Two Years
Over two years ago I had a class for two weeks on the second floor of Norris Hall, a class that was overcrowded so we moved to a bigger room in a neighboring building. Two days ago for the first time since then I walked into Norris Hall. I barely recognized the hallway of the second floor of Norris, with its wood flooring and hazy glass wall with the Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention engraved into it.
I felt very weird at first being in there, looking at the exact spot in the hallway where I knew a fellow student died. Here I was, walking along the hallway of classrooms where altogether 31 lost their lives while remembering the other two who died in a residence hall. This time of the year will always be tough for all of us that were here on that horrid day, and I know many of my friends who lost others may never be ready to enter Norris Hall.
Nevertheless it is evident that our community is moving on. Being a freshman when all the events occurred I know that after I graduate next year there will only be a few super-seniors and graduate students that would have that experience within the new generation of Hokies. We’ll probably be known for a long while as the massacre school, where time and time again people I meet elsewhere who refer to it all simply as “Virginia Tech”.
This is what I feared early into the tragedy and spoke about on air with MTV News on April 17th, but now this is something that I’ve accepted. These events happen, whether they’re here at Virginia Tech, in New York, at Northern Illinois or elsewhere across the world. It is a tragic situation of which there is no set answer to. Blame video games, blame parents, blame whatever you will-I guarantee that there are others that grew up in the same circumstances and are perfectly fine in life.
In the final aftermath of all that has happened here, I have come to the conclusion that we truly choose who we are. We may not be happy with our lives or often get our way, but we can choose how we move forward with life. Yesterday, April 15th, was Free Hugs Day at Virginia Tech. It is an opportunity for everyone to embrace what makes our community special -- each other. Dozens of us hugged and high-fived hundreds of students in an opportunity to celebrate what it means to be a Hokie outside Football and other sports, to celebrate what makes each and every one of us who we are even in such a brief moment. We will ALWAYS remember the events here and hold the scars, but we are moving forward.
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1609345/20090415/story.jhtml
MTV didn't quite have the funds to come down to Virginia Tech so they asked me to do some videos for them with my camera. I can't lie in that it was pretty awesome uploading the videos to their server and now seeing it on their website. Maybe I'll get a job in the film / news industry someday.
Next post in series: http://ntcoolfool.livejournal.com/132814.html
I felt very weird at first being in there, looking at the exact spot in the hallway where I knew a fellow student died. Here I was, walking along the hallway of classrooms where altogether 31 lost their lives while remembering the other two who died in a residence hall. This time of the year will always be tough for all of us that were here on that horrid day, and I know many of my friends who lost others may never be ready to enter Norris Hall.
Nevertheless it is evident that our community is moving on. Being a freshman when all the events occurred I know that after I graduate next year there will only be a few super-seniors and graduate students that would have that experience within the new generation of Hokies. We’ll probably be known for a long while as the massacre school, where time and time again people I meet elsewhere who refer to it all simply as “Virginia Tech”.
This is what I feared early into the tragedy and spoke about on air with MTV News on April 17th, but now this is something that I’ve accepted. These events happen, whether they’re here at Virginia Tech, in New York, at Northern Illinois or elsewhere across the world. It is a tragic situation of which there is no set answer to. Blame video games, blame parents, blame whatever you will-I guarantee that there are others that grew up in the same circumstances and are perfectly fine in life.
In the final aftermath of all that has happened here, I have come to the conclusion that we truly choose who we are. We may not be happy with our lives or often get our way, but we can choose how we move forward with life. Yesterday, April 15th, was Free Hugs Day at Virginia Tech. It is an opportunity for everyone to embrace what makes our community special -- each other. Dozens of us hugged and high-fived hundreds of students in an opportunity to celebrate what it means to be a Hokie outside Football and other sports, to celebrate what makes each and every one of us who we are even in such a brief moment. We will ALWAYS remember the events here and hold the scars, but we are moving forward.
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1609345/20090415/story.jhtml
MTV didn't quite have the funds to come down to Virginia Tech so they asked me to do some videos for them with my camera. I can't lie in that it was pretty awesome uploading the videos to their server and now seeing it on their website. Maybe I'll get a job in the film / news industry someday.
Next post in series: http://ntcoolfool.livejournal.com/132814.html