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Brent Jesiek
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Ken Ronkowitz
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2007-06-03
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Wednesday, April 18. 2007
The blog has not been on my mind these past few days. My son is a senior at Virginia Tech. He's OK. We have spent most of the past two days staying in touch with him and answering phone calls and emails from friends and family.
I watched the coverage knowing he was safe, and saw his freshman dormitory as the site of the first shooting, and his main classroom building as the site of the others. I've walked that campus, gone to football games, chanted Hokie chants, been in those buildings, and still I can't grasp what it must be to be that community.
He called his mom as soon as he knew about the first shootings. He had a class in Norris Hall at 10:30 and planned to be there at 9:30 to work on his senior project. Professor Kevin Granata was their project adviser in the Engineering Science and Mechanics department. Their research is in muscle and reflex response and robotics. Dr. Granata is one of the top biomechanics researchers in the country and is known for his work on movement dynamics in cerebral palsy.
If he had gone in as planned, he would have been exactly at the wrong place at the wrong time. Dr. Granata was one of the thirty in Norris Hall that was killed.
I've been on the Tech campus a number of times, gone to a Hokie football game and have a sense of this spirit you hear students and staff talk about on the news. But I don't think we can understand it in the way that they do.
The students and staff I saw on the news all served Tech well. The professors who were killed all died trying to protect their students in some way. They serve our profession well.
I listened to poet Nikki Giovanni at the Convocation read "<a href="http://americaabroad.tpmcafe.com/blog/oldengoldendecoy/2007/apr/17/nikki_giovanni_we_are_virginia_tech">We Are Virginia Tech</a>" and thought that some listeners must have thought it odd for a poet to talk about "We are Hokies." I would have thought the same before my son started Tech. I associated Hokies with sports, especially football, and the overwhelming volume of fans at the stadium. But it is more than that. When the students chanted "Let's Go Hokies" or just the word Hokie, that too must have seemed odd, perhaps irreverent, to some given the circumstances. It absolutely was not that.
I work on a college campus and know that it could happen at any school. I have no wise healing words, no poem of my own, no pointing finger of blame or visionary hindsight.
<i>"We are better than we think,
not quite what we want to be.
We are alive
to the imagination
and the possibility
we will continue
to invent the future
through our blood and tears,
through all this sadness.
We are the Hokies.
We will prevail,
we will prevail.
We are Virginia Tech."</i>
Posted by <a href="http://devel2.njit.edu/serendipity/index.php?/authors/1-Ken-Ronkowitz">Ken Ronkowitz</a> in <a href="http://devel2.njit.edu/serendipity/index.php?/categories/3-About-Us">About Us</a> at <a href="http://devel2.njit.edu/serendipity/index.php?/archives/303-Today-We-Are-All-Hokies.html">07:38</a>
--
Original Source: <a href="http://devel2.njit.edu/serendipity/index.php?/archives/303-Today-We-Are-All-Hokies.html">http://devel2.njit.edu/serendipity/index.php?/archives/303-Today-We-Are-All-Hokies.html</a>
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Today We Are All Hokies
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Ryan Lanham
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2007-06-03
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Apr 16th, 2007 by <a href="http://ryanlanham.wordpress.com/author/ryanlanham/">Ryan Lanham</a>
For those who know I am at Virginia Tech, both my family and myself are accounted for and uninvolved in any way in the shooting.
Local sources (channel 7) report 22 dead. (see update below...now at least 31...)
I was in Burruss Hall and heard gunshots at approximately 10AM.
I spoke with one associate who reported having to evacuate Norris by stepping past or over a fatality.
I have no other first-hand information other than to report that both my family and myself are safe.
Update:
The worst shooting incident in American history apparently occurred within earshot of my office. When we had huddled in my boss Minnis Ridenour's office, we heard gun shots around 10AM.
The tragedy is obviously considerable. People I know well are reporting on national and international news.
My neighbors and friends who are EMTs treated the wounded both from the 7:15AM dorm shooting and from Norris. For local friends, Sue O. was at the Burger King doing triage. The schools locked down early and people on campus acted admirably.
