DEBORAH COPAKEN KOGAN

My daughter Sasha and I walked the dog together last Monday night after dark. This would not be newsworthy but for the fact that it was the first time we’d done so in nearly six weeks.

My family lives in Harlem, on Sugar Hill, on the same block where our local serial rapist, who was finally caught on Sunday night, sexually assaulted and robbed his fourth and latest victim, by crawling through her bathroom window via a fire escape. That attack, aside from his weapon of choice, a knife, was an anomaly for our rapist. Normally he simply overpowered his victims as they were entering the front doors of their buildings. (more…)

Okay, it's here, thanks to my old friend Maria Giacchino, of Little Jacket Video Productions. Here, take down her email address: littlejacket@mac.com. You never know when you'll need the most awesomest (not a word, I know) video gal on the planet.

For now, you can check it out in the left hand column of this blog, but if you're reading this any time after, say, October of 2009, god only knows where it will be, blogwise. (I know, also not a word, but shouldn't it be?)

Also, a shout out to my mom. It's her birthday. The first she's celebrating without my dad. Happy Birthday, Mom! And L'Shana Tova. May this year be much better than the last.

Prefer to read this on Huffington Post? Click here.

Last Monday, according to this report on the Smoking Gun, Roger Stephens, 61, went to a Walmart in Stone Mountain, Georgia, and slapped Paige Matthews, 2, for crying. Not to dismiss the injustice of the average, workaday abused child, but I think it's important to note here that Ms. Matthews was not in Mr. Stephens care at the time. In fact, before she came into that Walmart with her mother and incited her batterer with her incessant tears, young Paige and Mr. Stephens had never met.

To be fair, Mr. Stephens did fire a warning shot before (more…)

In lieu of writing my own post today, I'll reprint the following post from The Smoking Gun without commentary since, as you'll see, none is needed.

SEPTEMBER 2--Meet Roger Stephens. The Georgia man, 61, was shopping Monday morning at a Walmart in Stone Mountain when he crossed paths with Sonya Matthews and her two-year-old daughter Paige. The child was crying, which apparently greatly perturbed Matthews. "If you don't shut that baby up I will shut her up for you," Stephens warned Matthews, according to a Gwinnett County Police Department report. Moments later, Stephens acted on his threat, slapping Paige "across the face approximately four or five times." Though the child "started crying and screaming" (more…)