How to talk to the press!

John Carlson, the morning rush talker on the conservative KVI radio station, was interviewing the directory of Vancouver BC's safe injection and needle exchange site. Carlson let him have the opening piece, in which he discussed how he came from a conservative and skeptical background, but after doing his homework and reviewing the success other cities had had, he'd chosen to go ahead with the needle exchange program in Vancouver.

Carlson, it has to be noted, has had a strong antipathy to needle exchange programs going back at least as far as his failed run for Washington's governor's office in 2000, and has used the phrase as a hippy-punching punchline on his show from time to time.

After a few back-and-forth questions, Carlson said, "So... heroin use is down in Vancouver, then?"

The director said "No." And then there was silence.

Carlson reacted, "Oh!" and you could absolutely hear the delight in his voice, because he'd found the truth he was looking for. He'd found the talking point that affirmed what he believed in.

Never, ever go into a debate like this without knowing what the other person wants out of it, and without being fully ready to address talking points like this. You never just let someone take their weapon and stick it in.

A better answer would have been "No, but the rate of heroin use hasn't increased either. That's not the point of a program like this. What has gone down is the number of people dying of overdoses and blood-borne diseases, and as a harm reduction that keeps people alive, it works very well. Injection site clinics are points of contact with drug users; it gives us window into their lives that allows us to monitor for other forms of cimme and disease. And it offers a chance for counselling and rehabilititation, something we almost never see if we treat drug use as a criminal issue rather than a public health issue."

But no, the poor hapless fool stuck his head into John Carlson's meat grinder and got it bitten clean off.

The Neighbors Are Leaving...

For sixteen years, Omaha and I have been blessed with amazing neighbors to the west. We were initially skeptical, as they were one of those families with their church and seven children, with one more obviously on the way even as we moved in. They're the sort of people that subscribe to one of those video managing services that pre-reads a commercial DVD and cuts out all the "bad" parts. (Raen reports that the nudist colony scene from Zootopia completely disappeared.)

But they were awesome people. Helpful, friendly, and always willing to split the difference when our fence needed mending or the drainage was becoming an issue. They and we had a great working relationship about making sure the trash cans were out on the curb on Thursday nights, and worked together to deal with ants, wasps, and racoons that were harassing the neighborhood.

They're moving. The patriarch has a job in St. Louis waiting, and this Friday the house is closed up, and next week new people start looking at their beautiful split-level with bedrooms. At least three of the children are now old enough to stay behind in Seattle with their own jobs and their own lives but they won't be coming around the old neighborhood anymore. The two young women with whom Raen and Storm grew up will be going to St. Louis.

The house to the east has been a mixed bag: five families in all those years, starting with the gay couple and their stereotypically beautiful landscape, then the Polish immigrants with their hard work ethic and politically incorrect views, the Ferals, the Rastas, and now a nice family with too many big cars and one small toddler. I'm hoping the new residents to the west have a little more stability, and a little less craziness, than that.

And while I like our house, I'm not in love with it. It was a great tool for bringing up daughters, but it's far from the city, it's still automobile territory, and it's a lot of house to keep up. Maybe when Raen reaches majority and post high-school, we'll try to find something closer to the city. The gods know we have the equity now.