We are, here in Blacksburg, VA, some 40 miles from the nearest small commercial airport at Roanoke, VA. To have something occur like this in a place of rural beauty at a campus that is quite closely knit and exceedingly friendly seems truly random in the most shocking sort of way.
My thoughts are with the families of those injured and dead.
--
Original Source: <a href="http://ryanlanham.wordpress.com/2007/04/16/virginia-tech-personal-update/">http://ryanlanham.wordpress.com/2007/04/16/virginia-tech-personal-update/</a>
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Virginia Tech - Personal Update for Ryan and his family
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firsthand
student
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Bob Recotta
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2007-06-01
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by BOB RECOTTA
Published: Monday, April 16, 2007 10:42 PM CDT
<a href="mailto:rrecotta@the-leader.com">rrecotta@the-leader.com</a>
BLACKSBURG, VA. | Sara Marchese was studying alone in her dorm room lounge when the quiet Monday morning was shattered by an announcement over the Virginia Tech public address system.
"There was 10 minutes straight of sirens," said Marchese, who is in her freshman year at Virginia Tech after graduating from Corning East High School. "Everyone in the hall was on their cell phones. We got an e-mail about the shooting. That's when we flipped on the news."
Shortly after the first alarm sounded, an emergency message came over the campus' PA system.
"They said it was a state of emergency, with the message repeating," Marchese said. "They told us to stay inside and keep away from windows. It was the first time the PA system had ever been used."
Peter Marchese, Sara' father, received the news about the campus shooting from a message his daughter left on his answering machine.
"Even on the answering machine, you heard the loud speakers going off," Peter Marchese said. "Since then, she's been in communication every 15 to 20 minutes."
Sara Marchese said the mood at the college changed as the body count rose.
"I was locked in with me and two good friends," she said. "When the count went from one to 20, everyone's jaws dropped."
Marchese said, during the lockdown, she and her friends kept a close watch on the television news. When the three-hour lockdown ended, the atmosphere around the campus had changed.
"We just went down to lunch," Marchese said. "Everyone's really down. Everyone's in shock. It was weird going in dining halls and seeing heavily armed police officers. The news was playing in the dining hall. That's not going to put a good mood in anybody."
Peter Marchese was surprised such violence could explode at someplace like Virginia Tech.
"When we went down to visit, it was a nice, quiet, quaint town a lot like Corning," Peter Marchese said. "This could happen to anybody."
Classes at Virginia Tech have been canceled today. Marchese said she might come home for a couple days, but the violent incident hasn't changed her view of the campus.
"I feel so safe here walking around," Sara Marchese said. "The place I work is a half-mile away. When I get off work at 10 or 11 p.m., I feel safe walking at night. That's why this was really shocking. It was just a fluke."
--
Original Source: Corning Leader Daily
<a href="http://www.the-leader.com/articles/2007/04/17/news/local02.txt">http://www.the-leader.com/articles/2007/04/17/news/local02.txt</a>
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East grad: Peaceful morning shattered
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april 16
corning
new york
student
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Brent Jesiek
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Paul Gately / GateHouse Media
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2007-06-01
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By Paul Gately
GateHouse Media
Wed Apr 18, 2007, 11:55 AM EDT
BOURNE - A Cataumet mother and daughter found themselves in the building adjacent to where a 23-year-old student went on a shooting rampage on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, Va. Monday.
Ellen Mattingly Driscoll of Cataumet and her daughter Marianna, a Bishop Stang High School student, were on the Virginia Tech campus checking in with the admissions office prior to touring the campus.
Mother and daughter were unaware of the first shootings earlier in the morning. "It was business as usual on campus until the second shooting began even after the first had occurred," Ellen Driscoll said. "Surprisingly there wasn't a big police presence after the first shooting."
"We were in admissions when we started hearing popping," she said. "We didn't think too much of it. A woman leading the tour, who was trying to sell the campus to parents, finally said: 'Oh, there's someone out there with a weapon.' We didn't think about what might be happening. But within minutes we heard volleys of shots. There were two loud volleys. Then there was lots of screaming. Then shouts of 'get out!'"
