sense and senselessability

It's not that I usually hang out on State Street in the middle of the night.

I mean, I've come to realize that my calm, relatively quiet life isn't such a terrible thing and I think I'm better for it. Fewer stories to tell, but in the long run I'd rather have a titch of stability than ... well, the alternatives, fill in the blank.

Last night I was working in my official unofficial capacity as still photographer for a film crew shooting locally. While moving from one location to another a number of us happened by an after-hours brawl taking place on the 200 block of State Street.

No idea what started it, but, from the outside looking in, it appeared that one group of men clashed with another group of men and women. The first group began physically attacking the women of the second group. The men in the second group then began fighting with the men of the first group in defense of the women. There's no way of an outsider knowing what happened. Maybe a couple of the women got mouthy or taunted the men in the first group or claimed that alien spaceships were landing soon. I don't think it matters much really.

I don't condone violence of any kind - not emotional, not verbal and certainly not physical damage - but I also have the sense to not insert myself in the middle of 10+ probably-drunk and angry people. The one thing I could do in hopes of getting them to chill their asses out was to quickly pull out my camera and start shooting. It's a ridiculous time to be technical, but because I yanked my camera right from my bag I didn't have the flash attachment on so the pictures turned out grainy, dark, and green. At the time I didn't much care, I only hoped that from far across the street where I was standing I'd get someone's attention.

The people deepest into the feud wouldn't (couldn't?) pull themselves out, but their cohorts did notice us, did notice me snapping away, and did begin trying to yank people off one another.

A few minutes later two of the instigators from group one had slunk off into the shadows, but two police squad cars arrived to sort things out and, moments after that, an ambulance was dispatched from the fire house behind the Overture Center (handy location, that) to treat the injured.