By STEPHANIE HARRIS THOMAS, Hope Star Writer Published: Friday, April 20, 2007 6:21 PM CDT Students at the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope, as well as universities across Arkansas, are feeling the pain of the Virginia Tech student body. The tragic deaths at Virginia Tech have them feeling anxious about a place where they have always felt safe. But, UACCH students did not mind sharing their feelings and reactions about the shootings on Monday which left 33 people dead. "It makes you take a second thought about coming to school every day," Lacey Brent, a nursing student said. One student showed an expression of disbelief and sorrow when asked what was his reaction to the tragedy at Virginia Tech. "I don't really know what to say about it," student Jason Lamb said after a long silent pause. "It is taking its toll on everyone, especially everyone going to a university. "It also has parents worried about their sons or daughters being at a university," he said. "It was a horrible thing that happened...a tragedy. It is kind of scary too," LPN student Quana Ellis said. "It is really an eye-opener." "It makes you think," Chelsea Johnson, also a nursing student said. "Anything can happen at any given time," Lamb said. Another nursing major again reacted with fear. "Red flags were raised. They had warnings and they did not take heed. It is scary," Chelsea Johnson said. "I hope it does not happen here," Rebecca Allen said. Some students simply did not understand. "When they found two people shot they should have closed the school," said Ashley Linzy. Reacting to the accusations he had heard about the shootings, another student, James Stuart, said, "There's a lot of second guessing going on right now." Stuart said he did not really see that tightening of security would make a big difference in such a situation. "You would have to have guard shacks at every entrance and door," he said. "I think if someone wanted to do something like that they would some way, somehow to take out there frustrations." -- Original Source: http://www.hopestar.com/articles/2007/04/20/news/news1.txt Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5.
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By Richard Lodge/Daily News staff GHS Fri Apr 20, 2007, 12:20 AM EDT The debate over gun control in the wake of Monday's massacre at Virginia Tech had already reached the presidential campaign trial by midweek, and it's sure to surface many times between now and November 2008. Why had it been so easy for Cho Seung-Hui to buy a 9mm handgun from a Virginia gun shop, then use it to kill 32 fellow students and professors at Virginia Tech, those within the gun-control faction asked? If only the Virginia legislature hadn't voted down a bill in late 2006 that would have allowed students and staff at VT to carry guns on campus, Cho would have faced armed resistance before Monday became a massacre, declared the defenders of the Second Amendment. This tragic slice of life in America is only partly about guns, although that's likely what the debate will boil down to. The Virginia Tech massacre is about mental illness and whether we can learn to recognize it and treat it. As more comes out about Cho's disturbing behavior, the trail of red flags seems clear. One of his professors, Lucinda Roy, raised the alarm years ago about Cho's disturbing writings and behavior and tried to urge him into counseling. Virginia authorities revealed that in December 2005, a court magistrate ordered Cho to undergo an evaluation at a psychiatric hospital. The magistrate signed the order after an initial evaluation found probable cause that Cho was mentally ill and was a danger to himself or others. So how could Cho so easily buy a handgun - legally - from a Roanoke gun shop to use in his murderous spree? Tougher gun laws might have delayed Cho's purchase with a waiting period, but his lack of a criminal record would not have prevented the gun dealer from selling him the weapon. Should psychiatric exams be part of the process to buy a gun? There's not a legislature in the country that would have the backbone to do that. And even if they did, how would such an exam be done without excluding and stigmatizing anyone who has been treated for depression or sought psychiatric help at some point? Unlike a felony record, which is an obvious stop sign in the legal purchase of a gun, mental health records would be open to interpretation, and possibly abuse, by the reviewing authority. But history shows you don't need to buy a gun legally to commit a massacre. Anyone bent on crime can buy a gun on the black market or steal one. Closer to home, the tragic fatal stabbing at Lincoln-Sudbury High School earlier this year shows that a weapon as basic as a kitchen carving knife can be the means to a terrible end. But for wide-scale school violence, the common thread of mental illness and easily obtained guns is clear. For example: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the Columbine High School killers, bought a rifle and two shotguns through a straw purchaser, illegally circumventing the law. Five years after the Columbine massacre and the suicides of Harris and Klebold, the FBI's lead investigator and several psychiatrists labeled Harris a clinical psychopath and Klebold as a "depressive" under Harris's influence. In 1998, Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew Golden, 11, stole seven firearms from the home of Golden's grandfather and used some of them to kill four students and a teacher at a school in Jonesboro, Ark. In March 2005, Jeffrey Weise killed his grandfather, stole two of his guns, then used those guns and a third one to kill seven people at Red Lake High School in Minnesota. Even mass murderers who bought guns legally have tended to have mental problems as a common theme. Charles Whitman, who used the rifle he bought at a hardware store to kill 15 people from his perch in a University of Texas clock tower in 1966, had been prescribed medication for depression. In 1992, student Wayne Lo used an SKS rifle he bought legally at a store in Pittsfield, Mass., to kill a teacher and student - and wound four others - at Simon's Rock of Bard College in Great Barrington. Experts at his trial disagreed on whether Lo suffered from schizophrenia or simply had a "narcissistic personality disorder." Time and time again, killers - almost always men - murder innocents. It's impossible to imagine that any of these killers is sane. The Rev. Paul Papas, a pastoral counselor and president of NAMI (the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Framingham chapter), agreed Wednesday that mental illness is a likely trait among those like Cho. "It's all about choice, about a person's ability to choose," Papas said. In Cho's case, evidence now says a professor and several others who knew Cho tried to convince him to seek counseling. Apparently immersed so deeply in his own mental quagmire, Cho rebuffed offers of help and rarely even spoke with other people. Asked what lesson might come out of this week's tragedy in Virginia, Papas suggested that people paying attention and caring for others might be a good start. "Anybody who has any kind of relationship with somebody else, hopefully they would see changes in that person and recognize that they might need help, and that they should seek help," Papas said. But, as we're learning this week, getting through to a person as deeply troubled as Cho might be more than is humanly possible. Richard Lodge is editor of The Daily News and writes a column published on Friday. His e-mail is rlodge@cnc.com. -- Original Source: http://www.dailynewstribune.com/columnists/x232888155 Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5.
