Some of the stories will really get to you.

They’ll get to you through your television if the stories are interesting, or surprising in some way, and especially if the murder victims are wealthy or white. If there is someone there to notice, to mourn, to tell the TV people the stories of how the dead lived or died, in a way that will sound interesting to cable customers in the enormous and mostly-suburban Baltimore County, which manages to fully encircle Baltimore City without ever fully embracing it. In those cases, their stories will be told and if you’re anything like me – mostly ignoring the always-awful news, just trying to keep your head low and take in a Modern Family on a Wednesday night – it’s only then, when the stories get to you, that you’ll pay attention.

I am not proud of this. I am just telling you…