Shooting at Virginia Tech

[Skerik]

Re: Shooting at Virgina Tech

"His writing, the plays, were really morbid and grotesque," Derry noted. "I remember one of them very well. It was about a son who hated his stepfather. In the play the boy threw a chain saw around, and hammers at him. But the play ended with the boy violently suffocating the father with a rice krispy treat," Derry said.

"He even wrote one play about students being stalked by a teacher." Derry said.

"I mean, his kind of writing was pretty peculiar, but when we asked him if he had any comments after we'd reviewed his work, he would just shrug and say nothing," Derry described.

"We made jokes around the class about his work, because it was just so fictional, so surreal, we just had to laugh," Derry said, "We had to laugh because it couldn't ever be real or truthful, I mean who throws hammers or chainsaws around?"

"But we always joked we were just waiting for him to do something, waiting to hear about something he did," Derry said. "But when I got the call it was Cho who had done this, I started crying, bawling."

"I kept having to tell myself there is no way we could have known this was coming," Derry described. "I was just so frustrated that we saw all the signs, but never thought this could happen."

http://collegemedia.com/

[rubisco43]

Re: Shooting at Virgina Tech

It just gets sadder and sadder. So tragic. I don't think I've had such an emotional response to an event since 9/11.

[Beantown]

Re: Shooting at Virgina Tech

If the killer had been an older man, in his 30s or 40s who did this at work, no one would be blaming video games. Since he's a college student, the only logical explanation is that video games gave him the idea to shoot people.

Right. Because movies, television, and the REAL WORLD have nothing to do with it. Placing blame on video games is one of the stupidest things I've ever seen, and it always has been. Personally, I'd say movies are much worse in that sense. Why? Because you're actually seeing real people "die." You're not watching some cartoon graphic get shot, you're watching a real life actor get shot and killed.

[Jimplication]

Re: Shooting at Virgina Tech

http://collegemedia.com/

That first story sounds very interesting to me. It's a bit macabre, sure, but the pretense of using various standard abusive weapons to attack someone and then ultimately suffocating them with a rice crispy treat is a twist that generally can be the foundation for a successful story.

My only real issue with any part of the quoted text is that it mentions others laughing at, even making fun, of the stories after they were shared. This ultimately could be a very affecting experience for the writer, because it's inherently natural to be very self-conscious and vulnerable to any sort of criticism in regards to a story that is an original creation by a writer.

It's often very difficult and uncomfortable for students to share their works, and this practice is often required by the writing class' curriculum. To have other students openly make fun of and laugh at a given story would be a very emotional and memorable experience for anyone that is put in that situation.

[TJdaSportsGuy]

Re: Shooting at Virgina Tech

It's happening in Iraq on a daily basis.

I know it's hard not to go down that road in a thread like this, but please remember our rules state that we do not allow political discussion on these boards.

This thread is for reflection and discussion of the tragedy that occurred in Blacksburg, VA yesterday. Please do your best to leave comments like this out of this discussion. Thank you.

[jmood88]

Re: Shooting at Virgina Tech

Here's a list of a few of the people's myspace pages. Seeing a face with the names really changes how you look at something like this.

http://www.bloggingwv.com/virginia-tech-victims-list-and-their-myspace-pages/

[The C]

Re: Shooting at Virgina Tech

Oh dear god. Not Fred Phelps and his merry band of protesters.

Do not click this link unless you want to be really, really pissed

Why does Fred Phelps have to be a real live troll? Can't he just troll message boards like these and not funerals?

[jmood88]

Re: Shooting at Virgina Tech

Oh dear god. Not Fred Phelps and his merry band of protesters.

Do not click this link unless you want to be really, really pissed

Why does Fred Phelps have to be a real live troll? Can't he just troll message boards like these and not funerals?

I heard about that earlier. Some people are trying to stop the protest but those people need to be jumped as soon as they get anywhere near the funerals.