Memorial stone of G.V. Loganathan on 4/16/08. Photo by Brian Sewell. -- Original Source: http://flickr.com/photos/briansewell/2419986170/in/set-72157604577382666/
By David J. Skorton May 2 2007 I had intended this final column of the academic year to be one mainly of gratitude to my colleagues at The Cornell Daily Sun and to readers of the newspaper for permitting me this space and for the tremendously helpful feedback I received as a result of these "From David" columns. I look forward to another year of useful interchange through this column and in many other fora in 2007-08. I believe we have made progress as a campus this year in confronting important issues, ranging from violence, to mental health, to what it means to be part of an inclusive campus community. Although we have not resolved some issues of importance to this campus, I believe we have learned a great deal together about how to have the sorts of conversations we need to have in order to create change. I am especially heartened by the progress we have made on diversity issues, and I look forward to continuing our progress with the support, leadership and encouragement of the University Diversity Council and through the self-governance processes underway to foster greater community involvement. As Cornellians, all of us can take pride in the achievements of our colleagues and friends this year. Some have won major national and international awards and many more have demonstrated a great willingness to share their skills and talents with the campus and the world — in the classroom, laboratory and studio; on the playing field; through public service; and through music, dance, theater and art. Eli Northrup '07 and Joshua Raff '07 have even come up with a rap to update the Alma Mater, which I heard performed last week by Pants Velour. Whether you are moving on to the next stage of your life or continuing on at Cornell, you have helped make this a vibrant and engaged community, and I congratulate you and thank you for your efforts. Unfortunately, the end of the academic year has brought with it the incomprehensible, horrific tragedy at Virginia Tech University. In the best Cornell tradition, we have shared the sadness of the moment, extended our sympathy to our colleagues at Virginia Tech, their friends and families and also taken action to improve our systems for dealing with emergency situations that may arise on our own campus. At least two areas require our continuing attention: • the mental health and wellbeing of students, faculty and staff. • the state of campus security and communications and the regulation of firearms and other weapons in the context of our campus communities. In earlier columns I have touched on the issues of stress and mental health, as well as on violence on campus. In the sphere of mental health services, a balance must be achieved between the rights of privacy of the individual and the more general public interest. As mentioned in my earlier column, at Cornell we are experimenting with a range of approaches for reaching students, including serious efforts to locate counseling and mental health services where students live and gather and to establish effective "early warning systems" that permit us to identify colleagues in distress and to intervene as appropriate. Last week's op-ed in the Cornell Chronicle by Gregory T. Eels, associate director of Gannett Health Services and director of counseling and psychological services, described what Cornell is doing in this area and also what counseling can and cannot do. Campus security also requires a delicate balance — one that enhances the safety of our campuses without destroying the openness of either our built environment or the intellectual environment, both of which make the university experience what it is. While we cannot shrink from doing what we can to enhance the safety of our campuses, we also cannot and should not turn the learning environment into a high-security, gated community, where fear trumps openness and threatens the grand experiments that universities offer in what historian Carl Becker called "freedom with responsibility." For the past several years, long before the Virginia Tech tragedy, those responsible for safety and security at Cornell have been working to optimize emergency procedures and communications through an institution-wide approach. We already have in place a variety of methods for mass notification in the event of an emergency, ranging from telephone trees to message-blaster e-mails, and we are examining additional ways of reaching large numbers of people during the middle of the day through text-messaging, enunciation panels in individual buildings and expanded alarms. In the weeks to come, we will share with the campus the results of accelerated deliberations on these safety and communications issues. The subject of firearm regulation is, of course, extraordinarily controversial throughout our country. New York State law prohibits anyone from possessing a rifle, shotgun or firearm (or pellet guns, spring guns and certain other weapons) on a school, college or university campus, without written authorization from the institution. The Cornell Police takes that law very seriously and is committed to its enforcement. Nonetheless, the more general issue of the easy availability of lethal force is one that must be faced squarely in order to reduce the likelihood of other gun-related tragedies, whether on a college campus or in another venue where people feel relatively safe, such as a shopping mall or sporting event. And the interaction between the regulations regarding mental health record privacy and the background check process for weapon purchase requires constant attention. Whether this marks the conclusion of your time at Cornell or a brief hiatus, I leave you with three messages. First, let's remember this year for its achievements, but also with new empathy for those who are struggling with the challenges of alienation and loss. Second, please make your own views on gun regulation known to our elected leaders in order to encourage the discussion we, as a nation, need to have in the wake of the most difficult circumstances in Blacksburg, Virginia. Please report acts of violence to those in a position to help, and also express your thoughts about mental health and campus security to me and to others on campus who help shape our policies and procedures. Third, thank you for making my first year at Cornell so enormously rewarding and productive. -- Original Source: Cornell Daily Sun - May 2, 2007
