.'s seemingly endless list of good performances - but still grounded entirely in reality.  Beyond a couple exaggerated gadgets in his repertoire, Ol' Shellhead was suddenly as believable a character as Bruce Wayne - no radioactive poisoning or freak mutations, no artifact from outer space.  Just a guy with his heart in the right place (no pun intended), able to make a striking difference in the world - and who doesn't want to see that?

So Marvel had a hit on its hands.  How could it make lightning strike twice?  After the end credits of Iron Man, Tony is confronted by Samuel L Jackson playing Nick Fury, who tells Tony he's assembling a team of other people like him - The Avengers Initiative.  Audiences went nuts - though it would be another four years before Avengers released, we had proof positive of how good their movies could be, assuming they were all produced under the same umbrella as Iron Man.

Iron Man was followed by Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America, all using cast members and writing styles that would lead up to and return in Avengers.  Iron Man 2 and Thor even introduced a couple supporting/fringe heroes, Black Widow and Hawkeye, respectively, who would return in Avengers.  It should be noted that the one underrepresented superhero in Marvel's five-year plan is The Hulk, who will be played in Avengers by Mark Ruffalo rather than Eric Bana or Edward Norton who have each played him in recent years.  I would imagine Marvel Studios didn't want to try to make a third standalone take on Hulk in a decade just for the sake of rounding out the team, but I'm sure Ruffalo does a great job.

Much like the Wu-Tang solo albums, details have already surfaced about Captain America 2, Iron Man 3 and Thor 2, which will obviously follow some time after Avengers.  It seems that up until this point, like the record industry promoting a full-length album by an artist with one or two singles releasing before the album, Marvel Studios has been content for each superhero's movies to work on their own until next Thursday, fueling the release of Avengers.  Whereas Wu-Tang released their assembled heroes first to later develop their own solo material, Marvel Studios has taken the opposite route for now - though they may for the next couple years follow suit, earning successes for future individual releases based somewhat on their united group's smash hit.

...Now all we need is a comic series crossover between The Avengers and the Wu-Tang Clan, in which the Wu would get to flaunt the musical and martial arts talents they have in their video game Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style.  That or an arcade fighter game: Avengers Vs. Wu-Tang, a la Marvel Vs. Capcom.

Analyzing the Bee Sting/Shotgun Incident.

When I published my book Penny Cavalier a year ago, I figured its release would essentially mark the end of my personal involvement with - and coverage of - the Real-Life SuperHero movement.  I had no desire one way or the other to continue or discontinue writing about the global phenomenon of anonymous masked citizenry, and as other projects came up on my itinerary, Penny Cav tucked itself into a corner and essentially went into hibernation.

So imagine my surprise this morning as I awoke and found myself so compelled by an incident in their community to dust this blog off and compose a new entry.  I think given my past with the RLSH it's partly my responsibility to try to lay out the facts in a straight line and make sense of this situation involving their subculture.

An RLSH named Bee Sting has been arrested in Burton, MI - that link has the most concrete story I've found besides comments from other RLSH on FaceBook shedding some light on the incident.  Details are sketchy at best right now, so please take even my report with a grain of salt, let alone what you read elsewhere, but I've come to understand something to this effect between all the sources I've read.  Last night in the vicinity of a mobile home neighborhood, Bee Sting came across a motorcyclist who he believed was making enough noise to warrant intercession - I believe the man's motorcycle was the source of the noise.  At some point, Bee Sting is said to have drawn a shotgun during his discussion with the man.  The shotgun went off - whether intentionally or accidentally has yet to be proven, so no judgments can be made on its fire - and the shot hit a nearby vacant trailer.  The police arrived and took Bee Sting into custody; I was unable to find information on the motorcyclist's whereabouts after the confrontation.

Since a hundred questions remain (Why bring the gun?  Why brandish it?  How did it fire?  What did the conversation sound like?), I can't speculate on why or how it happened, nor how differently or similarly it should have happened.  I've always made it my practice to use as few opinions as possible regarding the RLSH as a whole or as individuals, and will do my best to continue to do so today.  Why?  In researching Penny Cavalier, I had the privilege of speaking with many anonymous citizens who opened up to me despite unfavorable media coverage on their lifestyle before and since, and their open mind regarding my position as a writer convinced me further to treat them the same, whether we agreed or disagreed with one another's practices from time to time.

