The Wire comes to life

How much more like The Wire will it get? If you watched the last season, centered around a group of middle school boys, you'll probably remember how De'Londa forced her son Namond to "step up" and sell drugs because his father was in prison -- at one point even chastising him for being afraid to go to "baby booking."

I couldn't help but be reminded of it when I read the latest headline about a mother giving her son a gun to exact revenge on a kid he'd fought with earlier. Both the kids were 17.

(You might recognize Julito McCullum, the actor who plays Namond on "The Wire," in the Ludacris/Mary J. Blige video for "Runaway Love" -- he plays the boyfriend of 11-year-old Erica. I have yet to watch that video without tearing up...it's a good one.)