Jonny Lieberman <jdl46@cornell.edu>, <lieberman.jonny@gmail.com>
Lori Haas speaks at a student "lie-in" at the far end of the drillfield on April 16, 2008, A Day of Remembrance. Haas' daughter Emily was injured in the shootings at Virginia Tech. Organized by Virginia Tech senior Alison St. Onge, the lie-in was intended as a memorial to the victims and protest against easy access to firearms. Family and friends of the victims spoke at the event before dozens of supporters laid down in silent protest and reflection. Photo by Brent Jesiek. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0
by SamiSunshine That is a prime example of colleges not looking into the right cases and not checking up on people. Once Cho started to stalk people, he should have been expelled. They seem to spend more time fighting underage drinking than sexual assult. Relating that to the U of A, at one of the dorms my friend was staying with a girl who had moved into her room from another dorm. What my friend didn't know was that the girl was moved from the other room for taking a knife and slashing up the furniture and threatening people. Finally my friend got really scared because the girl did something similar again and instead of kicking the psycho girl out, they moved my friend in with another girl and the psycho has her own room. In this same dorm, another friend got kicked out of the dorm system because his roommates said he didn't clean and said he was smoking pot while there was no evidence of the fact. And counselors and administrators never get back to you. I had a really bad panic attack the night before an exam and I couldn't take it because of some harm I did to myself and I explained that to the dean's secretary who said that she was going to refer me to counselors who would call me in the next few day. They never called. I finally went to the counselors on my own and a lady gave me the names of therapists and said she would call in the next few days. She never called. I could have been so far on the edge that I could have harmed myself or others. I could have been another Cho. But, the university decided to not check up on me, a severely stressed out, freaked out person who was living in the dorms with many other students. I could have been a risk to others and they still did not make sure that I wasn't a threat to myself or others. I wouldn't be surprised if that had happened at Virginia Tech. Don't blame strict/lax gun laws, violence in the media, or society in general: blame the people who were supposed to be protecting, mentoring, and caring for the students. Cho Seung-Hui had been referred to counseling, he had a record as a stalker, he had a reputation as a disturbed individual: did the President have to march over to the Virgina Tech campus health and demand that they see Cho? This tragedy could happen anywhere. My heartfelt condolences to the victims, their families, and Cho's family. This should be something that should inspire universities to protect and try to heal their students, not lose them in the masses. ETA: On a more frivolous note, its appalling that someone with such bad writing could be a Senior English major. The most disturbing things about his writing is how bad it is. That says something about the writing program at Virginia Tech. And, it ain't good. -- Author's Comments This is a little rant about how many chances they had to stop Cho and how little they did and how it isn't just a problem that Virginia Tech has. Its a problem at universities all over the United States. -- Original submitted to deviantart.com on April 19, 2007: http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/53594990/ Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 License.
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LOST BUT NOT FORGOTTEN They lost their life on that fateful day April 16th together we pray. No motive, no means, to commit such a crime. What began a Monday morning, lost like a drop of a dime. A community, our school, Virginia Tech that is. What turned into a tragedy. once known as a serene state of bliss. It was a snowy, cold, spring morning when their world came to a halt. A day of great remembrance full of pain, grief, and fault. No one can possibly express this magnitude of distress. To hold their hand in silence and mourn those we miss. Where do we go from here? Is there any place to turn? To change the hands of time And take away their fear. Through the darkness of night until the break of a new day. Please remember our HOKIES This, I ask you to pray. Elizabeth Patterson
One of eight large placards sent by UVA Students in support of Virginia Tech. Original source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/killfile/499375257/in/set-72157600298230023/ Photo Courtesy of Chris Thomas
Permission: Chris Thomas http://www.flickr.com/photos/killfile/499375257/in/set-72157600298230023/
This woman was on College Ave. and Main Street after the convocation. This is a prime expample of how close our community is. I told her "I love you" and she replied "I love you more..." I love this town, I have lived here all my life (19 years) and there is no other town I would rather been raised in...
In order to express the grief, Virginia Tech lowered down the national flag in front of the Burrus Hall for weeks after the shooting.
This memorial quilt was presented by the State of Louisiana to the Alumni Association at the LSU-Virginia Tech football game on September 8, 2007. It hangs on the second floor of the Alumni Center. Each victim's name is stiched in the blue border. The yellow border is stiched with the words, "April 16 2007 Stich by Stich LSU Tigers Mend the Hokies Hearts." Photo taken 4/16/08.