New Orleans private activist Captain Black has written an opinion piece on the Bee Sting incident and raises some interesting points.  For example, Black points out that the Trayvon Martin / George Zimmerman scandal in the news has caused the nation to rouse debates on everything from gun rights and neighborhood watches to Florida's self-defense laws and contemporary racial stereotypes.  While Zimmerman awaits trial, a news story involving an RLSH brandishing a firearm on patrol couldn't possibly come at a worse time.  Clearly the incidents are very different in circumstances and outcome, but a 21st-century scandal-happy news industry can and will connect the dots if the Bee Sting story continues to grow.  After all, the Martin/Zimmerman case has already caused Fox to pull and revise its campaign for the upcoming Ben Stiller comedy Neighborhood Watch, in which four concerned citizens on patrol end up battling aliens who land in their neighborhood.

The media blowout awaiting Bee Sting - and the RLSH community, who will surely face some collateral damage - raises plenty of questions by itself.  Primarily, how can a number of people judged and grouped in the public's eye largely by their physical appearance shake the social stigma attached to them whenever one individual sharing that appearance acts in a publicly unfavorable manner?  I touched on this issue in a chapter of Penny Cavalier, in which a celebrity stalker had made several claims of being involved directly in the RLSH community - though in my research, even his conversations with any other RLSH were tenuous at best, much less resembling an acquaintanceship.  Without that research, though, what image does that paint of the RLSH?  An answer may have come from Michigan today.

In the case of Bee Sting, his involvement with the community is more tangible.  He was at least called a member of a Midwestern group called the Michigan Protectors, started a year ago by a masked citizen known as Arsenul - in the interest of being forthcoming, I want to note here that Arsenul has added me on FaceBook since the publication of Penny Cavalier, though I have not spoken with him directly in at least a month or two and this piece is being written without the direct involvement or knowledge of any RLSH.  As soon as Arsenul caught word of the story about Bee Sting last night, he publicly denounced Bee Sting's actions and, according to the MLive article linked to earlier, has kicked him out of the Michigan Protectors.  It's my opinion that this is a step in the right direction in the interest of damage control.  That's not to mention that there is no evidence suggesting that Bee Sting's carrying a shotgun on his patrol is because of or in accordance with the usual practices of the Michigan Protectors.  So unless verifiable reports to the contrary come in, Arsenul's public disapproval of Bee Sting's actions can be reasonably taken as honest - if the public gives him that chance.  Each member of their community is now faced with the decision of continuing his or her personal and professional relationship with Bee Sting, and that brings about another point raised by Bee Sting's course of action last night.

When acting as a representative of a group, where does one's responsibility to that group end, and is every member prepared for that accountability?  The actions of each RLSH have the potential to reflect upon them as a whole in open view, and it's as much the media's job to report on newsworthy RLSH activities fairly and objectively as it is for the RLSH to act in a manner that serves their global image.  When either side fails to meet that task, the watching world is presented with an unjust account of these anonymous citizens.  What i mean is, it disheartens me that many people will likely look at the circumstances regarding Bee Sting this week as a great reason to assume that any human dressed "like him" (e.g. in a symbolic outfit but not legally-recognized law enforcement or medical aide) must obviously "act like him" (from what these people have read, a citizen patrolling a neighborhood with a shotgun he is able and ready to brandish).  This assumption can and will boil down, to some, as "all these superhero types must be dangerous."  I actually know for a fact that's not the case, and will continue my habit of taking each person in a group at face value, but many people don't know that.  Basically, it's up to every RLSH to decide what his or her responsibility is in their efforts of altruism, and he or she must consider what each action for which s/he performs will "say to the world" about "all of them."

In light of this event, regardless of which details come to light about Bee Sting's run-in with the police, the only assumption I believe we should make is that we can't make any assumptions.  If you want my personal findings about the individual's rights to stand up for his or her community and what the consequences are, I spent about a year researching it and wrote a book.  In regards to this situation in particular, I've done my best to separate fact from stereotype and speak from my experience.  I hope this has been a call to reason for anyone on the fence on this issue and to remind anyone reading this to make your opinions based on facts and empirical evidence - as well as in individual cases - rather than conjecture or large-scale general critiques, even though anonymous masked citizenry is such a new and unfamiliar topic to much of the population that our limited experiences with it are easily confused with representative actions of a culture.

