A brief post between teaching gigs. The above photo -- thanks to Wikipedia -- is of the UT Bell Tower in Austin, sniper's nest on August 1, 1966 for ex-Marine Charles Whitman. Apparently a brain tumor drove him into a violent spasm. As for today's shootings at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg -- it's like something out of Baghdad. God help us all.
13 comments:
Cell Phones, Blogs Enable Live Reporting Of Virginia Tech Shooting
Students and faculty communicated with each other during the crisis through use of social networking sites, as well as text messaging and e-mail.
Gun bill gets shot down by panel
In Virginia, "HB 1572, which would have allowed handguns on college campuses, died in subcommittee..."
One CCW holder could have ended this with a bullet to the back of the shooter's head. The only people affected by the law (gun control in this case) are those who obey the law.
There was a post I was going to do about the seminar I had Friday, and something that happened at my son's old school three years ago, but I'll wait a few days, for reasons that will be obvious.
My first year as a bona fide teacher was the year of the Columbine killings. I was struck by the irony that I was working in a ghetto school in a neighborhood awash in guns, and the massacre happened in a rich, mostly white neighborhood. Later, when the parents said they hadn't been aware their kids had guns and bombs in their rooms, I was floored. They said they "respected their children's privacy."
This is why I teach in prison and avoid the public. Sad, I know.
I'm disgusted by everyone right now. Within hours this became a huge pro-hand gun/anti-hand gun debate. There are still parents who may not know if their kids are alive and people are fighting about whether or not the NRA is to blame, because you know guns don't kill people, people kill people.
If you're the kind of person who pray, say a prayer for those kids and their families, and if you're not, shut the fuck up for a couple of days and let people mourn in peace. There is more than enough time to play politics with this.
lulu,
The next school shooting could happen today.
There's a reason gunmen targets schools and not gun shows.
Hmmmmm... drunk college students, testoterone, firearms...sounds like a great recipe for lots and lots of tragedies.
It's really comforting to be a teacher at times like these. Sigh!
Stephen--Thank you for proving my point.
johnny,
There are drunk people at bars in cities all across the country, and many of those are already filled with college students.
lulu,
No, thank you for proving mine.
Thanks all for the comments! At some point later, perhaps we can have a calmer discussion about firearms?
Good call, Erik. But let me leave it with one thought:
"When Drunken College Students Are Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Bear Drunken College Students."
I'm having the bumper stickers printed up tomorrow.
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