Memorial stone of Partahi Mamora Halomoan Lumbantoruan on 4/16/08. Photo of Brian Sewell. -- Original Source: http://flickr.com/photos/briansewell/2419986554/in/set-72157604577382666/
Luto en el país por matanza en Virginia
Identifican al agresor como un estudiante de Corea del Sur. Publicado por Diario la Raza 04-18-2007 Washington, D.C. — La policía de EE.UU. identificó como el autor de la matanza en la universidad virginia tech al estudiante surcoreano Cho Seung Hui, de 23 años, un joven descrito como "solitario" y cuyos escritos habían suscitado preocupación entre sus profesores. Hasta el momento se desconocen los motivos que llevaron a Cho, quien vivía en EU desde los 8 años y estudiaba filología inglesa, a matar a 32 personas, entre profesores y estudiantes —al menos dos latinoamericanos— y suicidarse. Una de sus profesoras recordaba ayer a la prensa el tono perturbador de algunos de sus ejercicios literarios, hasta el punto de que sus instructores le aconsejaron recibir ayuda psicológica. Según el diario Chicago Tribune, el asesino dejó una nota en su habitación en la que clamaba contra los "niños ricos", "la decadencia" y los "embusteros charlatanes" en el campus y asegura: "Me obligaste a hacerlo". Al parecer, según la cadena CNN, Cho compró una pistola Glock el mes pasado en una tienda de Roanoke, una ciudad vecina, y pagó por ella 571 dólares con un cheque. La matanza se produjo en dos fases: en un primer tiroteo murieron dos personas, un hombre y una mujer, en una residencia de estudiantes; y el segundo, en el que murió el resto, tuvo lugar dos horas más tarde, en las aulas de la Facultad de Ingeniería. Las autoridades han confirmado que las armas empleadas en la matanza fueron al menos dos pistolas y que una de ellas se usó en los dos tiroteos. "La evidencia no nos ha conducido a decir categóricamente que el mismo autor estuvo implicado en los dos tiroteos", pero "es ciertamente razonable suponer que Cho fue el autor en los dos incidentes", indicó el superintendente de la Policía de Virginia, Steven Flaherty. Entre los fallecidos se encuentran profesores y estudiantes. La lista completa no se ha dado a conocer pero sí han salido a la luz los nombres de un grupo de víctimas. Entre ellos se encuentra el peruano Daniel Pérez Cuevas, muerto mientras asistía a una clase de francés y quien había iniciado sus estudios universitarios en Miami pero se cambió a virginia tech, por su mayor prestigio académico. También está el puertorriqueño Juan Ramón Ortiz, de 26 años, y que cursaba su primer año de maestría en la universidad, donde se había matriculado junto a su esposa, Liselle Vega, con quien llevaba casado un año. El gobierno de EU afirmó ayer que está dispuesto a ofrecer la ayuda que sea necesaria para los extranjeros que hayan sido víctimas de la masacre en la Universidad Politécnica de Virginia el lunes. Según han contado los supervivientes, el asesino cerró varias salidas del edificio con cadenas y candados, y después fue vaciando sus cargadores, aula por aula. La primera clase, y donde al parecer se han registrado más víctimas, fue una de alemán, en la que el asesino disparó a la cabeza del profesor Chris Bishop antes de abrir fuego sobre los alumnos. En otras aulas algunos alumnos huyeron por las ventanas. Otros intentaron bloquear las puertas con sus cuerpos, en algunos casos con resultado fatal. Ese fue el caso del profesor Liviu Librescu, que fue alcanzado por disparos a través de la puerta mientras impedía el paso al agresor y lograba así salvar a sus alumnos. Doce estudiantes de la universidad se recuperan de sus heridas y permanecen estables en distintos hospitales de la zona de Blackburg, donde se encuentra el centro docente. La matanza ha conmovido a todo el país y ha suscitado reacciones de condolencia en todo el mundo. El presidente de EU, George W. Bush, aseguró ayer que se trata de un "día de tristeza para todo el país" e instó a los estudiantes a no dejarse llevar por la ira, en un acto de homenaje a las víctimas en el polideportivo de la universidad. Bush ordenó que las banderas estadounidenses ondeen a media asta en señal de duelo hasta el domingo. El incidente ha comenzado a suscitar ya las primeras críticas sobre la reacción de las autoridades tanto policiales como universitarias. Muchos estudiantes han censurado que, tras el primer incidente, no se suspendieran las clases ni se diera un aviso de peligro hasta dos horas después, y eso sólo a través de un correo electrónico. La matanza ha vuelto a reabrir el debate sobre la regulación de la tenencia de armas en Estados Unidos, un país en el que las leyes sobre el control de armas de fuego son muy laxas. EFE -- Fuente Original: Diario La Raza - Chicago http://www.laraza.com/news.php?nid=43338&clave=a%3A1%3A%7Bi%3A0%3Bs%3A13%3A%22virginia+tech%22%3B%7D
Jorge Mederos Executive Editor La Raza Chicago Inc. jorge.mederos@laraza.com August 13, 2007
LUV CNU was formed in April of this year especially to record the song "Children of April", which is a tribute to the victims lost at Virginia Tech on 4/16/07. Based at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, where three of the vocalists go, LUV CNU offers this song as a gift to the VT community. A "no vocals" version has been added in case anyone wants to use the song to pay their own tribute. It is our hope that this song will bring some comfort to those who need it, and honor all of the victims who so richly deserve it. LUV CNU is: Emily Bettendorf, freshman, CNU - vocals. Joe Fitzpatrick, freshman, CNU - vocals and bass guitar. Frank Jordan, songwriter - vocals and guitar. Jason Kronstain, senior, Denbigh High - drums. Geyo Maganis, senior, Bruton High - keyboards. Will Smith, freshman, CNU - vocals. Tommy Fisher recorded and mixed Frank Jordan's tracks. Woody Bradfield of Independent Recording Services (I.R.S.) arranged the strings and recorded the remaining tracks, then mixed and mastered them all. Original Source: http://www.myspace.com/childrenofapril
LYONS: The impact of sports during tragedy