Note:  It was not my aim in authoring this piece to approve or disapprove of Bee Sting's actions, nor those of the RLSH on the whole.  As I discovered in researching Penny Cavalier, there are nearly as many types of people in their community as there are people in their community.

Fighting Crime with The Guilt.

I felt relatively jazzed up after donating some food and water to Tracy a couple weeks ago, especially when the simple mention of said charitable act got some free bonuses from a manager at a corporate coffee/sandwich place, so yesterday when the baby and I were running errands and I saw a traffic crime in-progress I decided to do something about it.

We were going into GameStop to reserve my copy of Batman: Arkham City (awesome!) when I saw a small business pickup truck double-parked in a handicap spot with no sticker. I have an axe to grind against jerks using handicap and new parent spots and I know a lot of other people do too, so I figured I'd help our community a bit by serving this jerk a ticket for using up some poor person's spot.

I knelt 10 ft. behind it and aimed my Droid camera at the pickup. Snap. I had it all in view - the license plate number, the painted white line outlining the parking spot (which his car was straddling) and the building behind it, not to mention the date/time stamp that would be imprinted on the file and the file info on any Windows PC. This equates to positive ID of the suspect, the misdemeanor in-progress and verified time and location of the incident.

So imagine my dismay when I called the police today for an e-mail address and was told my efforts were all for naught. I find this hard to swallow.

"How is my picture inadmissible?"

"Well with technology these days, anyone could Photoshop it."

"There are different columns in the File Properties window on PC's for when a file was created and when it was last modified."

"The time could be off; it could've been taken a year ago."

"There's a time and date stamp on the file that's synced to Google's world clock every day via the 3G connection on my phone, not to mention there are window ads in the GameStop behind his truck which were only issued in the last month or two."

"Well, we'd have to subpoena you in court if we even tried to give this guy a ticket."

"That's fine. I've got time."

"...Look, an officer has to do it in person. Next time you see it happen, give us a call and we'll get the nearest officer out there."

No wonder so many RLSH have aired their grievances about legal red tape to me. The Guilt feels like he's got a 0-2 count right now.

Helping Tracy.

Our yard was lightly ravaged by Hurricane Irene and I spent a day outside with my father chopping down the broken, falling limbs and cutting them down to size for firewood, clearing the driveways and yards from twigs and branches and hauling them around in the ride-on mower. My shoes got destroyed and I went to Journeys and ordered a pair before my wife, baby and I went on vacation to south Georgia for Labor Day to see my in-laws.

We came back on Tuesday and got back to Richmond in the late afternoon. We unloaded the car and let the baby run around the house; she was sick of being in the car. I took the car back out to put a full tank of gas in it and pick up my shoes while my wife watched the baby and caught my parents up on our trip.

The gas station is on Hull St. in Midlothian, a block west of the movie theater. I pulled into the strip mall with the ABC, Kroger, Babies R Us and Petco; the gas station was right across the parking lot. It was drizzling. As I pulled in I saw a middle-aged husky woman with bleached blonde hair and skin that had obviously spent too much time in the sun. She held up a cardboard sign and written in black marker it said "HOMELESS HUNGRY Please help if you can." I went to the Kroger and saw some last-day sandwiches bundled for $5.49 and a liter bottle of water for about a buck.

I pulled up in the nearest parking spot next to her and told her I had some food and water for her.

"Oh, I don't wanna be wasteful; I don't drink water."

"What do you drink?"

"Coffee and Coke."

"Those aren't...terribly good for you." I noticed her teeth were already solidly yellow and several were starting to rot brown. "Are you sure you don't want some water instead? Coke and coffee will wreak havoc on your stomach if you're hungry..."

"It's fine," she said, handing me back the water. "People are always trying to give me water; I've got about 20 bottles of it in my car; I'm livin' in my car."

I introduced myself as jonny - not as The Guilt, my would-be RLSH alter-ego - and she said her name was Tracy. I started to say my farewells - I was new to this whole philanthropy/charity/RLSH thing, but as far as I could tell, the transaction was about finished.

