The Bones of “Vigilant Acts”
Every time the gun kicked back, she felt electric.
“Vigilant Acts” was inspired by several hit-and-runs in Kāneʻohe and those memorials that you see on the side of the road or secured around a traffic signal pole. Over time the sun dries the flowers and degrades the pleas and images, but you know the grief remains in the crosses turned x’s that hang loose in the wind. A reminder to everyone what was lost there.
What happens to that grief, where does it go? What does it become?
While thinking about these questions, I was also noticing that several Facebook groups were being featured on local news stations and stories continued to air about a perceived rise in crime in Hawaiʻi. In the comments on these stories, users spoke out about taking neighborhoods back and giving criminals what they deserved. The number of members in these groups, and the number of groups, continues to grow. You may be a member.
Photo credit: Donald Carreira Ching
It made me think about a real act of vigilantism and violence that I’m not going to get into; that’s the way it is with a lot of the stories in this collection. Some things you don’t talk about. The rest you turn into fiction.
When our world is falling apart, how do we find a sense of agency and security?
Do any of us really know?
I don’t, so I tried to write about it. I still don’t have an answer.
~ Donald
RSVP for the next BR Writing Jam, led by Donald
Join us on Saturday, May 31st from 3:00 to 4:15 pm HST online for a special writing jam session with Donald Carreira Ching on breaking the block by glancing askance at a story. It’s free and casual.
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