By:Chris Lyons Posted: 4/19/07 Originally, I was planning on writing a column about the debauchery that is Marathon Monday. As one of the biggest days here at our school, it only seemed right to dedicate an entire column taking a look at the day many students compare to Christmas. Everything started out according to plan. As the day began and the race went off with minimal rain. It seemed as though all would turn out OK. It's amazing how things can change in a blink of an eye. Since coming to school here at BU, I've stressed over numerous "problems" that all college students go through when they arrive in a new environment. Making friends, meeting girls (or boys) and rooting for athletic teams that give everyone stress at some point or another. Education, of course, can be thrown into this category as well. None of those seemed to matter when I went to check my computer Monday morning while taking a break in the Marathon action. As I went to ESPN.com as I always do, the breaking news at Virginia Tech put everything into perspective. All the things I constantly worry about as a sports fan were irrelevant once again. Suddenly, the marathon didn't matter. The Red Sox game being played down the street didn't matter. The wins and losses of Boston University athletics that I've worried about for the past three years didn't matter. Feelings reminiscent of those I had when I first heard of the Columbine High School shootings and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks rushed into my head. It seemed as though the death toll continued to rise each time I refreshed the page until the number reached 32 killed by a crazed gunman. Trying to talk about athletics at the time of a tragedy of this magnitude almost seems senseless. No matter how much passion we put into supporting or playing sports, they are just games at the end of the day. But somehow, sports always help play a huge role in the recovery process in situations like these. Columbine's football team's success the season after the 1999 shootings was a feel-good story about a community coming together after tragedy. I still get goose bumps every time I watch New England Patriots lineman Joe Andruzzi - brother of two New York firefighters - run on to the field at Gillette Stadium holding American flags in each hand when the NFL came back after Sept. 11. Sports seem to offer our country an escape from tragedy and a way of coming together as a group with a common bond. They give us something to rally around. At no level is this more evident than in collegiate athletics. A team can bring a school together. Here at BU, hockey is a borderline religion for many. Our campus is stuffed with students from all over the country -- world, even -- who are as diverse as can be. But every Friday or Saturday night in the fall and winter, Agganis Arena fills to root on the common bond that we all share. While watching the images of Virginia Tech students in mourning the past few days, one thing stood out to me. First, the "Let's go Hokies!" chant at the memorial service on Tuesday. Cheers that Virginia Tech students use at sporting events are now being used to bring their campus together during these trying times. And it's spreading beyond their campus, too. Similar to "U.S.A." chants following Sept. 11, "Everyone is a Hokie" is being heard on campuses throughout the nation. Athletic pride is turning into a nation's pride for a campus in Blacksburg, Va. that experienced the worst shooting in U.S. history. So while we always say sports are just games and have little meaning, they clearly offer us comfort in times of tragedy, at least in some sense. On a small scale or large, they have helped our country survive some of our saddest moments. And they will now be part of an effort to move on at Virginia Tech. On Friday, Virginia Tech's baseball team will be the first Hokies squad to step onto the playing field since Monday's shootings, and several other teams will continue their seasons this weekend. I don't think I'll be alone in rooting for all of their athletes in their effort to help the campus move forward. America's Team has found a new home in my mind. Let's Go Hokies. Chris Lyons, a junior in the College of Communication, is a weekly columnist for The Daily Free Press. He can be reached at cjl@bu.edu. -- Original Source:The Daily Free Press - April 19, 2007
Beauty and Depravity | eugene cho's blog [eugenecho.com] Like everyone else - here [Seattle], there [Virginia], West [United States, East [Korea], and everywhere, I am trying to make sense of something that is simply - senselesss. Personally, the emotions have been even more convoluted because I am Korean-American. I am a Korean immigrant [immigrated at the age of 6] and understand the immigrant experience; I am a Korean-American Immigrant Male [who even shares the same last name - 'C-H-O' - as the gunman]. I am a Christian pastor involved in the institution of Religion that Seung Hui Cho criticized and expressed disappointment. For these reasons, many have asked, called, IM'd, and emailed asking me to share some of my thoughts - as a person, a Christian, an immigrant, a pastor, but especially as a Korean-American man. I'm sharing some thoughts [some which are still in vomitaceous process] in hopes that we can dialogue here - that it may serve as part of the healing and redemptive process. Monday night was an incredibly eerie day for me. After watching the news with incredulity and horror, I posted a blog entry about the tragedy in Virginia Tech. About 9pm [PST], I began to literally have over hundred people instantaneously get to my blog in a span of two hours. Search Views | seung cho blog 18, cho virginia tech myspace 17, virginia tech shooting cho 17, cho 15, cho virginia tech 15, virginia tech cho 13, cho virginia 9, virginia tech student shooter Cho 9, virginia shooter cho myspace 8, Sung Cho Blacksburg 7, virginia tech blog cho 7, blog virginia tech 2, cho seung virginia tech shooting 2, Cho, Korean, Blacksburg 2CHO, virginia shooting korean 2, Virginia Tech Myspace Cho 2, Cho myspace virginia tech 2, Cho Seung virginia tech 2, virginia tech cho shooting 2, Myspace Cho Virginia Tech 2, "Cho" Blacksburg 2, viginia tech cho korea shooting 2, "Cho" virginia tech korea myspace 2, cho virginia tech shoot 2, korean virginia tech cho 2, pastoral health 2, quest eugene cho 2, cho virginia tech shooting 2, virginia cho 2 As I examined my dashboard through wordpress, it was fairly obvious to me that while the news wouldn't be shared to the larger world until the next morning, there was strong suspicion - perhaps through authorities or through some of the student body - that the gunman may have been someone named Seung [Hui] Cho. I was speechless, ashamed, angry, and afraid. [You can also add 'guilty' because of my selfishness. Like others, I felt "pathetic" in wishing the person wasn't Korean or Asian...I became more self-focused rather on mourning with those who have suffered in the tragedy]. Some vomitaceous thoughts, questions, and reflections: 1 We need to remember, foremost, that lives have been dramatically impacted. 