[TJdaSportsGuy]

Re: Shooting at Virgina Tech

Here's a list of a few of the people's myspace pages. Seeing a face with the names really changes how you look at something like this.

http://www.bloggingwv.com/virginia-t...myspace-pages/

Wow...you're absolutely right about that. So so sad. I actually teared up while reading this comment, to one of the victim's myspace page:

matt, all day yesterday, charles and i were finding informations about the incident in VT, that was the first time i actually wanted to watch news at CLI, i was so worried about u that i cant study for any of my tests this week. until last night...or this morning (i didnt check, but it was dark), lt hallman woke me up in the middle of the night and told me about u..i didnt know how to react, i didnt fall back asleep, during breakfast, i didnt eat, i was trying my best not to let my emotions take over me, but i couldnt help it, my juniors school kids saw me crying, how can u make it up to me huh? there were news reporters came to our school and ask me all kinds of things about u, i almost punched them in the faces, y couldnt they just leave me alone. i didnt talk more than 10 words today and its after lunch. i miss u laporte and i'll always love u u DOMMY

[GBrushTWood]

Re: Shooting at Virginia Tech

Cho bought his first gun, the 9 mm, on March 13, a source told ABC. The Walther was purchased just last week. Virginia law prohibits buying more than one handgun in a 30-day period. It appears Cho waited the full month before buying the Walther, suggesting he didn't just snap. According to the Virginia State Police, as an alien with a green card, Cho would have been able to buy guns legally as long as he provided proof of his residence.

An affidavit state police filed to search Cho's dorm room (2121 Harper Hall) suggests Cho had been planning mayhem for some time. It says that a note containing a bomb threat was found near his body; the note is similar to two other anonymous bomb threats issued against engineering buildings at the school last week. Cho may have probed the campus emergency response with the previous notes.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1611169,00.html?xid=rss-topstories

[Beantown]

Re: Shooting at Virgina Tech

My only real issue with any part of the quoted text is that it mentions others laughing at, even making fun, of the stories after they were shared. This ultimately could be a very affecting experience for the writer, because it's inherently natural to be very self-conscious and vulnerable to any sort of criticism in regards to a story that is an original creation by a writer.

It's often very difficult and uncomfortable for students to share their works, and this practice is often required by the writing class' curriculum. To have other students openly make fun of and laugh at a given story would be a very emotional and memorable experience for anyone that is put in that situation.

I can say from first-hand experience that having people openly laugh at a work that is shared with a class, or have someone making jokes about a piece of work written, is a pretty ****ty feeling, especially if the writer put a lot of work into the piece.

There's an interesting, and fairly true quote in the novel Atonement by Ian McEwan about a topic very similar to the self-consciousness of writers: "Pretending in words was too tentative, too vulnerable, too embarassing to let anyone know. Even writing out the she saids, the and thens, made her wince, and she felt foolish, appearing to know about the emotions of an imaginary being. Self-exposure was inevitable the moment she described a character's weakness; the reader was bound to speculate that she was describing herself."

Obviously it's not exactly about something like this, but it describes the feeling a writer gets as they write. They're always worried about criticism, even if it is constructive...so to have a class and teacher openly joke and laugh about your work is a horrible experience.

[Altimus]

Re: Shooting at Virgina Tech

Wow...you're absolutely right about that. So so sad. I actually teared up while reading this comment, to one of the victim's myspace page:

So sad... numbers are numbers but when you read just one person's profile it's just enough. So sad...

[Skerik]

Re: Shooting at Virgina Tech

Yeah, I'm sorry....but this stuff pretty much deserves to be laughed at.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0417071vtech1.html?link=rssfeed

[Pete1210]

Re: Shooting at Virgina Tech

I know it's hard not to go down that road in a thread like this, but please remember our rules state that we do not allow political discussion on these boards.

This thread is for reflection and discussion of the tragedy that occurred in Blacksburg, VA yesterday. Please do your best to leave comments like this out of this discussion. Thank you.

I wasn't getting political. Other folks mentioned 9-11 and other acts of extreme violence in the U.S and other countries in the discussion that this awful tragedy brings to mind.

[Beantown]

Re: Shooting at Virgina Tech

Yeah, okay...after reading some of that I probably would have laughed to. Didn't even seem like he wa serious or put much thought into that, so I retract my earlier statement.