After finishing season four of the Wire and discussing the plight of Baltimore’s youth during the season for symposium, I thought devoting some time to the parents of these children might shed some more light on the situation. Many of kids in the Wire seem to fail or run into trouble because they do not [...]
Season 4 has detailed Carcetti’s rise to mayor of Baltimore, but one of the best story lines is following his rounds with police around the city. As he starts out, he begins to quickly realize the way things work in Baltimore’s police force, and he is truly unimpressed. Whether it be from homicide’s lack of [...]
The recent death of Trayvon Martin has raised a lot of eyebrows, to say the least. For some reason, and I’m not sure if I should feel bad about this, I thought of the Wire when I heard about his murder. Martin was a young black male, much like the main subjects of Season 4. [...]
After watching Season 3 and getting into Season 4, it is becoming more apparent how the show critiques and showcases the importance that money still has in politics. No matter what level of the US political system you look at, whether it be local, national, or state, money is a key part of any election [...]
I came across this chart (click here for a larger version) on the Wire subreddit (www.reddit.com/r/thewire) and it thought it was pretty telling. Other than being pretty helpful for keeping track of what happened when (numerous mistakes within the graph notwithstanding), it also gives a brief look at the themes of the seasons. You can [...]
Season 3 of The Wire examines City Hall and the politics of an institution ripe with corruption and questionable ethics. Whether through Mayor Royce, Councilman Carcetti, or Senator Clay Davis, every politician seems to be playing a game that will unfortunately leave the constituents they represent in similar positions of continued poverty and urban decay. [...]
During the episode “Reformation” (S3 E10), Councilman Carcetti and his election team discuss the upcoming election for mayor and his chances in it. One factor they bring up is the need to split the black vote for him to have a chance. Though this was only a brief part of a brief scene, it stuck [...]
After last week’s speaker, Neill Franklin, I felt obliged to talk about the experiment of Hamsterdam and the potential in a society without prohibition for drug addicts to get help. As Mr. Franklin was saying, the key to either legalizing or deregulating drugs is pairing that with efforts of outreach to the citizens and communities [...]
