David Simon on America's most unnecessary war

You often hear the phrase "life imitates art" or vice versa, but rarely do we get a case of art actually being life, as we did for four great and one not-so-great seasons of "The Wire."

Which makes the arrest of Felicia "Snoop" Pearson all the more depressing. For anyone who doesn't know, she played a female hitman of sorts for drug kingpin Marlo Stanfield, and like many of the stars of that show, was never far too removed from the world that "The Wire" portrayed. At age 14, she was charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of another young girl, and ending up serving 6.5 years in prison.

Since then, things had certainly seemed to turn around with her appearance on "The Wire." She's also written a memoir, "Grace After Midnight," and having read it, I can tell you she tells her troubling story very well.

But yesterday, it all came undone, or at least regressed quite a bit with this Baltimore Sun headline forwarded to me in the morning: "More than 60 people, including 'Snoop' of 'The Wire,' arrested in drug raids."

If you haven't, you can read all about it here, but there's a much larger picture here, of a city and its people in crisis. That Snoop hasn't been able to escape this bottomless spiral is only the biggest headline-grabber about a truly sad situation in a city I love and will be visiting with mi hermano in August (for a couple or Orioles games, of course).

Here's what David Simon, much more eloquently than me, had to say about it all when contacted by Slate, and then stick around for something much more fun with a trio of Friday morning videos.

First of all, Felicia's entitled to the presumption of innocence. And I would note that a previous, but recent drug arrest that targeted her was later found to be unwarranted and the charges were dropped. Nonetheless, I'm certainly sad at the news today. This young lady has, from her earliest moments, had one of the hardest lives imaginable. And whatever good fortune came from her role in The Wire seems, in retrospect, limited to that project. She worked hard as an actor and was entirely professional, but the entertainment industry as a whole does not offer a great many roles for those who can portray people from the other America. There are, in fact, relatively few stories told about the other America.

Beyond that, I am waiting to see whether the charges against Felicia relate to heroin or marijuana. Obviously, the former would be, to my mind, a far more serious matter. And further, I am waiting to see if the charges or statement of facts offered by the government reflect any involvement with acts of violence, which would of course be of much greater concern.

In an essay published two years ago in Time magazine, the writers of The Wire made the argument that we believe the war on drugs has devolved into a war on the underclass, that in places like West and East Baltimore, where the drug economy is now the only factory still hiring and where the educational system is so crippled that the vast majority of children are trained only for the corners, a legal campaign to imprison our most vulnerable and damaged citizens is little more than amoral. And we said then that if asked to serve on any jury considering a non-violent drug offense, we would move to nullify that jury's verdict and vote to acquit. Regardless of the defendant, I still believe such a course of action would be just in any case in which drug offenses—absent proof of violent acts—are alleged.

Both our Constitution and our common law guarantee that we will be judged by our peers. But in truth, there are now two Americas, politically and economically distinct. I, for one, do not qualify as a peer to Felicia Pearson. The opportunities and experiences of her life do not correspond in any way with my own, and her America is different from my own. I am therefore ill-equipped to be her judge in this matter.
Very true all that, but way too heavy for a Friday morning, right? So, on to some fun clips. Until now, I haven't been able to get terribly excited about JJ Abrams upcoming alien flick "Super 8," but this first full trailer really does effectively change everything. In revealing that the incident was recorded by kids making monster movies on their super 8 camera, and seeing Coach Taylor of "Friday Night Lights" back in action, it has convinced me that this could be something really pretty great when it comes out June 8. Enjoy the trailer.



Next up, although very few people are apparently watching, FX is doing some truly entertaining things on television. I'm a devoted fan of "Sons of Anarchy," and though it lasted only one short season, "Terriers" was a fun little show, too. On the air now, I'm really getting into season two of "Justified," and the boxing drama "Lights Out" just keeps getting better and better with each episode. And now, to complement it's darkly funny "Louie" with Louie CK, the network is adding another truly odd-looking comedy this June, "Wilfred," starring Elijah Wood. As you'll see from the trailer, it's based on an Australian show about a lonely, introverted dude who becomes friends with his neighbor's dog, who just happens to be able to talk to him. Looks like very fun stuff, so enjoy this preview, and keep an eye out for the show.