The Driscolls were moved to the center of the admissions building where there were no windows. They were not allowed to leave until noon.
Ellen Driscoll said VT is "a lovely campus and truly beautiful school," but she said her thoughts about the college were decidedly different while heading to her car at noon than they were earlier in the morning when she and her daughter had crossed the drill field for what was expected to be a routine admissions briefing and tour.
--
Original Source: The Upper Cape Codder
<a href="http://www.townonline.com/bourne/homepage/x1849893534">http://www.townonline.com/bourne/homepage/x1849893534</a>
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College visit turns into close call with shooting
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campus
cape cod
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Gary Downey
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2007-05-04
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Friends, Since a number of you asked to receive further installments, I decided to send this out to everyone who wrote to offer support. I have greatly appreciated it, profoundly so. Yesterday I used the basketball court for stress relief and to connect with another group of friends. One friend, a productive scholar, said he had just arrived at the point of beginning to plan what he might try to accomplish next week. That pretty much described my head as well. I may add entries in coming weeks as thoughts and feelings spiral, but I don't know. For now I'm done. I look forward to following up individually with each of you. Warmly, Gary
Friends, I'm getting too many messages to respond individually. I'm grateful for your concern. Below is a series of messages I've been sending out to those who have contacted me.
Monday afternoon
I and my family are ok. I was in my office 3 buildings away when the mass shootings took place, about 9:45. I didn't hear the shots. I learned of the lockdown from a loudspeaker announcing an emergency.
The 2nd floor of Norris Hall is home to the engineering science and mechanics dept, as well as the dean's office for the college of engineering. I have many friends in both. I don't believe anyone in STS teaches in that building. No names have been released. I'm holding my breath.
This is beyond comprehension.
Love, gary
[Note: much later I was reminded that I have taught in Norris Hall many times, in the big lecture hall, on the other end of the building from the shootings. I know the building well.]
Tuesday AM:
One of the professors killed was my friend, G.V. Loganathan, an Indian man from civil engineering. Last year he won the University's top award for teaching. His students had written passionately about the lengths he had gone to help them, both in the classroom and beyond. He was in his classroom.
I also knew the German instructor, Jamie Bishop, a delightful, unassuming young man. He also taught courses in web design. I was enrolled in one last year as part of what is called here the Faculty Development Institute.
Dr. Librescu held the door shut in his classroom to give his students time to jump out of the window.
The loss is devastating.
Tuesday PM:
At the convocation today, a father nearly collapsed and the proceeding stopped while he received care and was helped out of the Coliseum along with his family. Nikki Giovanni, the poet, concluded the event with a wonderfully stirring call for persistence and community--but to me it's not time yet. All those families.
Wednesday AM:
I awoke thinking about how what happened here on Monday happens every day in Iraq.
The sensationalism in U.S. news coverage is becoming the story. This country seems to know what it is only when it has an enemy. Virginia Tech has lost its innocence. It's now the object of a broader search for self-definition. Today the word Columbine means one thing. Is that what's happening to Virginia Tech?
Wednesday PM:
I'm watching two things, both in others and in myself.
On the one hand, a genuine sense of questioning about the decision not to announce that a gunman was at large. I'm glad President Steger asked the governor to appoint a commission to investigate what took place. That strikes me as the right course of action.
On the other hand, a sense of being attacked by the deluge of coverage and an urge to join together to fight it off. The intrusion makes it difficult to conceptualize a new sense of community, let alone build it.
Thursday AM:
My resistance to intrusion has grown. The relentless demands for clarity in the national media have become overwhelming to me. A nation uncertain about its identity lusts for the clarity of evil, identified and exorcised. Those who were complicit must be punished. But for the nation to gain its clarity and regain its self-assurance, we have to be torn apart. I'm watching decent people being challenged to admit fundamental failure, so others elsewhere can relax and resume. For me, the only way out is to accept the ambiguity. I'm just not sure how.
