In praise of Nikki Giovanni
description: Virginia Tech's vigilant professor of English is a true leader Philip French Sunday April 22, 2007 The Observer The following correction was printed in the Observer's For the record column, Sunday April 29 2007 In the article below we said, when referring to Virginia Tech , that 'Edgar Allan Poe enrolled there in the 1820s'. He was, in fact, a student at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. The Agricultural and Mechanical College, Virginia (Virginia Tech) was established in 1872. --------------------------------------------- This has been an extraordinary week for Yolanda Cornelia 'Nikki' Giovanni, born in Knoxville, Tennessee 64 years ago, called by some 'the Princess of Black Poetry', up in the African-American literary pantheon with Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou. A poet, essayist and political activist since her teens, Nikki Giovanni was a friend in the 1960s of the revolutionary Communist academic Angela Davis and the gay black polemicist and novelist James Baldwin. More recently she went bravely, recklessly public as an admirer of the late, embattled rap star Tupac Shakur. Since 1987, Giovanni has been a professor of English at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, an enormous multicultural campus now universally known as Virginia Tech. Edgar Allan Poe, among the first American poets to win wide acclaim in Europe and a writer with a peculiar understanding of madness, enrolled at the university in the 1820s. At that time, Virginia was a slave state, and after the Civil War it retained educational segregation until the 1950s. When the Korean-born, American-raised Cho Seung-hui marched out last Monday across the Virginia Tech campus, killing as he went, we have his demented account of the aggressive, vengeful thoughts that went through his mind. We have a more lucid idea of what went through the mind of his teacher, Nikki Giovanni. Cho's stories, conduct in class and general demeanour had excited her concern, suspicion and fear, which…
creator: Philip French
date: 2007-08-09
contributor: Adriana Seagle
rights: Eve Thompson-Acting Permissions Executive:permissions.syndication@guardian.co.uk
language: eng

Threats to Civil Liberties arising from the fallout of the Virginia Tech Forcible-disarmament Frenzy
description: May 1, 2007 4:51 pm An article from a new contributor: Loren Bliss THERE ARE TWO EXCEPTIONALLY grave dangers to American liberty arising from the present, post-Virginia-Tech forcible-disarmament frenzy. These are: (1)-The criminalization of even the mildest forms of mental illness, as proposed by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), in HR 297. (2)-The criminalization of political protest and dissent, as proposed by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, (D-NJ), in S 1237. Each of these measures is enthusiastically supported by the Bush Regime. The Lautenberg bill was written at White House/Justice Department request — a leading Democratic senator serving as the mouthpiece for a despised Republican administration — an unprecedented act of collaboration with the most corrupt regime in U.S. history. Once again, opposition to the Second Amendment is being used as a diversion behind which to conceal an all-out, bipartisan attack on the entire Bill of Rights- including, via S 1237, repeal of the presumption of innocence that is the cornerstone of all English-language jurisprudence. Meanwhile, welcome to the New American Reich, where (if McCarthy, Lautenberg and Bush have their way), anybody deemed a mental case, an effective labor activist or a disruptive political nonconformist will soon be forcibly disarmed, denied all rational means of self defense and thereby condemned to perpetual victimhood. ********* Modern efforts to criminalize mental dysfunction have a long history dating back to Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany and are typically part of a broader right-wing agenda of oppression and euthanasia. But in the United States, the primary advocates of criminalization are the forcible disarmament cult and the Communitarian movement, members of which universally (and often vehemently) claim to be leftists and/or "progressives." The Communitarians have argued for at least two decades that diagnosis of mental illness should instantly terminate not only all one's civil rights but also strip one …
creator: Loren Bliss
date: 2007-08-09
contributor: Brent Jesiek
rights: Creative Commons Attribution 2.5
language: eng