And finally, truly saving the best for last, College Humor has definitely hit the mark with this mashup of Wes Anderson's "Fantastic Mr. Fox," easily one of my favorite animated movies of the last 10 years or so, and the video game "Star Fox." It's just wicked fun that needs no further explanation from me, so enjoy, and have a great weekend. (I'll be spending mine with mi hermano going to see two concerts by the Baseball Project .. huzzah!) Peace out.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Going down to "The Wire"

"New Line has been the most successful independent studio in history."

The sentence above really has nothing to do with the rest of this post, but it is indeed what Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes told the employees of New Line as he announced he was eliminating virtually all of their jobs. What a jackass.

Moving on to less important, perhaps, but if you watch "The Wire," very urgent stuff, there is indeed only one episode left of my all-time favorite TV show, so it's as good a time as any to assess how this fifth and final season has unfolded (and pay tribute to easily one of my favorite characters.)

Overall (and if you have been DVR-ing the episodes and are a bit behind, please don't read on and have anything spoiled for you), I'd have to say the season has been a mixed bag at best, but last night's episode, which I just watched this morning, was a stunner.

My main beef with this season is that I simply can't stomach that, no matter how hungry Lester Freamon (the great Clarke Peters) was to take down Marlo Stanfield (Jamie Hector), there's no way in the world a cop as smart as he clearly is would have gone along with McNulty's increasingly insane fabricated serial killer. And, frankly, I couldn't believe that McNulty would come up with something so crazy either, and will be disappointed if, in the end, he doesn't at least get fired and more likely get arrested.

That said, there have been many other things to like in this season. The journalism story line, which they've allowed to unfold at a slow and realistic pace, has been fascinating to me. Having worked with a serial plagiarist in Macon, I think Tom McCarthy has captured the weaselness of reporter Scott Templeton just right, and Clark Johnson, as the city editor on his trail, has been just as good.

But why was last night's episode just so much better than any other recent ones? It wasn't just that McNulty's finally about to get his due and (though I have no way of knowing this for sure), I think Marlo is definitely going to walk away a free man. What it came down to was the end of the line for a character I've grown to love, Felicia "Snoop" Pearson (played by the real Felicia Pearson), and what it means for the soldier who did her in.

The real beauty of "The Wire," to me, is that it makes you get attached to characters who, you know, are largely just reprehensible figures. Stringer Bell. DeAngelo Barksdale. Chris Parlow. Omar Little. And, even moreso for me, Snoop.

It wasn't just that Snoop was the only female member of the "street" contingent. For me, I always liked her because you always knew she was acting a lot tougher than she really was (which is not to say that she's not one bad mutha, because she is.) In her final scene (remember, huge spoiler coming), when she asks Michael just how her hair looks before he blows her head off, is the kind of moment that "The Wire" specializes in and, when it's not going almost completely off the rails with phony serial killers, can still deliver.

What made Snoop such a great character, beyond the acting skills of the great Ms. Pearson (who, in real life, is indeed alive and well), is that her real-life story is as intriguing as anything David Simon and friends could ever have come up with.

Pearson was born premature to two drug-addicted and incarcerated parents and reared in an East Baltimore foster home. Much like the kids of season four of "The Wire," she came up through the drug trade rather than the classroom, and at age 14 was sentenced to 8 years in prison for the second-degree murder of Okia Toomer. She said her life turned around at 18, when a man she called Uncle Loney, a local drug dealer who looked out for her and sent her money in prison, was shot and killed. She finished school while behind bars. After earning her GED in prison, Pearson was released in 2000.

Much of the above comes from Wikipedia (verified at HBO.com), but how in the world did the real "Snoop" get to play her alter-ego on "The Wire"? In another story that indeed could have come straight from the show, she met Michael K. Williams, who plays Omar Little, in a Baltimore club, and he brought her to the set.

I know I'm going on an awful lot about a minor character on a show that not that many people tune in for, but it's a tribute that Snoop dearly deserves. I wanted to leave you with a YouTube clip with the title "R.I.P Snoop Pearson," but HBO pulled it over copyright violations. Instead, and to lighten the mood a bit, here's a clip of Wilco (introduced by Ellen Page) performing "Walken" on last weekend's "Saturday Night Live." It's four minutes or so of pop bliss, and hopefully an improvement to everyone's Monday morning. Peace out, and rest in peace Snoop.