I’ve been intermittently following the story of the Star Simpson, a young woman who had a home-made flashing light on her sweatshirt and went to the airport to pick up her boyfriend. If you are not up on it, you can google it and find a number of versions of the story. Most of them will have the police saying we almost killed her and she was wearing a fake bomb. The most useful version of the story I’ve found is on salon.

There is something about becoming a parent that makes these events especially frightening and sad to me. I’ve passed the threshold beyond were someone who is 19 is a peer and instead I see them as what I hope my son might be like at 19….creative, unconventional, a bit quirky, and not quite aware of the hysteria and fear that has infected the people around him. I too see him passionately wearing silly inventions, and playing with friends who also love to make sometimes curious and sometimes brilliant bits of the future.

Reading blog postings about Star, I’ve read some of the most hateful and unkind words barfed in her direction. Words like cunt, bitch, twat, stupid, criminal, idiot. Some people saying she should be dead and others talking about how expensive it must have been to pay all those cops to pull guns on her.

I feel like they are talking about my child too. And there is a part of this hatred that is also about me and all women who make with technology. This is also so painful.

I want better for and of all of us. Please.

Meanwhile get a shirt and send some money to the Star legal defense fund to help our future be a little brighter.