Chicago Heights woman attacked at home, escapes

BY CASEY TONER

A 44-year-old Chicago Heights woman escaped to safety after fighting off an attacker who sprayed her with Mace and shot her with a stun gun in her home, police said.

Ken E. Chapman, 39, 4540 Farmington Road, Richton Park, was charged with home invasion, aggravated battery, unlawful restraint and residential burglary for his role in the attack last Saturday, police said. He’s being held without bail at Cook County Jail.

Police said Chapman knew the woman for about 10 years through a bowling league, and she had him over to fix two computers at her house in the 200 block of Sherry Lane.

About 11:30 a.m., she sat down at the computer in her son’s room and asked Chapman a question about the computer’s display, when he began choking her and sprayed her with Mace, acco rding to police.

Authoritites said that when she fought back, Chapman shocked her in the stomach and thigh with a stun gun.

Police said the woman overpowered Chapman, grabbed the stun gun out of his hands and tried to shock him with it but failed. She then ran from the house and called police from a neighbor’s home, police said.

They said Chapman fled from the house but was caught a short time later in the 400 block of Joe Orr Road. When he was arrested, he was carrying a laptop com puter, a roll of duct tape, sexual aids, a digital camera, a tripod and a hammer, according to police.

They said it’s the second time Chapman has been accused of a similar crime in less than two years, having been charged with home invasion in Chicago in March 2009.

A hammer? Sexual aids, a camera, and a tripod I can understand. Duct tape, I can kind of understand. But a hammer? What the hell kind of movie was dude trying to get her to do? Was he on some snuff type sh*t? I can appreciate kink as much as the next dominant chick but that is just unacceptable! A hammer? What, a whip isn’t enough? This is the kind of thing that inspires me to write. To all my aspiring writers out there, find something crazy and let your mind wander. It could be the beginning of a great story!

I can not get this song out of my head! I have now deemed it my musical happy place, because it just instantly calms me when I hear it. It makes me smile from ear to ear. I never get tired of hearing it, even though it’s like 15 years old. I talked about it repeatedly on Sunday because it just came into my head for some reason. That is really random, because who talks about Jason Weaver, right? Ok, maybe weird old people from Chicago like me do. Haha. I swear I would go out with JW just so he could serenade me with this song! LOL. I went on and on about the song, then made my company listen to it. Haha. Then it was the last song that I heard that night because it came on WGCI as I was drifting off to sleep. I swear I did not call in and request it! Haha. Weird right? I won’t go into why the coincidence is so coincidental, but it kind of feels like the universe is trying to tell me something. I’ve had a lot of weird vibes this week that I’m trying to sort out. I hope the universe is telling me something! As long as it’s good. Don’t need no bad news. So I will just go on and assume that someone out there has a “love ambition” for me.  Because that would be nice. Yeah, I like, don’t know who it is or anything. I’m not even saying it has to be a happily ever after ambition. I’m just saying. Someone with a love ambition and not a lust ambition would be real dope right now. You know, someone who doesn’t think I’m the devil. (Why do they keep thinking that? haha) Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

How I wish the country would rise up in a thunderous reply of “MAP BOULE!” (For those of you who don’t know, Sak pase means “How are you?” or “What’s Up” and “Map Boule” means “I’m good”.) But after the 7.0 earthquake, that isn’t going to happen.

Right now, I am desperately trying to make my way to Haiti to give a personal helping hand, but I am having a hard time. Their instant need is for medical assistance so I will have to wait my turn. But this isn’t going to die down any time soon, so I know that I will have the opportunity to visit soon and do what I can.

As most of you know, I spent 6 years in Miami. While there I learned a lot about the Haitian culture, the country & made friends with countless Haitians. My teacher’s aides when I taught, my students, & just homies, so many of them were Haitian. I can’t tell you how many times people thought I was Haitian (They said I had a “cat face” like some Haitians do) and started rattling in Creole. I couldn’t answer back except a few little phrases I know. (And most of the Creole phrases I know are not appropriate in mixed company or for children, LOL.)