Saint Gertrude High School, Richmond, VA, Summer Alumnae News
description: Dear Saint Gertrude Family, When I was asked to write a letter on behalf of our alumnae sisters at Virginia Tech, emotions at every level filled my heart and mind. There are no words to describe the events of April 16th nor are there appropriate words to share how your support helped each of us to deal in our own way with the days that followed. I speak for all of us when I say that the outpouring of love and concern was undeniably the strength behind our personal ways of coping and our ability to remain strong for all who needed us then and for all who need us now. The spirit of St. Gertrude High School emerged at a level that was both unbelievable and phenomenal ... the photo taken in the gymnasium is just one example; your e-mails, cards, and calls were yet another. The insert below was taken from a note that I had sent to family and friends in the early days, which continues to best describe the feelings that we faced and ultimately had to accept in the aftermath: "For those of you who watched the convocation on TV, it was perhaps your first "real" emotional connection to the tragedy of seeing your beloved alma mater in pieces. You were able to sit amongst your Virginia Tech family and feel the personal impact that this devastation created, while celebrating together in the true spirit of Ut Prosim. For those of you who did not go to Virginia Tech and may never have really thought too much about it prior to Monday, you can now call yourselves Hokies for you have shared with us and were able to feel the pain and strength of our ---your--- Hokie Nation. I was merely a symbol of the love that you feel for Virginia Tech and your deep emotions for our shared loss. Seeing me, someone you have a bond with, on national television allowed you to grieve at another level, one that I know many of us unconsciously resisted for that would mean admitting what had happened was for real. It was." Yes, it was definitely real. That reality grew even stronger when it was discovered…
creator: Judi Lynch
date: 2007-08-10
contributor: Judi Lynch
language: eng

Cho is no emblem of America
description: Leader Sunday April 22, 2007 The Observer Julia Pryde is not a household name. She was a 23-year-old graduate biology student who wanted to encourage recycling at the cafeteria at Virginia Tech University. Her face is not as universally known as that of Cho Seung-hui, the man who shot her and 31 others on campus last week. Cho secured his status as an icon of infamy by taking time, amid the massacre, to send a video manifesto to a TV network. Cho wanted not only to terrorise his fellow students, but to stare the world in the face, or rather, to force the world to look him in the eye. NBC has been criticised for showing the footage. Although there was a legitimate public interest in airing the material - it helped explain the dark motivation of the killer - the decision to run it on a constant loop within hours of the killings was clearly not taken with any consideration of sensitivity to survivors or victims' relatives. NBC apologised and toned down their coverage. But in the modern media age, Cho's broadcast would always have found a worldwide audience. He would still, one way or another, have forced everyone to hear his awful message: it is you who are responsible for this, not me. That is not true, of course. Cho was a psychopath, determined to kill. It may be the case that his determination was expedited by easy access to guns. But that is a feature of American society and American politics with its own strange logic, immune to comment by outsiders. The image of Cho striking murderous poses crosses all cultures. It is the face of modern, media-literate terror. That is not a fair emblem of modern American society. A truer symbol is found in the packed classrooms and lecture theatres of Virginia Tech, filled, just days after the massacre, with students who were determined to get on with their education - a triumph of youthful optimism over deadly nihilism. Pickleme April 22, 2007 8:16 AM Tragic though this all is , one has had a media onslaught day after relentles…
creator: Staff of The Observer
date: 2007-08-10
contributor: Adriana Seagle
rights: In consideration of the fee of GBP 0.00 ("the Fee") Guardian News & Media Limited ("GNM") grants the Licensee the right to: publish on its website for 10 years. Contact info:Eve Thompson-permissions.syndication@guardian.co.uk
language: eng

