:Vocalo.org

Which do you fear more: random, accidental violence, or, being the victim of a purposeful attack? Like a lot of women, I have some inate, abstract fear of the latter. But since moving to Chicago I've come to fear the former as well. I was generally feeling like my adventurous, city-loving self, until I witnessed a gang-related shooting right in front of my apartment in Humbolt Park.  Although I had been mugged before, this was my first brush with gang violence, and it was certainly the first time I ever saw someone get shot. The incident left me badly shaken. I knew that I would never be targeted by gang violence, but for the first time I really started to worry about what might happen if I were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now, I hear the news of 10-year-old Arthur Jones of Englewood, killed by a stray bullet while walking home from school at 4:30 in the afternoon, or the equally shocking story of 13-year-old Schanna Gayden of Logan Square, shot after visiting a street vendor only a half-block from her home, and I think, my God, what is going on here? If a kid can't walk home from school in broad daylight without being afraid of getting shot, what business do I have biking around town by myself late at night? What hope is there for any of us? Vocalo's new Host/Producer Vanessa Fraction had her own brush with random violence: Yesterday I received a call from my sister. She had picked up her son and my daughter from school and was on her way to pick up a friend.  She's driving east bound and sees a man driving west bound pull a gun out and start shooting out of his window.  Now she keeps driving to get out of danger and when she gets a ways up the street she pulls over and sees a bullet has gone through the small back window on the side where my daughter is and went thru the car out the side where my nephew is shattering that window.We're so very blessed and grateful that my babies weren't hurt.  But there have been so many (even recently) where the bullet didn't miss, they were hit.And what's f-ed up to me is that when my sister first told me I was numb. Then I was like, whew... well I'm glad no one was hurt.  I'm gonna finish up my meeting now and I'll be home in a minute. An hour or more later when I got home. My heart almost dropped to my feet when I saw my daughter. She ran and hugged me tight and I realized I didn't have to be holding her right now like this.  It could've been a totally different scene.Today on Vocalo, we'll play an assortment of your stuff and talk about the following: how do we cope with violence, or the fear of violence? Have you experienced violence, random or otherwise? Do you feel safe where you live, or unsafe? Are there certain places that are "off-limits" for you? Has it allienated you from your own neighborhood? Your own block? And why can't we stop kids from being killed by stray bullets?! Is it a cop problem? A gang problem? A gun control problem? A CTA problem? Comment here, call 888-635-1112, or email us at onair@vocalo.org.