Note: Yesterday I deleted an expression of anguish from Monday about the 2 hour delay. At the time, the anguish was my own. But by Wednesday, it had been appropriated by the machinery of external demands for clarity. I had lost possession of it. It no longer said what I meant. It took me till today to understand that.
I sent a letter to the Roanoke Times affirming that Virginia Tech is part Korean. Many people feel similarly. Race may not become an issue.
Thursday PM:
I didn't want to go to a Department gathering at noon. I thought we might have difficulty coming together. We didn't. It was a meaningful experience. We helped one another. They are my people. We're going to gather again on Saturday.
I was wrong when I said STS teaches no classes in Norris. One of my graduate students, an international student, teaches a Friday discussion section of Engineering Cultures in 206. That was G.V.'s room.
Friday PM:
Yesterday I gave a long interview to the Toronto Star. He wanted to discuss the increase in mass shootings. I said it was about increased audience. In part because of the expansion of communications technologies. But mainly because of the dependence of national renewal on finding an enemy we can all share. Doesn't happen in Canada. I think Montreal was different. They were all women.
Today I am at UVA with my son, Michael, hosted by Admissions. Having two kids go here split my identity between my institution and its rival. Today is different. Orange and maroon everywhere. A memorial site where many students are writing letters to Tech students. All stop at noon as the Chapel bell slowly tolls 33 times. I read that many of the candles at Tuesday's vigil came from UVA. Every time I see the Hoos for Hokies sign, I cry. And I've never considered myself a Hokie. I've learned this week that I am indeed Virginia Tech.
Higher education can no longer be called sanctuary. Virginia Tech is of the world. Our theory must catch up.
Saturday
One of my daughters, Megan, has flown in. Telephone, email, and obsessive reading had not been enough. She needed to be here. The father of the Blacksburg girl who died wrote an open letter to the community inviting us to cherish the memories we're creating with our loved ones, for one day that's all we might have.
I bought a Virginia Tech tshirt for the first time.
Marta and I hosted a gathering for STS families. Megan, Leah, and Michael did all the work while Marta and I attended the memorial service for G.V. His graduate students called him Gobichettypalayam Vasudevan, his name. We shared the food all had brought. The youngest kids chased our cats. We talked. We laughed. We discussed what to do in class the first day back.
Sunday
Last night I was told that after killing G.V. and the woman sitting closest to the door, the shooter ordered the civil engineering grad students to put their heads down on their desks. He then put three bullets into each head. In the French class, the shooter left and came back. The wounded teacher tried to hold the door shut with a table, unsuccessfully.
I signed the petition supporting Charles Steger and Wendell Flinchum.
Tomorrow is the oral defense of a Ph.D. qualifying exam. I'm on the committee.
Thursday
My biggest difficulty has been accepting the ambiguity. My career is about pursuing ambiguity, confronting ambiguity, wrestling with ambiguity, interpreting ambiguity, constructing narratives about ambiguity. But always ambiguity as object, external challenge, something to figure out. The deep, abiding acceptance of ambiguity is another thing altogether. I'm not so good at that. It came to a head for me yesterday at the crowded memorial gathering for the two faculty and fifteen students in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures. Fifteen kids extending themselves past their boundaries, learning another language, led forward by teachers with relentless, sometimes infuriating, enthusiasm.
Yet the acceptance of ambiguity just may be serving as the vehicle of new community around here. I've always defined community as sharedness that is the product of work, sharedness that assumes initial difference. This week the regular boundaries among us have blurred, if only temporarily, and everyone everywhere seems to be reveling in the joys of simple encounters, recognizing and acknowledging their privilege. A staff member brings her toddler and her dog to the office, to the celebration of all. A dean and a provost feel liberated to openly express and share emotion. The horror is starting to become a thing. It's not going away, nor will it be explained. Sharedness seems to lie in our diverse struggles to accept.
Friday
I played basketball today. Lost all three games. It was wonderful.