First students are buried as US mourns Virginia Tech victims
description: Paul Harris in Blacksburg Sunday April 22, 2007 The Observer America began to bury its dead yesterday from the Virginia Tech massacre that cost 33 lives - the worst mass-shooting in the country's modern history. Three funerals of students killed by Cho Seung-hui were taking place last week. It was a tragedy that made headlines around the world and deeply shocked America. Among those being buried were Austin Michelle Cloyd, 19, the daughter of a Virginia Tech lecturer. She was being buried in Blacksburg, the tiny campus town tucked away in the Blue Ridge mountains of southern Virginia. Elsewhere, Jarrett Lee Lane, 22, was being buried in his home town of Narrows nearby, and Minal Panchal, 26, an Indian-born post-graduate student, was being buried in Odenton, Maryland. The funerals end a week of mourning and regret over the killings. Services are being held all over the country in victims' home towns and are likely go on well into next week. They come after a day of remembrance on Friday that saw a moment of silence observed across the nations. Across Virginia, many people have been wearing the college colours of maroon and orange. Police continue to investigate the shootings, seeking to find out how Cho, 23, carried out the murders. 'The why and the how are the crux of the investigation. The why may never be determined,' Virginia state police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said. Cho carried out the attack in two assaults. The first killed two students in a dormitory hall and was followed by a pause of several hours before he rampaged through a lecture building, eventually killing 30 more. The investigation is focused on the first killings to see if there was any link between Cho and Emily Hilscher, 19, believed to have been the first person shot. The Cho family expressed its sorrow: '[The family will] do whatever we can to help authorities understand why these senseless acts happened. We have many unanswered questions as well,' it said. On Guardian Unlimited Full coverag…
creator: Staff:by Paul Harris
date: 2007-08-10
contributor: Adriana Seagle
rights: In consideration of the fee of GBP 0.00 ("the Fee") Guardian News & Media Limited ("GNM") grants the Licensee the right to: publish on its website for 10 years. Contact info: Eve Thompson-permissions.syndication@guardian.co.uk
language: eng

Free Cranes
description: A large glass display class on the first floor of Squires Student Center is filled with paper cranes. The sign on the display case reads "please feel free to take as many as you want." Many thousands of cranes were folded and contributed after the events of April 16, including as part of the "1000 Cranes @ VT" campaign. Photo taken July 6, 2007. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0.
creator: Brent Jesiek
date: 2007-08-10
contributor: Brent Jesiek
rights: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0
language: eng

1000 Cranes @ VT
description: About the bird: Cranes are large, long-legged and long-necked birds of the order Gruiformes, and family Gruidae. Unlike the similar-looking but unrelated herons, cranes fly with necks outstretched, not pulled back. Most have elaborate and noisy courting displays or "dances". (from Wikipedia) Cranes are known for their long life spans. Though the average life span cited in various sources to not necessarily agree (probably depends on the sub-species also), numbers tend to be in the 60 to 80 year range. This was much longer than the average life span of humans in ancient times. As a result, the crane, together with the turtle/tortoise, became symbols of longevity, and, consequently, of good fortune in China and the surrounding countries. East Asian Folklore states that cranes live for 1,000 years, and turtles/tortoises for 10,000 years (a bit of an exaggeration). About Origami: The word "Origami" is Japanese for "Folding Paper". It refers to the art, as well as the paper made specifically for the activity. The origin of Origami is not known, but it was most probably invented in China, as most things were, soon after the invention of paper. It propagated both east and west together with the technology of paper making: east toward Japan where it became known as Origami; west through the Islamic Empire all the way to Spain, where it is known today as "Papiroflexia" (Paper Folding) or "folding pajaritas." (The "pajarita" is a fold popular in Spain which represents a sparrow.) About the Tradition of Folding 1000 Cranes: In Japan, tradition states that if you fold 1000 origami cranes, it will bring you good health and good luck. When someone is suffering from a severe sickness or injury, spouses, parents, children and other family members and/or friends, and sometimes the patient him/herself, would fold 1000 cranes to wish for the person's recovery. It is unclear hold old this tradition is, but the term "Semba-Zuru" (1000 Cranes) dates back at least 200 years. About the 100…
creator: The 1000 Cranes @ VT Project
date: 2007-08-10
contributor: Brent Jesiek
language: eng

Free Cranes and More Cranes
description: A large glass display class on the first floor of Squires Student Center is filled with paper cranes. An overflow box of cranes sits on the floor to the side. A sign on the other side of the display case reads "please feel free to take as many as you want." Many thousands of cranes were folded and contributed after the events of April 16, including as part of the "1000 Cranes @ VT" campaign. Photo taken July 6, 2007. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0.
creator: Brent Jesiek
date: 2007-08-10
contributor: Brent Jesiek
rights: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0
language: eng

