
I thought perhaps this year I was due for another porna(r)thon and was toying with the idea of doing another run of sites.
This morning I perused the lists of spaces I have yet to hit here and began to plan my evening out with expectation, but by this afternoon the mood had shifted, what with the revelation of the awful news out of Brindisi in beautiful Puglia today.
I will not make light of the event that occured in Brindisi this morning. For anyone who is unaware, a sixteen year old girl by the name of Melissa Bassi was killed, and at least another seven school kids injured after two bombs were planted at a secondary school and detonated in time for Saturday classes.
The mayor of Brindisi has suggested the Mafia is responsible for this atrocity. The school was named after the wife of one of Italy's greatest anti mafia judges (who subsequently was killed by one of the arms of the sprawling organised crime networks that continues to exist in this country today). As I write this, I can't get confirmation of anything, other than the fact that this was a particularly heinous and cowardly attack in which a teenager has lost her life, her entire future. Her family and friends, and those of the other victims will never be able to forget this day, and in the case of Melissa's circle, never see her again, never watch her go through life as she achieved whatever it was that she was going to.
The bombings were obviously designed to devastate a country already on the economic and social brink, designed to further instill fear and panic, to help maintain the climate of fear that aids and abets organised crime. Conspiracists will tell you that the Mafia continues to exist in this country because it is impossible to differentiate one from the other; they are inextricably intertwined.
The 90 state and private museums will keep. I will get to choose which ones I will gorge myself on at another more appropriate time. I'm lucky like that. I'm breathing. But Melissa is not, all because some cowards wanted to make a point and to spur their own ends. RIP Melissa, and deepest condolensces not only to those directly affected, their family and friends, but also to those throughout this country who deserve to live without this constant level of insanity.