Things I never knew before, and things I didn't need to know...
I know everyone is anxious for Italy stories and pictures, and I promise I will be sharing those in short order. Since Clark Griswold Tom took about 250 pictures, there is much sorting and naming of files to be done. But I kept notes on our trip so I could write some good LJ entries upon our return.
Before I do that, I want to say a bit about the few days following our trip, when I returned to Boston just in time for a conference. I got to see all kinds of awesome people from Tech and various other places, and it was generally good conference fun. But it was also a tough couple of days due to all the talk about what happened last April. It's a topic that's very popular at conferences this year, obviously, and it grates on me when people from other universities present sessions with titles like, "Lessons from Virginia Tech", as though they have some special insight on what happened. I don't think so, people.
So it was nice to finally hear the story from the horse's mouth, as it were, and to attend a session presented by the staff at VT regarding the shootings and what procedures they followed. I feel even more strongly now that they did everything they could have at the time and that they made extraordinary efforts afterward to cope with the incident and help rebuild the community.
I also learned some things I didn't know, and things I almost wish I didn't have to know. I heard some details that made the whole thing a little too real. I heard about how the five-year-old son of a very good friend of mine who works there asked his mother if his daddy was dead, and if his "big friends" were dead (some of his dad's co-workers). And I saw images from that day and the days following, some that I hadn't seen in almost a year and some that I'd never seen. The one that sticks in my mind was a photo of a young woman in a Virginia Tech t-shirt sitting on a bench in downtown Blacksburg. Behind her is a handmade sign that says, "Need to talk? I'll listen."
All in all, I was glad to spend time with those people, and my other friends who were here. And I'm even more proud to have a connection to them and to that place, even if it will never be the same place again.
Before I do that, I want to say a bit about the few days following our trip, when I returned to Boston just in time for a conference. I got to see all kinds of awesome people from Tech and various other places, and it was generally good conference fun. But it was also a tough couple of days due to all the talk about what happened last April. It's a topic that's very popular at conferences this year, obviously, and it grates on me when people from other universities present sessions with titles like, "Lessons from Virginia Tech", as though they have some special insight on what happened. I don't think so, people.
So it was nice to finally hear the story from the horse's mouth, as it were, and to attend a session presented by the staff at VT regarding the shootings and what procedures they followed. I feel even more strongly now that they did everything they could have at the time and that they made extraordinary efforts afterward to cope with the incident and help rebuild the community.
I also learned some things I didn't know, and things I almost wish I didn't have to know. I heard some details that made the whole thing a little too real. I heard about how the five-year-old son of a very good friend of mine who works there asked his mother if his daddy was dead, and if his "big friends" were dead (some of his dad's co-workers). And I saw images from that day and the days following, some that I hadn't seen in almost a year and some that I'd never seen. The one that sticks in my mind was a photo of a young woman in a Virginia Tech t-shirt sitting on a bench in downtown Blacksburg. Behind her is a handmade sign that says, "Need to talk? I'll listen."
All in all, I was glad to spend time with those people, and my other friends who were here. And I'm even more proud to have a connection to them and to that place, even if it will never be the same place again.