Cranes Up Close
description: Close-up of origami cranes in a box on the first floor of Squires Student Center. A sign on an adjacent display case reads "please feel free to take as many as you want." Many thousands of cranes were folded and contributed after the events of April 16, including as part of the "1000 Cranes @ VT" campaign. Photo taken July 6, 2007. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0.
creator: Brent Jesiek
date: 2007-08-10
contributor: Brent Jesiek
rights: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0
language: eng

Wide View of Intermediate Memorial Construction
description: View of the drillfield, intermediate memorial construction, and Burruss Hall from the War Memorial. Photo taken July 6, 2007. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0.
creator: Brent Jesiek
date: 2007-08-10
contributor: Brent Jesiek
rights: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0
language: eng

Collective day of mourning for victims
description: Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington Saturday April 21, 2007 The Guardian Americans united in a collective day of mourning for the victims of the campus massacre yesterday, with church services and vigils from Capitol Hill to California. Yesterday's solemnities were centred on a moment of silence for the dead across the state of Virginia at noon after the governor, Tim Kaine, declared a day of mourning. Forty other states held vigils for the dead at the same time. "This has touched the globe," Mr Kaine told a memorial service . "The universality that we all suffer, we all grieve, has touched hearts around the world." The sombreness of the day was deepened by the knowledge that it was the anniversary of another school shooting - of 13 students and one teacher at Colorado's Columbine high school in 1999. After days spent trying to decipher the motives behind Cho Seung-hui's rampage, which left 32 dead before he turned the gun on himself, yesterday was given over to the victims. On the grassy expanse called the Drill Field at the heart of Virginia Tech campus, just outside Norris Hall, where Cho killed all but two of his victims, church bells tolled as students and professors gathered on a sunny day. Almost all the mourners wore the school colours of orange and maroon as they drew close to the makeshift memorial on the grass, a semi-circle of stones surrounding large placards covered with handwritten tributes to the dead, large wreaths and humble bouquets of flowers. Elsewhere in Virginia, bells chimed for each of Cho's victims at an interfaith memorial at Virginia Commonwealth University. "The thing that matters most today is to remember the friends and families of those who lost loved ones," Virginia's lieutenant governor, Bill Bolling, said. There were services at Washington's national cathedral, as well as a moment of silence in the House of Representatives. In Santa Monica, California, Virginia Tech alumni were scheduled to hold a memorial service later in the day. Th…
creator: Staff:Suzanne Goldenberg
date: 2007-08-10
contributor: Adriana Seagle
rights: In consideration of the fee of GBP 0.00 ("the Fee") Guardian News & Media Limited ("GNM") grants the Licensee the right to: publish on its website for 10 years. Contact: EveThompson;permissions.syndication@guardian.co.uk
language: eng

'We are so sorry, we feel helpless and lost'
description: Killer's family Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington and Ed Pilkington in New York Saturday April 21, 2007 The Guardian The family of Cho Seung-hui, who shot 32 people dead before turning his gun on himself, made their first public comments yesterday about his actions, saying they had "made the world weep". In a statement put out by his sister, Sun-kyung Cho, through a lawyer in North Carolina, the family said they were living a nightmare, and apologised to his victims. "Our family is so very sorry for my brother's unspeakable actions. It is a terrible tragedy for all of us. We pray for their families and loved ones, who are experiencing so much excruciating grief. And we pray for those who were injured, and for those whose lives are changed forever." The statement, released to the Associated Press, came on the day Americans held a collective day of mourning for the victims, with church services and vigils from Capitol Hill to California. Yesterday's solemnities were centred on a moment of silence for the dead across Virginia at noon after the governor, Tim Kaine, declared a day of mourning. Forty other states also held vigils for the dead. "This has touched the globe," Mr Kaine told a memorial service. "The universality that we all suffer, we all grieve, has touched hearts around the world." The sombreness of the day was deepened by the knowledge that it was the anniversary of another school shooting - of 13 students and one teacher at Colorado's Columbine high school in 1999. The Cho family said that it had been "humbled by this darkness". The gunman's sister said: "We feel hopeless, helpless, and lost. This is someone that I grew up with and loved. Now I feel I didn't know this person." She said that, though her brother had been quiet and reserved, "we never could have envisioned he was capable of so much violence". The family, staying in an undisclosed location, said it would cooperate fully with the police investigation. During the day of mourning, church bells tol…
creator: Staff:Suzanne Goldenberg,Washington and Ed Pilkington
date: 2007-08-10
contributor: Adriana Seagle
rights: In consideration of the fee of GBP 0.00 ("the Fee") Guardian News & Media Limited ("GNM") grants the Licensee the right to: publish on its website for 10 years. Contact info: Eve Thompson; permissions.syndication@guardian.co.uk
language: eng

