Unbuttoning my soul. I turn 48 on Friday. Two days and two years from 50 and I have been through a season of "unbuttoning my soul" through mistakes, consequences and soul-searching. Untangling issues from the past becomes one knot leading to another. Learning better ways to communicate, care for the people I love and letting go of my own selfishness. At least trying to.

Sitting on the steps, it is easy to imagine this as a place of healing and hope with programs that give second, third or fifth chances to turn lives around. Are there people who would share Hixon's vision and make it happen? Is Mobile ready to become a city of radical neighborliness?

They say gunshots sound like firecrackers. They are right. I heard them myself today. And felt the fear.

Mobile has a similar story about people being ashamed of what she became, giving up, and getting out. However, some of her own people are standing up and believing she can be better. That we can do more if we work together.

The city that prides itself in parades rarely has a procession like this. Hundreds of police cars driving slowly with lights flashing for miles in respect of the slain officer who had only served for two years. All of those the blue lights and not one siren. Heartbreaking silence. They have come from Baton Rouge, Hattiesburg, Saraland, Satsuma and Hoover. Dallas, Texas, Escambia County, Florida and Maryland. Firefighters stand at attention in front of their firetrucks parked in the medians.

“Put your phone down and pay attention to what is going on around you. That is where life is. That is what you write about."

This was the first thing Rick Bragg told us on the first day of his feature writing class at the University of Alabama. It was the first thing I wrote in my notebook and the first thing I read when I went back through the notes a few weeks ago searching for tips to become a better interviewer and writer.