"Ok; well I'm gonna get - "

"Hey, could you buy me a hot chocolate?"

"Um...I don't really have any more money."

"I wasn't asking for your money; just go over to that coffee shop and get me a hot chocolate. They won't sell me one."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Uh, sure, give me a minute and I'll be back."

Sheepishly I drove across the street to the coffee/sandwich shop and waited in line for a hot chocolate. I told the cashier (who was also the manager on duty) I was buying it for the homeless lady outside and asked if he had any pastries they were getting rid of. He said they donated to shelters every day who re-bake them and give them out, and I said that was no problem. Then he gave me a larger hot chocolate than I'd asked for without charging, and he slipped a muffin into a bag and handed it to me and winked. It reminded me of my interview over a year ago with Peter Tangen. Pete had said something to me along the lines of "The world opens up for things that belong in it, and [the RLSH community] is just one example of that." On the other hand, I thought back to some other interviews I'd conducted with RLSH who had said that not everybody needs to don an outfit and mask to go feed the homeless.

So I took Tracy's hot chocolate and muffin back to her. Just then another car drove up and a woman in white capris and sandals handed her two $10 gift cards to McDonald's. I stood there, holding the hot chocolate and muffin, all of us getting rained on, while the woman in capris made Tracy promise her repeatedly that she wasn't going to trade her gift cards for drugs or alcohol money. She spoke to her like a child.

"You do understand how important it is to take care of yourself, right? Okay, now I'm gonna give you these cards, but you need to buy food with them; do you understand? Food?"

Tracy agreed, and then asked the woman for some money too. The woman declined and hurriedly got back in her car and drove away. As she was opening her car door, Tracy shouted after her, "My grandmammy always said ain't no harm in askin'!" Tracy returned to me and I gave her her treats and she said the sandwiches were good.

"Yeah; where'd they go to? You didn't already eat 'em that fast, did you?"

And she said "No; I put 'em over there," and she pointed to a pile of food including the sandwiches, McDonald's gift cards, a doggie bag from a nearby restaurant and, in the following moments, the muffin I got her. I was about to happily explain to her that it looked like she was doing pretty well for the day when another car came up and rolled down their window. "Hang on," Tracy said, and a pair of women's hands adorned with jewelry handed out a small Red Lobster bag to Tracy, who asked them also for some money or some more food. The window went back up and they drove off.

We said our farewells and I told Tracy to take care of herself. On the way to the mall to get my shoes, and the half-hour drive home, I thought about the whole thing. For the most part, I felt adrenaline - like I'd just gotten in a fight and won. I paid money I couldn't really spare to buy food for someone who needed it more than I did; I didn't assume she was a drunk or a junkie; I did a good thing for no other reason than I felt, of my own free will, like doing it. On my end, there really were no Strings Attached. All I really desired was a "thank you," and even that made me feel like I was holding it over her head, so I'd decided I didn't care if I got one or not. I thought about the guys who made Bumfights and I almost cried for the sheer lack of humanity in that. I thought about the women who were obviously afraid of Tracy or believed she was a drug addict and helped her out conditionally, or fearfully. Their body language said "You can have this, just promise you won't hurt me." And there was no cause for that, from my experience.

I thought about the last homeless person I tried to help. I was in San Francisco in high school and I saw a guy with nothing. No shopping cart, no backpack, just the shirt on his back and a handwritten sign. He asked me for money. I told him, truthfully, that I didn't have any cash, but I'd be happy to go to a restaurant and get him a meal. He looked at me like I'd just insulted him and said "Fuck you," and I turned and left, the homeless man unleashing a torrent of curse words and spit in my direction. I had been so mad, scared and sad that I threw up in a trash can a half-block away.

I think we learn to approach the homeless with a sense of fear and entitlement, that they should be indebted and awe-inspired by every cup of coffee or quarter we cast their way. So as it started to dawn on me that Tracy had gotten enough food and food money to feed herself for nearly a week in a 10-minute stretch, I felt a little silly having gone for her hot cocoa and muffin too. But I realized it may be the only food she gets for the next week so I put it aside.

What an experience. All in all, it felt great. I drove home blasting Jane's Addiction as loud as I thought the car stereo should push it, and Dave Navarro's ripping guitar solos brought new energy to me. I realized I'd have to explain why it took me two hours to get gas and go to the mall, so I started thinking of all the reasons I could offer for buying Tracy just two days' worth of food.