Mother prayed as son brooded in silence
description: Jonathan Watts in Goyang Friday April 20, 2007 The Guardian The brooding silence of Cho Seung-hui was so impenetrable it disturbed his family even when he was growing up in South Korea, relatives of the Virginia killer told the Guardian yesterday. His grandfather feared that at the age of eight he might be mute; the boy's great aunt worried that he had mental problems. And his mother, Kim Hyang-im, spent much of her time in church praying for him to snap out of his unhealthy taciturnity. "She was heartbroken," said his mother's aunt, Kim Yang-soon. "After they moved to America, she hoped his silences would ease as he grew older. But in fact they got worse." The poor family had a difficult start. Cho's mother was forced into an arranged marriage with a man 10 years her senior - Cho Sung-tae, who came from a poor family in the south but had worked in Saudi Arabia for 10 years on construction sites and oilfields. Hyang-im was from a well-educated family of North Korean landowners who had fled during the Korean war. "She didn't want to marry, but she gave in," said Yang-soon. No one in the family recalls any violent behaviour from Cho that might have hinted at later carnage. But they were unnerved by his sullenness. "My grandson was shy even as a little boy and he would never run to me like my other grandchildren," his maternal grandfather, Kim Hyong-shik, told the Hankyoreh Daily. "I thought he might be deaf and dumb." Schoolmates told local media they remembered Cho as quiet. But the father doted on his children. "He would have done anything for them," the grandfather said. "But now this has happened. It's as if everything they've done, the reason for their whole existence has been for nothing." The family moved to the US in 1992. During their eight-year wait for a visa, they fell short of money, selling their second-hand shop and home to make ends meet. They had visited Hyang-im's family before they left, an occasion that was only the second time the grandparents had…
creator: Adriana Seagle
date: 2007-08-10
contributor: Adriana Seagle
rights: In consideration of the fee of GBP 0.00 ("the Fee") Guardian News & Media Limited ("GNM") grants the Licensee the right to: publish on its website for 10 years. Contact info: Eve Thompson; permissions.syndication@guardian.co.uk
language: eng

Seoul does some soul searching over Virginia massacre
description: Wednesday April 18 2007 By Mark Tran / USA 04:39pm Like others around the world, South Koreans have reacted with horror to the killings at Virginia Tech university, but they are also nervous about a possible backlash against the large Korean community in the US. The headline in the Korea Herald encapsulates the sense of alarm: Massacre puts US-based ethnic Koreans on alert. "I and my fellow citizens can only feel shock and a wrenching of our hearts," said the south Korean president Roh Moo-hyun at a press conference, the third time he has offered his condolences. The government has already held several cabinet emergency meetings since the killer was identified as a South Korean, although he had been in the US since the age of eight. South Korean citizens pray for the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre in front of the US embassy in Seoul. For the blogger, Michael Hurt, an American of Korean and African-American descent who lives in South Korea, the incident raises interesting questions about South Korean society and the "cultural context" of the killing, which he admits is highly sensitive ground. Hurt believes that the South Korean fears of retaliation are misplaced but argues that such fears are a "fair extrapolation of how foreign Others are treated as scapegoats and categorical symbols of many Koreans' opinions of other nations and races". But he raises more troubling points such as the apparent problem that Korean male students have in adjusting to the US. From conversations he has had with American academics, he says: "What came out is that many Korean men felt displaced and disempowered as males who lived in a society that catered to them, while in the US, those forms of automatic power and status - being male, rich, or having come from Seoul National University - mean nothing. And at the same time, Korean women experience a social liberalisation compared to where they would often be in Korea." In further food for thought, Hurt notes that the record holder …
creator: Mark Tran
date: 2007-08-10
contributor: Adriana Seagle
rights: In consideration of the fee of GBP 0.00 ("the Fee") Guardian News & Media Limited ("GNM") grants the Licensee the right to: publish on its website for 10 years. Contact: Eve Thompson;permissions.syndication@guardian.co.uk
language: eng

