the word on the street

Excerpt From Orange County Noir

theocreport — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:46:06 +0000

By Mary Castilo

Last night, 8:30 p.m.
In Santa Ana there are two types of neighborhoods: the historically significant neighborhoods with names like French Park and Floral Park, and the neighborhoods that are not. My grandma lives in one of those that aren’t.

I turn off North Bristol onto West 3rd and then make a right on Hesperian. Except for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter at Nana’s house, the farthest I’d head up on Bristol was the northernmost tip of Nordstroms at South Coast Plaza. Now this is home. Again.

Nana’s two-story bungalow stands on the corner. The skeleton of last spring’s sweet peas still clings to her chain link fence, and even though she has the space, she still grows her roses and calla lilies in buckets.

As a kid, I used to hide in the avocado tree from my cousins. When you’re the only blonde, half-white kid in a family of small, brown Mexicans from Jalisco, you know you’re a grown up the moment a white-person joke doesn’t punch your flight-or-fight button.

Nana walks out of the kitchen. She’s still dressed in her suit but she must have stopped for a pedicure after work. Her toe nails are now purple. When she sees it’s me, she asks, “Where you been?”

I open my mouth to begin a litany of grievances against my boss when a sharp report shakes the floor. White light bursts through the windows – the kind you see in alien invasion movies – and where there was a quiet street of parked cars and dim porch lights, SUVs and cop cruisers now block us in.

“Did you hear that?” Chachi shouts. My cousins run out of the house and onto the yard.

Nana shouts at them to come back inside. Did they want to get shot?

As a reporter, I should run out with my press pass, cell phone and notepad. But the paper doesn’t pay me enough and the walls of Nana’s aren’t even half as thick as the last Harry Potter book. I follow my nose into the kitchen where a vat of posole simmers on the stove. I make myself a bowl, heavy on the hominy. The oily brother scalds my hand. I’ve been here almost a year and I’m still not accustomed to the nightly visits from law enforcement that remind us we live in the “bad” part of town.

Someone bangs on the backdoor. I turn, about to call Chachi an asshole for scaring me. But a woman stares back at me through the window. Her eyes are almost white with terror and then I see the little girl standing next to her.
I instinctively know to let them in.

tuesday

theocreport — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 02:09:00 +0000

Heroin Spike In OC

Orange Coast College Student Pleads ‘Not Guilty’ In Murder

Man Accused Of Stalking Yorba Linda Reality Star

Pro Wrestler Said To Be MySpace Predator

Man Hit By Train For Second Time

Old Lady Crashes Car Into Mission Viejo Store

Doctor Busted For Watering Down AIDS Drugs

Update

theocreport — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 02:32:43 +0000

Monday: http://www.theocreport.com

Felons On List Of Inmates Released Early

Transient Suspect In Garden Grove Bank Robbery

Mechanic Sentenced For Burning Homeless Man

Marine Flees To Mexico, Kills Self After Domestic Fight

SWAT Team Called In Over Domestic Fight

OC Gets $1.6 Million To Fight Child Slavery

Family Pays $4,700 For Dog’s Rattle Snake Bite

Update

theocreport — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 20:34:56 +0000

‘Bikini Night’ Drug Bust

PETA Protests Santa Ana McDonalds

Update

theocreport — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 01:23:48 +0000

Robbers Take $30,000 In Liquor Store Heist

Fortune Teller Slain Over Failed Love Spell, Says Prosecutor

$20K For Blue Note

#15 For Blue Note

FBI On Hunt For ‘Sports Bike Bandit’

Nearly 300 OC Prisoners Released Early

Asstant Sheriff And 23 Staffers Laid Off

Oil Company Suspect In Spill

Woman Hit in Crosswalk Wants $2M from Newport Beach

Elderly Lady Asks NPB For $10K After Falling Off Curb

Soka Student Baricaded In Dorm

Naked Man On Roof Causes Evacuation

Starbucks Barista Says Boss Demanded Sex

International Jewel Thief Caught in Costa Mesa

Woman Sues Surf City Over Frisbee Injury

No More Beer Pong In Surf City Bars

Dog Guts Spill Out After Being Spayed

Police Accuse Man Of Stealing Dog For Reward Money

Flasher Gets 10 Year Prison Sentence

Octomom Free To Control Profits Made From Her Kids

Laguna’s ‘Cowboy’ Killed By Minivan

Church Worker Accused Of Stabbing Boss

Massive Fish Dragged In Off Newport

theocreport — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 02:40:17 +0000

Beware Violent UCI Nerds

theocreport — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 23:10:44 +0000

Recuperating now after getting mugged by a band of LARPERS down at UCI.

For those of you unfamiliar, that’s Live Action Role Players.

Think of games like World of Warcraft or Dungeons & Dragons being played out in real life.

They’re a bunch of violent nerds.

My mistake was making eye contact with one as I crossed the bridge to the mall there.

He and his friends were dressed like a medieval goon squad, potato sack smocks, fake swords and all.

Five minutes after our exchange I noticed he was following me.

I turned around and gave him the evil eye.

He must have have texted his buddies, because after another five minutes there were six of them, all stalking me like broke Mexicans after a lone gringo in a Tijuana alley.

“You think this is funny?” said the leader, an oaf about six feet in height with long sideburns, a flat nose and beady dark eyes.

“I think you have some real problems you should be working on,” I said. “You have no business with me.”

He must not have liked my tone because next thing I knew his finger was pressed against my chest as if to command the situation. But I challenged, and placed my leg behind his, to trip him as I pushed back.

Once he fell to the ground his group of nerd underlings all spat on me, forcing me to cower as their numbers threatened.

“You walked onto the wrong world today, these are our woods,” one scolded.

“You need to get laid nerd boy,” I shot back.

Bad move. I was soon subject to a barrage of kicks to my abdomen.

My eyes shut, and I took each kick hoping I was nearer to being free of this nerd assault.

I never knew nerds had it in them to be so cruel.

I suppose it goes to show you that good and bad exists in all types of people. Nerds are not inherently harmless like I thought.

Perhaps it’s the most alienated in society that holds the most hate.

How A Fifth Grader Sees OC

theocreport — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 00:12:55 +0000