33 people have died. 32 who were completely innocent. Each person that died or was severely injured has a name, a story, a family, a passion, a dream, and a life. Let's not forget that in the midst of the media frenzy. This is a must read. 2 It's clear that Seung Cho was unhealthy, unstable, disturbed, ill [schizophrenia?], angry, lost, and [place your words here]. But that's the only clear thing. I needed the turn the TV off because the 'stretching' for information, analysis, scrutiny, and answers to who, what, where, when, and why was overly speculative. Compare the reporting of Fox News and BBC News... While I understand the need for 'why,' we're simply not going to know the full picture. While Seung's action were horrible and evil [and premeditated], we must remind ourselves that he too is a human being - as difficult as that might be. Knowing some of the dynamics of the Asian/Korean culture and the synthesis of pain, guilt, and shame, I am sincerely worried for his family - particularly his parents. They, too, are victims in this story. Update: read the statement issued by Sun Kyung Cho and her family. One thing that the media won't touch is the simple and painful matter: Evil exists in our world. There is a spiritual dimension that the media won't discuss but the church must engage. As much as we seek to create a perfect world [and it is a worthwhile pursuit], this will not be the first nor will it be the first murder or tragedy. 3 why do the media keep calling him 'cho'? he has a first name... maybe it's me, but i'm tired of hearing and reading my last name. couple folks actually emailed me [from other parts of the country] through the blog to ask if i'm related to seung. 4 Will there be racial backlash? Do Asians and Koreans need to fear? On the most part, I do not believe there will be overt backlash but there are always going to be pockets of people that will be stupid and do stupid things. It would be nonsenical for people to associate this violent act to Koreans or Asians simply because of Seung Hui Cho's ethnicity. In that same vein, it would have been preposterous and unjust for us to place blame on African-Americans for the actions of John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo in the 'Beltway Sniper attacks' of 2002 or to ask White Americans to share blame with Timothy McVeigh in the Oklahoma bombings of 1995. But the question must be asked. How is the media influencing the construct of the national consciousness? That's a worthwhile question for me. In the early reporting, I was perturbed that Seung was being referred to as 'the Asian killer' and 'the Korean killer.' While he is Asian and Korean, the media needs to be more responsible in their sensational reporting. What do you think? As one commenter replied in an earlier posting: i definitely wish/ hope that most would not see the shooter as representative of all asians, but in america, if the person in question is not a white, heterosexual, protestant, middle class, educated man, then their race, creed and color seems to always be part of the equation. he has been marked as the resident alien from abroad who came into our land and terrorized us, and with our heightened fear of the other, this situation seems to be full of potential for type casting and APIA caricatures. and i think if these kinds of caricatures flourish (as they did with mid-easterners post 9/11), then it's not unreasonable to fear violent reprisal. and so while i certainly hope that people can view the event as isolated, i know that it's very difficult for our culture to separate media representations of people groups from 'reality.' 5 Why are Koreans/Asians afraid of backlash? My hope is that in the midst of this tragedy, a small glimpse will be captured of the Asian-American [immigrant] experience. Asians and particularly, Korean-Americans are xenophobic. Historically, Koreans have been invaded, pillaged, and exploited...one of the foremost Korean historians Ki-Baek Lee refers to Korea as "the prostitute of Asia." From an immigrant experience, two very formative events in modern Asian American history impact our responses as Asian-Americans - particularly those who are older. In my opinion, the most significant event in modern Asian-American history is the story of Vincent Chin - a Chinese American man beaten to death by a baseball bat by two white auto industry workers - outside of a club during his bachelor party. Even worse, the white men were acquitted. For Korean Americans, the most significant event in their modern history is the LA riots and specifically, Sai-I-Gu (4/29). The United States is an incredible country and I am a proud citizen of this country; but it's not a perfect country and while I believe there won't be an overt backlash, I do worry how it will impact the individual and larger [White] collective view of Asian-Americans, Korean-Americans, "foreigners," "immigrants" and such. We should agree: if one Asian or Korean is bullied as a result of this, it's one too many. If one woman is bullied because of her gender, it's one too many. If one gay person is bullied because of their orientation, it's one too many. 6 As we mourn for those impacted, we must ask the question, "Why am I mourning?" Are Korean-Americans and Asian-Americans mourning because the perpetrator was Korean [because of shame and/or fear] or because of the larger tragedy? Are we mourning because of the 1 or are we mourning because of the 32? For Koreans, the answer is likely both. We are mourning because of the 33. This is important to understand. To be Korean - culturally - is to be communal. Koreans are interconnected in a communal culture. We rejoice and mourn with the successes