Virginia Tech
description: Publicado por Batz Friday, April 20, 2007 Todos vimos/leímos sobre la matanza que hubo en Virginia Tech esta semana. Un suceso terrible que personalmente me sorprendió mucho por estar tan cercano al pueblo al que me fui de intercambio en 1997, y a donde muchos de mis amigos fueron a estudiar tras graduarnos de la preparatoria. Por las fechas en que terminamos la escuela, supuse que no habría nadie que yo conociera, pero igual me hizo sentir gran pesar. Que pena que fuera así como viera a mi ex casa por las noticias, en vez de algo de lo lindo que conocí en ese año. La noche siguiente, estando en el MSN, me encontré con mi novio de esa época [y durante 4 años]. Nos saludamos y me dio una muy mala noticia. Me dijo que uno de los estudiantes asesinados es [era] amigo suyo, y hermano de una de mis compañeras de generación: Jarret Lane. Su hermana Alicia y yo no somos amigas, pero compartimos mucho tiempo juntas en el equipo de basketball. Como dije antes, todos pensamos que el suceso fue terrible, pero ahora que me da como un calambre pensar lo pequeño que es el mundo, y que con esta sociedad cada vez menos propensa a solucionar sus frustraciones de forma sana, nos vemos mas expuestos a ataques como este. Narrows es un lugar muy chiquito, todos se conocen y ahora se encuentran inmersos en una tristeza general que me ha llegado hasta acá. So sad... -- Fuente Original: Batz' Journal http://batzjournal.blogspot.com/2007/04/virginia-tech.html Licencia de uso: Creative Commons Atribución-No Derivadas 2.5 México.
creator: Batz
date: 2007-08-11
contributor: Elva Orozco
rights: Creative Commons Atribución-No Derivadas 2.5 México
language: spa

LA TRISTEZA Y LA DESOLACIÓN, OSCURECIERON LOS CIELOS Y LOS CORAZONES DE BLACKSBURG
description: Publicado por Carmen Moreno Martín Miércoles, 18 de Abril de 2007 11:28 En la universidad de Virginia Tech -clicad aquí- se vivieron momentos en los que el sin sentido y el pánico fueron los únicos rectores de las conductas. Treinta y dos personas, más el presunto asesino, murieron a balazos. El presunto autor de la matanza era un muchacho, dicen que solitario, pero un muchacho, que tenía, al parecer, dos pistolas; y las tenía porque las había comprado con toda naturalidad. El caso es que en EEUU se compran armas como si de comprar piruletas se tratara, y cualquiera que tenga más de 21 años y unos antecedentes penales limpios, puede comprarlas y portarlas sin ningún problema, y en Virginia es aún más fácil obtenerlas. Escuchaba en las noticias que en EEUU hay casi doscientas mil pistolas en los armarios y cajones de los ciudadanos. El caso es que el derecho a poseer un arma de fuego es en ese país un derecho constitucional y que cada vez que el debate sobre el tema surge, los intereses de la industria y de las asociaciones y núcleos de presión, tienen más fuerza y más poder que la vida y ganan la partida: los derechos humanos, la razón y el sentido común se desvanecen y la muerte vence. No es la primera vez que este tipo de matanzas se da en EEUU, pero la universidad de Virginia Tech, se ha llevado trágicamente la palma. Bush se dirigía a los familiares y estudiantes diciendo algo así como que el problema era que los muertos habían estado en un lugar equivocado, en un momento equivocado... Pero ni el lugar ni el momento eran erróneos porque los muertos, que eran estudiantes y profesores, estaban donde debían: en la universidad; y el momento era el adecuado: el inicio de las clases de la mañana. Lo equivoco, lo erróneo, lo desafortunado y lo criminal -además de tener que sufrir a un presidente tan sumamente necio- es el hecho de no haber acabado ya con la facilidad de adquirir armas y de portarlas. Clinton promulgó una ley prohibiendo …
creator: Carmen Moreno Martín
date: 2007-08-11
contributor: Elva Orozco
rights: Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial-SinObraDerivada 2.5 España
language: spa

