Young Woman

My little girl was born within a week of Christmas and, believe you me, conceiving one to hatch on target like that is no simple task. It takes planning and biotechnology, and the male is force-fed raw oysters, and the female must hang upside down in a dark room for hours. I was 55 at the time and remember it well. This bonus baby was the last grandchild in my family, a last attempt to breed some frivolity and high-spiritedness into our somber Anglo line, and we seem to have succeeded.

Miriam Deborah Frankl wore midnight blue nail polish, teased her two younger brothers and looked forward to the change in seasons so she could finally pair those brown boots with that purple jacket. Those were among the memories that speakers shared at a memorial Tuesday for the 20-year-old Johns Hopkins University neuroscience student who was killed in a hit-and-run last month, painting a portrait of a confident and charismatic young woman. The junior was a third-generation scientist, a sorority sister and the best friend that some ever had. "Miriam was a remarkable woman," said her aunt, Rebecca German, a professor at the Hopkins School of Medicine.

Less than a year ago, a beautiful and wonderful citizen by all accounts, Aysha Ring, was viciously murdered by David Briggs - stabbed to death while standing in line at a convenience store. The perpetrator has been found not criminally responsible and is committed to the Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center in Jessup. He will serve no jail time and will be re-evaluated in a year for possible release, although prosecutor S. Ann Brobst told this writer that her office will ensure that does not occur.

Every revolution needs a unifying symbol, and members of Iran's opposition movement now have theirs. That was one dumb sniper who took out the young woman millions now know as Neda. Or was he? No one seems to know the identity of the rooftop shooter who pierced Neda's heart with a bullet Saturday. Was he a Basij sniper, as some witnesses have reported? Was it a mistake? Or did the shooter see an opportunity to create a necessary martyr? The thought is inescapable that the beautiful Neda Agha Soltan might have been selected from the crowd not to scare away protesters, but to unite them.

Six years ago, a 12-year-old girl with mild mental retardation charged that seven boys attacked and sexually assaulted her in a math class at Southeast Middle School in Baltimore. She and her mother won a $100,000 judgment against the city school system, the maximum permitted by law. But the incident left Brittany Banks, now 18, so traumatized that she spent most of her adolescence in and out of psychiatric facilities and is unable to live at home. And on Sept. 10, according to her mother, she was permitted to walk out of a group home in Prince George's County where she was supposed to be under 24-hour supervision.

Robin Coxson suspected something was amiss when she heard Monday that her one-time foster daughter suddenly had a 4-month-old baby. After not seeing her for months, the young woman sought out Coxson, who allowed her and the baby to stay at her East Baltimore rowhouse. But Coxson said in an interview yesterday that she didn't believe that the woman, nicknamed "Nay Nay," had given birth to the baby. She pressed the woman for details on the child while the woman swore the baby was hers. "I said, 'Nay Nay, you had a baby?"

For years, my colleague Dan Rodricks has entertained us with columns entitled "Guilty - but mostly stupid." They're tales of criminals who just don't get it, like the bank robber who scribbles a holdup note on the back of his business card. Today I offer my own tale of criminal stupidity in the digital age - and the power that access to information holds to save us from terrible mistakes.

Last year I met a young woman who had lost her brother in the war in Iraq. Although obviously grieved over her family's loss, she spoke proudly of her brother's service and the ultimate sacrifice he made on our behalf. In relaying the events of his return home, she described her family's deep disappointment that the Army had not presented them with his Purple Heart. They had hoped they would have it in time for his memorial service. They called Congressman Gilchrest's office to see if he could help in this matter.

Brace yourself. I'm going to use a word that offends folks. I'm talking the F-word. Feminist. This woman sent me an e-mail Monday and it got me thinking. See, in describing herself, she assured me she was not a "women's libber" - the late 1960s equivalent of feminist. She also said she was retired from the Navy. There was, it seemed to me, a disconnect there: She doesn't believe in women's liberation, yet she is retired from a position that liberation made possible. Intrigued, I asked my 17-year-old daughter if she considers herself a feminist.