and failures of our fellow Koreans or Korean-Americans. We cling and rejoice with individuals like James Sun [The Apprentice], Paul Kim [American Idol], Michelle Wie [LPGA golfer], Yul Kwon [Survivor: Cook's Island], Hines Ward [NFL Football], and Yunjin Kim [ABC's Lost]. And because we are a communal culture - interconnected - not only as Koreans but also within our KA immigrant experience, we mourn and feel deep pain and shame over Seung Hui Cho. For the larger Anglo worldview, the question must also be asked: Is Seung Hui Cho an "Asian Killer" or "the Korean Killer" or is he a Korean-American [emphasis added] or an American that committed an evil crime? What is the demarcation of what it means to be an American? He immigrated at the age of 8; grew up in Detroit; moved to the suburbs of Washington DC; educated in the States; and was an English major in Virginia Tech. A great definition of community (Romans 12:15) is when [or if] we choose to "mourn with those who mourn and rejoice with those who rejoice." As Asian-Americans, we must mourn with those who mourn not simply because an Asian was involved in the crime, but because our larger community - our country - is in mourning. This is also our country, our people, our college community...this can't be their tragedy. this is [must be] our shared tragedy. 7 Why are we so violent as Americans? Should we discuss gun control here? Where do we start? What is our Christian response? Why are so many Christians so adamant about the right to bear arms? Where is that found in the Scriptures? I can cite tons of places about mercy, humility, justice, the oppressed, the poor, the widows...but why such obsession with arms and yet, such silence on the items listed above? How are we as Christians and as consumers feeding the violence acceptance of our culture? Insert pop culture here. 8 The lives of those who have perished must be remembered, cherished and celebrated. Period. But today alone, nearly 200 people were killed in Bahgdad. It is estimated that approximately 30,000 children will die today because of poverty [according to UNICEF]. That's 210,000 children this week; a little under 11 million children [five and under] each year. While this is a horrible tragedy, [one life lost - is one too many] we must commit ourselves to the elevation of the sanctity of life. each person - with a name, a story, a family, a dream, a beauty... Let's remain in prayer for those impacted in this shared tragedy; let's mourn with those who mourn; hope together; and work - whatever faith, ethnicity, country, political affiliation - for the shared responsibility of being a good neighbor. _________ One last note. As a Korean-American Male Cho Immigrant Christian Pastor, I do have another response: God is love. Because He is Love, He created order out of chaos. His purpose was love and shalom. We were created for beauty - created in the image of God. Shalom was violated and marred. Our image tainted and cracked. Jesus came to redeem and restore. Invitation is extended to all - including the lonely, the outcast, the marginalized, the rich, the debaucherized, and such. And lest we forget or bathe in our righteousness, we have all fallen short of the glory of God. We are confronted by our depravity. We all need God and thanks be to God, the Lord is not far. He is near. This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 18th, 2007 -- Archived with permission of the author. Original Source: Beauty and Depravity | eugene cho's blog [eugenecho.com] http://eugenecho.wordpress.com/2007/04/18/making-sense-of-virginia-tech/
Although meditation can help ease stress, it won't cure what really ails students, society By Lara Loewenstein Thursday, May 3, 2007 Film director David Lynch has the answer to the itching question of how to stop school shootings forever - he's going to teach 1 million students transcendental meditation. I'm almost waiting for Tom Cruise to announce his plan to convert a second million to Scientology. Transcendental meditation is a practice in which participants sit comfortably with their eyes closed and recite a mantra for 20 minutes, twice a day. Unlike other forms of meditation, TM is not meant to involve any form of concentration or effort other than finding the time to practice it. Courses to learn TM cost about $2,500. It almost sounds like nap time. Expensive nap time. But the David Lynch Foundation wants to teach us. For free. Or rather, they want to fund UCLA to teach us - he's providing the funds for schools that want to include TM in their curriculum in order to end school violence. All the schools have to do is contact him. Unfortunately, I don't think UCLA is going to take up the offer. Unfortunate because TM does have some proven benefits - namely, reducing blood pressure and stress. But TM is not proven to stop violence. And honestly, I don't know what problems Lynch thinks people have that can all be eased with TM. Maybe all his frustrations with film directing can be fixed. But TM isn't going to put an end to concrete problems college students face such as paying school loans. And it certainly isn't going to solve mental instability, seemingly the cause of the recent Virginia Tech shooting. But even with all the things TM won't do, during the Web cast on Tuesday, Lynch, so-called quantum physicist John Hagelin and singer-song writer Donovan gave me an idea of what TM would do. After telling their personal stories about discovering TM, Hagelin described specifically how TM works. According to him, meditation allows the mind to settle inward, causing the brain to be more coherent before finally coming to a sense of unity where you realize we are all part of the same entity. He even provided useful charts - to aid those who aren't scientifically minded - that detailed how the state of unity in TM is the same as the "unified field of natural laws of nature." My, that's an eloquent phrase. But besides not knowing exactly what a quantum physicist is, I also don't know what this unified field has anything to do with any sense of unity I might achieve through meditation. But I'll give Hagelin points for creativity. After all, he has a Ph.D. from Harvard. According to Hagelin, Lynch and Donovan, it's this sense of unity that people achieve via TM that