As I was reviewing my report, I noticed that one particular line was disturbing.  It was about the teen-agers who did not belong in the Berkeley campus and it was obvious because they did not have backpacks and they travelled in packs of five or six.  Well, to be blunt, the kids/teen-agers were obvious because they travelled in small groups, they were young, they were loud, and they were black.  In Berkeley of the 1990's, I did not see that many African-Americans in campus.  And when I saw them, they would be in Sproul Hall along with everyone else trying to chill out or recruit for the campus organization. 
 
Thus, to see young black teen-agers walking and being loud piqued my interest.  Since I grew up in Los Angeles around the East Los Angeles neighborhood, I can see the swagger, the arrogance and the testosterone of youth.  I knew immediately that there was going to be a riot.  Hell, I made sure I left lab at 4 in the afternoon to make sure that I was gone.  As I walked down the streets of Berkeley, you could sense the frustration, the agony and the pain of the Rodney King verdict.  But you could also feel the greed and the testosterone of all those kids waiting to loot and steal and plunder. 
 
I examined the lines I wrote because I was being careful so that I would not be charged of being a racist.  Funny how my own perceptions control my actions.  But then again, people have suggested that in life, you must learn how to be tactful.  Let's just say that I am in the middle of my journeys to Tactville.  But sometimes, it is good to reflect on why you wrote what you wrote.  If HermitQueen has winepoetics, then I would have to say that I have journaletics -- an examination of the process of creating a journal.