La vie en rose . . .
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Today, I would like to be back on campus with the Hokies who have stayed. I'd like to be there to light a candle, wear my school colors, stand among the silent and the grieving. I would like to see the drill field and the duck pond and the two trees behind the English building. I'd like to stand again at the front of a classroom and remember students and colleagues who made a mark in my memory. I'd like to fade into the background of an enormous auditorium and listen to my Chem professor drone on about bonds and equations and miscellaneous scientific facts. I'd like to look at the phosphorescent rocks in the Geology building. I'd like to have a waffle for breakfast at Shultz. I'd like to get lost in my favorite stacks of the Library and enjoy the scent of thousands upon thousands of books. I'd like to browse through the bookstore, get lunch at my favorite local cafe, have coffee all afternoon in the Cellar, walk the streets and watch people pass me by with a smile. I'd like to mourn the losses of my alma mater among the spirit of Hokie Pride. I hope to live up the simplicity of Ut Prosim. Hundreds of memories flash through my mind every day since Monday, April 16th. Memories of people, places, and events that hold my spirit solid against the red clay earth.
Fri, April 20, 2007 - 8:50 AM
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I am sad for the victims. I am sad for the survivors. I am sad for all those for whom on that day, something precious was lost. I am sad, too for the young man with the guns. Sad for the agonizing pain that must have driven him to such a twisted "solution." There is no help or healing for him now. He is dead. He has left loved ones behind, too. I am sad for the anger, grief, and fear that he has caused to erupt in a community that for so many years felt like family to me, a stranger. Blacksburg is a good place; full of kind and well-intentioned people of diverse backgrounds. I haven't been back for a very long time, but I miss it now more than ever.
Today I caught a news story about my alma mater. Here I am, thousands of miles away, watching local police swarming over my college campus, a place where I spent years as both a student and a teacher. The news anchor was saying familiar names and I saw pictures that seemed like memories flashing across the screen. One shooter? Two shooters? A shooter is dead. 21 students are dead. 21 students are injured. Some actually jumped out of windows in the building where the shootings began. I took classes in that same building... walked by it everyday. I had friends in the dormitory long ago. West AJ. Mostly a freshman dorm. 17 18 19 year olds.
Mon, April 16, 2007 - 10:49 AM
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VA is an old colony. Blacksburg is a college town. Crimes happen, yes. Murders, rapes, burglaries, so on, so forth. Some even hit frighteningly close to home. But this is a mass murder. Someone pulled a trigger and shot plural people. Did the shooter know them? Was there some kind of grudge? Was he flunking his triple E courses? What the fuck is going on in the world? Since when did our educational institutions become targets, and why? It's not like I don't have opinionated answers, of course, but I don't feel like processing all that right now. Everything seems so far away. I felt very much the same when I turned on the TV to catch the weather forcast and saw a plane crash into the tower that wasn't burning. I watched and listened and the tower collapsed in a cloud of ash and smoke. It was surreal. And it was my birthday. I took a shower and went to work because I couldn't think of anything else to do. I remember when the Columbia blew up. I can recall the pattern made by the explosion, like fingers of cloud stretching out through the blue sky. And silence. I am thankful as usual for my life and my safety and my comfort and my health. The fringes of my spirit are sad and cold, but in time, that will pass. The world is just not turning out to be the place I thought it could be.
Here i am at . . .
Tue, April 10, 2007 - 3:10 AM
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Camp Elphinstone. Recompression 2007 took place this weekend at the YMCA Camp Elphinstone. It was cooler than I am able to describe in my current state of sleep deprivation and detox. Suffice it to say, a good time was had by many. I had the great fortune to intersect the life cycles of some delightful Vancouverites and Seattlers. Made great progress toward liberation of bears in this century (Free The Bears!) and once I have overthrown the current regime, the Secret Keepers Union shall institute a new justice . . . a new law . . . a new freedom for bears everywhere. In Solidarity! Well, that's plan A anyway. Plan B is just break off and start a new bear front TIDCuBs (The I Don't Care Bears). Make like a bee . . . and buzz off man. Fight the power. We shall not be moved. I have a dream. Resistance through the abduction of picky nick baskets. Our Motto: "I don't give a shit in the woods." Our Mission: Mind your own beeswax. Our Goal: Total Lack of Responsibility. man.... what was in that margarita???
My Tribes
Word Freaks,
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Crafty Witches,
CREATIVE WRITING,
Earthdance Vancouver,
EmpathsAlike.com,
Faeries & Fools,
Free Hugs Vancouver,
Kitchen Witchery*Hearth and Home,
Minion Hoard of The Official Evil Empire,
Reconstructed Clothing,
VA Regional Burns,
Vancouver Fire Artists,
Vancouver Hoopers,
Vancouver Poi,
Winking Lotus,
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