will bring about world peace and consequently end school violence. They even stressed how by using their technique we won't need to debate gun control anymore. Because once everyone knows TM, nobody will want to use a gun even if they have access to one. They're going to be too busy enjoying their higher consciousness. I love it; it's so simple and free of politics. And totally fantastical. Not only is TM not going to cure all ills that cause violence, I don't understand where Lynch, Hagelin and Donovan expect people who are, say, in the process of applying to Harvard to find time to meditate for 40 minutes a day. Still, methods to reduce stress and blood pressure and increase happiness should be studied. But considering how much trouble I have sitting still, I'd like to see some non-pseudo, and unbiasedly authored, studies comparing happiness and stress release related to smoking pot on a daily basis, swing dancing or getting laid. But even with my attention issues, I still want to learn TM. I'm just not paying $2,500. I quickly sent an e-mail to the David Lynch Foundation on Tuesday requesting to be taught. He hasn't responded yet. I doubt people requesting to learn TM are the ones at risk for becoming gunmen. So I started by teaching myself. But the "how to" for TM is pretty secretive. I suppose they really want that $2,500. I had to settle for plain meditation with a non-unique mantra - "hamsa." So I sat down in a comfortable position and tried it, saying "ham" when I breathed in and "sa" when I breathed out. Hammmm ... saa. I fell asleep after five minutes. And now I don't have time to do my problem set. Thanks, David. I'm sure meditation works for some people, but I'm going to go back to my nap. -- Original Source:The Daily Bruin - May 3, 2007
Mariacristina Blog Archive for Virginia Tech
Arms Control Begins at Home April 29, 2007 at 3:28 pm · Filed under Virginia Tech, compassion, meditation, violence I need to be hit with a ton of bricks for a message to sink in. For a long time I've spoken about gun control, nuclear disarmament, and crisis prevention, but it took the VT massacre to finally get the message. I know this must appear selfish to the millions of people across the globe who wake up to gunshots on a regular basis, but since my own personal life is relatively peaceful, I didn't do anything overt to help stop violence. Until now. I used to think that all I could do was to practice a non-reactionary life by not exploding in anger toward those who cross me. Even though anger management and meditation on a worldwide scale to me is the answer to violence, I now think political activism must also be added to my list of solutions. No more cheering from the sidelines. My voice will be heard beyond the walls of my comfortable home. -- Making sense of slaughter April 20, 2007 at 7:17 pm · Filed under Virginia Tech, violence At the Virginia Tech memorial service, Nikki Giovanni gave a moving and memorable speech. Her words were poetry in motion, urging the students to "embrace their mourning". She reminded us that no victim ever asked to be rubbed out, citing examples of atrocities from Africa to the Appalachians. As an individual, I can shape what I want my life to be by acting on my dreams. That's what the students and teachers at VT were doing. But somehow their dream got tangled up with a madman's nightmare. Caught defensless and unaware, they were slaughtered as if they were still targets on a shooting range. Easy to mark. No, this guy wasn't insane. He chose to commit evil. But a long time ago a shift had taken place in his mind that separated him from the rest of the human race. He wasn't born evil. He had to become the monster. Something or someone shaped him into what he was. Where does evil begin? How do I reconcile the opposing images of slaughter with the fact of my own continued existence? I don't think there's enough time left in my life to figure out the answers to these questions. In the meantime, I act. I embrace the mourning, and also wait in awareness to feel a moment of joy. -- Where were you when it happened? April 19, 2007 at 3:06 pm · Filed under Virginia Tech, violence On Monday, the day of the shootings, I went to a yoga class, unaware of the violence unfolding in Blacksburg. The class was serene. Before raising our arms in salutation to the sun, the teacher had us fold our palms over the sternum, then place our hands over the third eye, fingertips touching. We repeated these motions throughout the class, while flowing in and out of the various postures. I went home, worked for a few hours, and then made lunch. I sat down at the table and reached for the remote. I watch CNN during lunch because I eat alone, and I'm also a glutton for punishment. When I looked at the remote, something surged inside of me. It was a thought, or a sense, that as soon as I turned on the TV I would learn of something catastrophic, something worse than the typical bad news. It was a thought that made me pause. This strange intuition wasn't like my usual fears. I worry about imagined events about 50% of the day. It wasn't fear, it was simple certainty. When I turned on the TV a nano second after that flash of thought, it was like stepping into a nightmare. Twenty-two shot dead, then thirty-two! Later, in the evening, I went for a walk. The air was softer and sweeter, the leaves on the trees more vibrant, the sky more blue than I've ever seen it. And I thought, this is so beautiful, how happy I am to be walking along this road, enjoying the evening sun reflected off the tops of the live oaks. And all the while I thought about the students and professors, who in this place and time will never again witness a walk down a country road. Their loved ones will never again enjoy the pleasure of their company. Their parents will grieve the loss of their special child until the end of their days. -- Original Source: http://mariacristina.wordpress.com/tag/virginia-tech/ Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0.
Items left at the memorial plaque of Mary Read on the drillfield. Photo taken on 4-27-07. Photo by Teri H. Hoover.
Teri H. Hoover <crystalirisphotos@gmail.com>
Items left at the memorial plaque of Mary Read on the drillfield. Photo taken on 4-24-07. Photo by Teri H. Hoover.