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some thoughts (April 16-27, 2007)
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Kim Norris
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Kim Norris
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2007-05-03
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So this is how it feels...Thoughts on April 16, 2007
Thank you for this archive. My world view changed on this day, and I appreciate having a place to store my memories. I'm not writing this as one who was there first hand. I am writing as a VT alumnus (B.A. Theater Arts and M.A. English) and a resident of the community, to share with others who weren't there first hand either, to witness how much it still hurt for this to happen to Virginia Tech, to Blacksburg.
That Monday morning, I was at work at my former job in Salem, VA (I work in Blacksburg now) when the plant manager, whose wife works on campus, got a call from a friend. "Wife is fine...in lock down, and can't call." The call was another friend who had heard from her sister, who works in Norris Hall. Her sister had managed to get a cellphone call out from the cleaning supply closet she and a co-worker locked themselves in after the shooting started.
I logged onto the web. The news headline read "Shooting at VT. 1 dead, 1 injured." I called my husband, who works second shift, woke him up, and told him to see if he could get some current news. He said he'd call right back. In the meantime...
My friend and co-worker, got a call from her little sister, an EMT for Christiansburg/ Montgomery County. She was on the scene, and her casualty numbers were much higher. She'd heard emergency radio reports of 30 dead or injured already...she said the first response workers were going room to room in Norris Hall, and reporting in what they found.
The news on the web went up to 22 dead. My husband called with the confirmed count: 33 dead including the shooter; injury reports still coming in. Suddenly, we knew how it felt to be members of the community that is the site of the "worst mass shooting in U.S. history." I had the sensation of the ground falling out from under me. So that's how it feels...
I immediately tried to call a close friend who is an English instructor at Va Tech. (This is well before Cho is identified as an English major.) I couln't get through. I sent an email, Let me hear from you soonest...". (It would be Tuesday morning before I would hear she was okay - as okay as any of us were at that point.) My husband called back to say he'd gotten in touch with another friend whose wife teaches in Norris Hall. She didn't teach on Monday...thank Heaven. But how many co-workers or students did she know?
I got through the work day, survived the I-81 commute home, and checked messages. There were two: my sister, also a VT graduate, and my mom. Both said the same thing. "This is awful. Call me and tell me how you are." I wept, appreciating the long distance hugs. Who was I to need a hug though? It hadn't happened to me. So I thought. Then I turned on the local TV news.
Probably nothing could bring it harder home to me, just how messed up the day had been, than to see every major news channel reporting live from what I still consider my town (although I live in the next town over now). My sweet, small, safe town. I knew then that everything had changed. Blacksburg and VT had lost something that could never be regained, that sense of, "that could never happen here." We all had to grow up that day. Students, Alumni, and residents alike. Time to shed those wonderful rose-colored blinders that life in a sweet, small, safe town can afford you, and see the world, and know that there was never any protecting ourselves from this. We still aren't safe. How do you shield against madness?
My phone rang all night that April 16. College friends I hadn't heard from in years called to share their horror and sadness. (The next day I got a card from my ill-tempered and often-estranged mother-in-law, "Hope your friends are all right...")
My husband got home from work Monday night around 11:45 pm and handed me a small ribbon, orange and maroon layered on black. A co-worker of his had spent the day making 100 of them to hand out at work. I pinned mine to my lapel with a VT logo earring (one of a pair I bought to wear at the 2000 Sugar Bowl in New Orleans). For a few moments I had the only ribbon like it...
Nikki Giovanni got it right at the convocation. We will prevail. Whether the media moves on or not. That Wednsday, a Virginia-based newspaper reporter called our house, and my husband answered. Our last name is Norris. Were we any relation to the namesake of Norris Hall, and if so how did we feel about this tragedy happening in that particular building? (We aren't related.)
Here on May 3, the funerals are over, the tears are still flowing, but now the media is backing off, at least on a national level. The scab isn't being ripped off as frequently, and maybe some true healing can begin. But there's no going back to who we were. Only moving forward. Let's go Hokies!
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So This is How it Feels...
account
reflection
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