If our baby were in the same position in 50 years from now, I'd like to think someone would stop and do the same.

It was just my turn.

It was the right thing to do.

I wasn't hungry for dinner; otherwise that $7 would've gone to a meal I'd eat half of and throw away.

She could've been anyone's mother, and she is someone's daughter.

Had I not written Penny Cavalier, I don't know that I would've stopped. Maybe my sources should take, as payment, that I was inspired enough to make a difference for someone this one time, and that I'll probably do it again in the future.

So the big question is: does this make me a Real-Life SuperHero?

No.

But it's not because it doesn't count. Quite the opposite, in fact: It's because there's a big difference between a one-time sandwich purchase and a lifestyle of community-based charity and benevolence. I see people like Thanatos, Zetaman, Life, Geist and countless others making philanthropy into a full-time job and becoming a known figure in their cities; collecting food, goods and toys from vendors and citizens willing to give them away and making sure they get in the hands of dozens - even hundreds - of the needy; getting elbows deep in the part of society most of us try to ignore...and then I see that I took a pit stop at a grocery store on one occasion and snagged a bag of sandwiches and a hot cocoa for one person out in the 'burbs. I didn't humiliate or ignore Tracy, but $7 doesn't make me Captain America.

But I think the important thing is, it's a step in the right direction. If everyone who could buy a meal or some toiletries or supplies for a homeless person did buy them, it may not solve the problem...but it wouldn't hurt. Indeed, it would probably give enough of us a natural high that we'd want to perpetuate outreach beyond writing a check or slipping a dollar into the Salvation Army tin.

On my way home I thought about all this. My mind raced. I got home and apologized for being so late. My wife asked.

"What took you so long?"

"I um...I stopped and fed a homeless lady. I hope we had $7 on the debit card."

"Oh. Ok, that's fine."

And we all went back to what we were doing.

Defective Geeks review!

The geeky gals at DefectiveGeeks have just reviewed Penny Cavalier most favorably.

This isn't just a book of interviews; it explores the ideas and experiences of selflessness in our own lives and what makes [Real-Life SuperHeroes] stand apart. Bottom line: Read Penny Cavalier. It explores a fascinating sub-culture that I was not even aware of until I started reading.

Read the full review here and check out their website; they're an awesome bunch of ladies and I'm humbled by their review.

Cleanup! All the info you need, right here.

Alright my friends, I've been doing a lot of promotion for our ad recently. It was on Kevin Smith's podcast Jay and Silent Bob Get Jobs yesterday and we were thrilled that they talked about (and around) Penny Cavalier for eight full minutes. It's available for download here. The ad is on their May 24th podcast, and it starts at 58 minutes and 45 seconds or so and goes until 1 hour 6 minutes 45 seconds (58:45 to 1:06:45). It's free to download or stream, so punch that shit!

So I'd put up several blog posts about working on the ad, the papers clearing, the day it was going to go up, etc. As grateful as we are that it happened, and as much as we love the podcast and ad besides the point, I think it's OK for me to clean the blog up a bit and get it back on track. So I'm killing a couple older posts about Jay and Silent Bob and replacing them with sample chapters from the book.

Here are all the links you need, so you don't have to browse through the whole page top to bottom. Please "like" the FaceBook page I've set up for all my writing. No offense, but I can't accept every single friend request on my PERSONAL page 'cuz that would just be way too much stuff for my simple ass to handle, so the link to it isn't up here.

Penny Cavalier on sale at Amazon for $9.99 here.

The first free chapter you should read is The Introduction.

After that, you're going to want to check out The Detective.

In the book, immediately following The Detective is a personal/segue chapter, Duo.

Finally, one that's been getting a lot of positive feedback (and one of my favorite chapters), The Philanthropist.

My first novel, 100,000 Years in Detention, can be bought on Amazon for $9.99 right here. Check my profile for the other blogs I run.

Thank you very much; I appreciate it. Please enjoy my writing and PLEASE pass it on. I'm doing this 100% by myself (with help from my wife) so I could really use your word-of-mouth. I'm always available for contact by e-mail at jonny.lupsha@gmail.com if you have any love/hate mail to send.