"SOLO LE PIDO A DIOS"
description: Publicado por Mariluz Barrera González viernes 20 de abril de 2007 Siempre pienso en mi padre, en cualquier instante de mi vida, siempre está presente. Sobre todo en los momentos más difíciles o cuando siento que las cosas empeoran cada vez más. A veces siento que el espíritu pierde fuerzas, se agota o debilita ante tantas circunstancias, tantos eventos que me cuestionan si ser tan objetiva y sensible a nuestra realidad vale la pena, en un mundo donde ya nadie quiere serlo, y donde al parecer serlo me convierte poco a poco en un ser fuera de lugar, principalmente en mi lugar de trabajo. Me preocupa dejar de ser sensible, he comentado que en mi trabajo y en mi profesión la realidad es algo que se muestra con mucha crudeza y dolor la mayoría de las veces; y sin embargo se me hace difícil entender que aún así a las personas les cueste trabajo aceptar ayuda y peor aún querer terminar con esa situación que les provoca sufrimiento. Entonces entiendo por que la humanidad atraviesa por tantos problemas que aún no se resuelven. La matanza de Virginia es para mí una consecuencia muy grande del grado máximo al que podemos llegar ante lo peor de la indiferencia, dejar de mirarnos como personas a nosotros mismos y por consiguiente a los demás. Dejar de hacerlo nos convierte en seres que no me atrevería a decir de que tipo. Creo que el asesino de Virginia sintió que definitivamente ya no era mirado ni tratado como tal (Aunque por los antecedentes que tenía tal vez nunca lo fué) y como consecuencia pensó que este acto ruin y terrible era una llamada de atención para ser observado aunque sea por un instante y no pasar desapercibido, en un mundo donde ya nadie se mira; donde nos tratan y nos tratamos como objetos. En terapia muchas veces les he preguntado a mis pacientes adictos que diferencia existe entre ellos y una silla y sorprendentemente no tienen una respuesta, a veces me contestan que la silla tiene 4 patas y ellos dos. Reconocer nuestra humanidad ya n…
creator: Mariluz Barrera González
date: 2007-08-11
contributor: Elva Orozco
rights: Creative Commons Atribución-No Comercial-No Derivadas 2.5 México
language: spa

'I pretended to be dead ... people died on top of me'
description: Bobbie Johnson and Lee Glendinning Wednesday April 18, 2007 The Guardian Within hours of news of the Blacksburg shootings, a picture of the terror inflicted by 23-year-old Korean student Cho Seung-hui was being built online through videos, blogs and message boards. Clay Violand, 20, a student at Virginia Tech, described on iChat, an online messaging service, how he pretended to be dead as his classmates fell on top of him. "I watched my fucking classmates get mauled in front of me and I was the only one who wasn't shot. I feel crazy. People died on top of me," he told his friend Alana Fragar, who also attends Virginia Tech. "I am the only person who didn't get shot in my French class in Norris and I have no idea why and I don't know what to do. "I pretended to be dead and people got shot in the face ... I keep seeing gross images of blood and gunshots in the face and ... I have no idea why I lived. I didn't even get blood on me. I don't get it." Friends of Emily Hilscher, the first victim of the shootings, had gathered online to create an instant memorial. Using the social networking site Facebook, hugely popular among American college students, friends built a page asking each other to collect their pictures of the 18-year-old from stages of her life. "We want everybody that joins to post one or more things that made Emily cooler than you," it said. Tributes and messages had poured in from friends, family - and even strangers as far away as Norway. "It didn't matter who you were or if she knew you ... she would be your friend in a heartbeat," said one friend. "Emily was so spunky and full of life," said another. "She had such a creative personality, and was always making such fun new things." Youngsters gathered on the site to post tributes and messages for other victims, such as 18-year-old Reema Samaha. "Reema you were one of the funniest people I know ... We all love you," said one. Facebook is a mainstay of American college life, and used by around 18 million p…
creator: Staff: Bobbie Johnson and Lee Glendinning
date: 2007-08-12
contributor: Adriana Seagle
rights: In consideration of the fee of GBP 0.00 ("the Fee") Guardian News & Media Limited ("GNM") grants the Licensee the right to: publish on its website for 10 years. Contact info: Eve Thompson; permissions.syndication@guardian.co.uk
language: eng

