Oh the humanity...Requiem for Virginia Tech

"When love calls it must be poetry that answers bringing the sweet perfume of gentleness as our hearts pound and pound; when courage calls it will always be poetry "that answers as we rise above ourselves to bring about a better thing."

From Acolytes, by Nikki Giovanni, University Distinguished Professor, Virginia Tech University.

When I got the news about Virginia Tech and tried to process the shock, my first thoughts were of Charles Whitman, the cherub-faced, crew cut ex-Marine who picked off unsuspecting victims from atop an iconic tower at UT Austin back in August, 1966. I was 9 years old, and I saw it played out on live TV in our apartment in Philadelphia, over and over the lonely tower, the shots the muffled voices, the grainy black-and-white picture of the crew-cut All American boy.

I was 9 years old and Whitman -- they kept calling him Charlie -- Charlie Whitman looked like "Lumpy" -- Wally's friend on Leave it to Beaver, and a guy like that couldn't do anything that bad, could he? And yet here he was, and that pop-pop-pop from the tower, and he had killed his wife and mother too. The only good thing was that Texas was far away, like the land where the boogeyman lives, which is what it must be because that was where they killed the president, and that may be why I have never seriously considered any invitation I got to the Lone Star State to this very day. In those days, there weren't Johnny-on-the-spot psychologists with advice on how to talk to your kids about the horrors they might see on television in real time, right now through the miracle of satellite.

Except now it's more than 40 years later, and I'm a college professor, and this thing is not making any more sense than it did when I was 9.

From a Va Tech student's blog

"My friends and I got out of class at about 9:50. Walked across campus. The wind blew with flurries about. Sirens were in the distance and I saw an undercover cop car go about 80 down one of the drives. That was odd. In front one of the dorms, West AJ, were several police cars, lights off and parked. We started talking about how there are always situations that cops rush across campus for and we never hear about.

"Then several people walked by and told us there was a shooting and campus was closed. No one is allowed to cross the drillfield. Hmm. We went ahead to eat some food as cops were stationed in front, checking ID for everyone. I walked with my friend to his dorm to get his stuff as an omniscient announcement echoed across campus:

"'This is an emergency. This is an emergency. Take shelter in doors immediately. Stay away from windows and remain inside...'"

From a corporate office, one hour away from the campus, comes this report:

"[O]ne of the managers in the corporate office conversed with someone near me in a shaken voice 'He's all right. My son is all right. He just called me.'"

From "Bryce," a live-blogging Va Tech student who has become an involuntary celebrity:

"As this blog has received international attention, I find myself wondering what the world has come to. The media watch dogs, no offense, have jumped on this story and on me for, as one anonymous user said, ‘exploit my emotions’. At this time I do not believe this is so, because to put it simply: I’m willing to share my experience. This is nothing special. I don’t deserve any credit. I went to class as any other student would. I just happened to be on the other side of campus when the shots were fired later in the day. But isn’t that just it? What is remarkable about this story is that this is the story of an average student at this great school..."

Realtime news, folks, right from the people who are living it. Lauriewrites at BlogHer has a roundup of the news from the mainstream and grassroots. OJR has more.

As for me, courage is calling and I am waiting for the poet to arrive. Nothing else makes any sense any more.

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