I also can’t tell you how many times I had to tell my students that “You’re Haitian!” is NOT an insult. If anything it is a compliment. The Haitian people were the first to liberate themselves from slavery, and there is no doubt in my mind, that a lot of the hardships they’ve had to endure are because of that fact! The Haitian people have been so subject to needless insults and stereotypes & racism (I touch on it in my novel The Rolexxx Club; Ginger was a Haitian refugee). I’ve always hated that! I’ve always hated how unfair relief and democratic efforts from the US have been; Haiti never seemed to get what they deserve in the way of immigration policies, etc. Well, now is the the time to do something instead of complaining!

I am so devastated about what is happening there right now. I’ve spent most of the morning fighting back tears while looking at the pictures of damage. I know you all feel the same way I do. So, what I would like for everyone to do, is to imagine just for a second, that you were there, or your loved ones were there. Then reach into your heart and give. And get on your knees and pray. And then help me with my latest project: I am collecting clothes, water, camping supplies, sanitary & personal items (tampons, pads, soap, wipes, powder, lotion, diapers, etc) canned goods, cash (for shipping the donations, the most expensive part), etc. to be shipped DIRECTLY to the suffering people of Haiti.

If you’re in Chicago, shoot me an email at meta@metasmith.com for info on drop-offs. Also PLEASE shoot me an email if you know of any organizations accepting non-medical volunteers, or if you know or are related to any Haitians on the island (or in the Dominican Republic, or Cuba and other neighboring islands that have access to a boat) that are okay enough to take me in for a week so we can coordinate a grassroots relief effort.

I hope to send the first shipment by the end of the month, and I hope to God that I am there to witness our generosity and lend a helping hand so that I can bring back a personal account of what we were able to accomplish. I am being realistic though, that probably won’t happen for a while & I will have to trust an organization such as the Red Cross or UN to do the legwork. At first. But make no mistake, I will be going to Haiti. 

Things kind of need to settle a bit down there. Right now, the Red Cross is shipping relief from Panama (which can only help about 5000 families in a city of over 2 million), and flights are suspended until they can get a grasp on the best way to get relief efforts in. This isn’t going to be an easy task. But it isn’t going to be a short task, and before the year’s end, I will be there doing whatever is needed.

There are also so many humanitarian organizations that have been swift to act, such as The Red Cross and Yele Haiti (Wyclef Jean’s foundation) and the United Nations. If you don’t choose to or can’t work with me, PLEASE work with them. There are millions of humans: men, women and children, who need our help, and truly, NOTHING you can do is too small.

To find ways you can give hit up: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/12/haiti-earthquake-relief-h_n_421014.html
The site is updated regularly. And please, help spread the word and the awareness.

Shilpa Nangali(@shilpanangali) sent me a Tweet all the way from Bangalore (HOW COOL IS THAT?!) asking why I always wanted to be a cartoon. Well I thought I’d answer for her and for all of you.

Basically, I LOVE CARTOONS! I grew up watching them and reading comics. Now as an adult, I watch Cartoon Network all the time. Family Guy is my favorite, but I like King of the Hill, The Simpsons, South Park, Futurama, and The Boondocks. I also love Anime! Ghost In The Shell, Cowboy Bebop, Akira, Deathnote, Sailor Moon, PeachGirl, Dragonballz (my son was obsessed for a while), you name it, I’ve probably seen it or will watch it if I haven’t seen it before.

Cartoons have freedom humans can never have! They can fly, they can lose 5 pounds or gain a cup size with a stroke of a pencil. All physical flaws can be removed with a stroke of an eraser. Toons can save the world, be funny and be sexy all at the same time. Plus I’m just a nerd (a cool one but still a nerd) and I am a grownup who will forever cling to the kid in me. LOL. As a writer, I live in a fantasy world for a living, and sometimes that fantasy world just happens to be animated.

By the way, my 9 year old son is working on a graphic novel. He’s an amazing artist. So I will be in the business of publishing cartoons very soon! In the meantime, I like to play around with Photoshop and work on my graphic skills (because as a nerd, web-design is a hobby). So far I’m nowhere close to where I’d like to be, but I’m having fun learning!

Finally I'm A Toon!

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