Virginia Tech professor 'died saving students'
description: Ewen MacAskill in Blacksburg Tuesday April 17, 2007 Guardian Unlimited Alec Calhoun, an engineering student at Virginia Tech, described today an individual act of bravery by one of his professors that saved his life. Mr Calhoun, 20, had been in Room 204 in the college's Norris hall taking a class in solid mechanics. "We heard what sounded like an enormous hammer. We though it was construction. The scream told us it was something else." The killer, having murdered two people two hours earlier, had started a shooting spree in the classroom next door. "I thought pretty early on that I was going to die. I started knocking desks over [to make a barricade]. Others were pulling the windows down. It is lucky someone thought of the windows." The class was on the second floor and the first students to jump were hurt. "I was the eighth to jump. I hung onto the ledge. I saw the professor. I think he was trying to hold the door closed. "I was the last one out that was not wounded. The two behind me were shot. I jumped onto a bush and fell onto my back. It was about a minute between hearing the shots and jumping out of the window." He said his professor had been killed. After reaching safety, he immediately phoned his father, James, a teacher, to tell them he was safe. Special report United States of America World news guide North American media Media New York Times Washington Post CNN Government US government portal White House Senate House of Representatives Copyright Guardian News & Media Ltd 2007 -- Original Source:http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2059205,00.html
creator: Ewen MacAskill
publisher: Guardian Unlimited
date: 2007-08-12
contributor: Adriana Seagle
rights: In consideration of the fee of GBP 0.00 ("the Fee") Guardian News & Media Limited ("GNM") grants the Licensee the right to: publish on its website for 10 years. Contact info: Eve Thompson; permissions.syndication@guardian.co.uk
language: eng

US college shooting 'could happen in UK'
description: Debbie Andalo Tuesday April 17, 2007 EducationGuardian.co.uk The mass shooting at Virginia Tech University could easily happen on a UK campus, an academic and former vice-president of a US institution warned today. Prof Geoffrey Alderman, formerly the vice-president of Touro College in New York, said: "If you asked any university security guard in the UK whether what happened in Virginia could happen here, and they replied no - they would be lying. "I am sure every university in this country will be reviewing their security and although they will be shocked at what has happened in the States they would not be shocked at the suggestion that the same thing could happen here." He added that institutions had "better face the fact that what happened at Virginia Tech could happen in any British university". He said if someone was determined to shoot people, he couldn't see any way to prevent it. Prof Alderman was vice-president of Touro College for nearly three years until he returned to the UK in 2002. He remains an emeritus professor in history at the college. Referring to security at the New York campus he said: "Security was pretty tight. Every student and member of staff had to wear photographic ID and there were security guards on the gates of every campus. Nobody was allowed in or out without ID. "But security ID can only go so far, especially if you have a sprawling campus, and not one that you can lock-down - if you go to Oxford or Cambridge, for example, the universities are embedded in the cities." Prof Alderman believes a key factor behind the Virginia Tech tragedy, which claimed 32 lives, is the United State's innate tolerance of guns. He said: "This is an issue about the availability of guns in the US - the right to carry arms is enshrined in the American conscience. In my New York days it was something that was enshrined in the American psyche - even in New York where they are quite strict about the carrying of arms. The Fulbright Commission, the Anglo-Amer…
creator: Debbie Andalo
publisher: Guardian Unlimited
date: 2007-08-12
contributor: Adriana Seagle
rights: In consideration of the fee of GBP 0.00 ("the Fee") Guardian News & Media Limited ("GNM") grants the Licensee the right to: publish on its website for 10 years. Contact info: Eve Thompson; permissions.syndication@guardian.co.uk
language: eng