Thursday, April 19, 2007

The Virginia Tech Victims

Todd Heisler/The New York Times

Update: August 2, 2007 @ 6:37pm

This is a nice gesture.

A Concert for Virginia Tech will take place on Septemeber 6th.

The performers so far are: Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer, Phil Vassar, and Nas

Here is a link to the information website at Virgina Tech.

I'm sure the VT community already knows about it, but it's something people should hear about because it's good news.

I like delivering good news.

-------------------------

Okay, enough on Cho Seung-hui and his madness, and, honestly, enough on the sorrowful Koreans.

Yes, that's a tone of anger you're getting.

There has been too little focus on the victims. I'll admit that I didn't pay much attention to them either, but this is the first day where I've actually been able to give more than a quick glance at the information.

Not enough has been focused on those 32 people who lost their lives.

So, at least for now, I'm going as far to change the set up of my blog so that they get the page all to themselves.


Reading of names


April 20: The names of the victims of the shooting at Virginia Tech are read during an interfaith prayer service.




We will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears and through all our sadness ... We are the Hokies ...

-- Nikki Giovanni, University Distinguished Professor, poet, activist - April 17, 2007 (click the link for a transcript of Professor Giovanni's convocation address)


  • To the students (they're victims too): To the Students of Virginia Tech
  • ABC 7 News (metro Washington, DC area): Student Government Asks Reporters to Leave by Monday
  • Virginia Tech: In Memoriam
  • Virginia Tech: April 16th Memorial Website - Update: They're no longer accepting condolence messages on the memorial website page:
    We no longer are accepting new entries to the website, in order to allow our communications team to redirect its energies toward the university's recovery from this tragedy. As an alternative website for posting your message, we suggest the Guest Book on Legacy.com.

    We sincerely thank the nearly 35,000 individuals and families who have so eloquently expressed the sorrow, hope, strength, and resilience of our community.
  • Virginia Tech: Memorial Fund (you can make a donation in memory of those who lost their lives on Monday, April 16, 2007)
  • NYTimes: The Victims
  • MSNBC: Profiles of victims in Virginia Tech massacre
  • WashingtonPost: The Victims


  • Sphere: Related Content

    11 comments:

    1. Thanks for focusing on the victims They need to live on in our memories, not some crazed shooter. We should ignore him and his backstory and linger over the NYTimes project.

      ReplyDelete
    2. Thanks for leaving a comment.

      I understand that people want to know why, but we're ignoring the most important people by focusing on him and the sorrow of the general public.

      I hope a did a bit to counter that.

      ReplyDelete
    3. Thank you for your post. The victims didn't choose to get angry. They chose life. Cho Seung Hui chose his fate and he chose to take out his anger on others who had nothing to do with his sickness.

      ReplyDelete
    4. You're welcome. I honestly did just get ticked off when I saw his photos all over the news yet I saw the names and photos of the victims tucked into corners.

      How must the families feel? And can't we see that we're just fueling and, unfortunately, inspiring another person to do something just as crazy in the future?

      The victims were in the wrong place and the wrong time and got caught in his selfish maze. I'm in school right now and I'm planning to come home to the States to finish my studies and to continue teaching, that could easily be me getting gunned down because someone chose not to get the help they need.

      ReplyDelete
    5. Wow, what a tribute! I sent your link to friends and our relatives.

      Will email you this weekend.

      LB

      ReplyDelete
    6. It's not much of a tribute, but it's what I could do.

      Thanks for stopping by and thanks for sending it on.

      I guess the best things would be if people left condelence messages on the VT website which I linked or donate to the memorial fund which will help the community cope with this event.

      ReplyDelete
    7. I was disgusted by NBC's decision to release that killer's videos. It was calculated to boost their ratings and gain revenues. And then...lo and behold, it's downloaded and posted everywhere.

      I'm so glad that you've given each a page. They deserve at least that, but most of all to have their dreams remembered and carried on by those who loved them, and even those who did not.

      ReplyDelete
    8. Well, I just wrote a family member of mine who sent me an email saying that she and her co-worker saw it and thought I'd done a good thing.

      My response was essentially, I couldn't pay much attention to the story because I had an important test to take the next day. After that I had time to get into the story. That's when crazy boy's manifesto reached NBC and shortly thereafter his insane mug was everywhere on the Internet and the news. That just got to me.

      I kept thinking how would I feel it that ass had shot and killed someone dear to me but was getting his crazy mug plastered all over the news? I mean what if he'd shot me and I was in the hospital recovering and I saw that crap on the screen?

      I completely understand NBC's take on it but I disagree that releasing the video was the right way to do it. What about just having a transcript of what was said? If people wanted to read it, then they could go to the NBC or MBNBC website and read it. They could have even released the video that way. Link it to their website and let people who WANT to see it go and find it. Everyone can find YouTube; you know they can find MSNBC.

      Technically, I didn't give them a page. I linked to the NYTimes or WashingtonPost page. It was good for me to do because it made me click on each person, read their story and look at their picture. Doing it made me literally cry for each person who lost their life that day. I've even cried for Cho. He was incredibly disturbed.

      Anyway, I'm glad you liked it and I hope it does help take the focus off of the shooter. He doesn't need anymore notoriety.

      ReplyDelete
    9. On Thursday five of the six major newspapers used the same photograph on their front-pages, including my employer the Los Angeles Times. Why couldn’t any of the editors place photographs of the victims on their front-pages?

      Kanani has posted messages on her blog and my blog directing users to your fine work.

      Cheers,
      Edward

      ReplyDelete
    10. Thanks for stopping by!

      Yes, I noticed she linked to me because I saw it on Technorati. I thanked her for the link.

      That's what I noticed too the next morning even here. On the front of newspapers was the mass murderer, but nothing of the victims. That just got to me.

      Of course, the same day the massacre happened at Virginia Tech they had hundreds of people who died Iraq due to a level of violence that was suprising even there.

      So I have to humbly admit that it's a matter of perspective because, ideally, we should be mindful of what's going on there too, as well as, other places too.

      As they say "where you stand depends on where you sit."

      ReplyDelete
    11. Thank you for posting these links!!

      ReplyDelete

    Hey there! Thanks for visiting my blog. It's my first blog, and I'm glad folks are still stopping by even though I'm no longer living in South Korea. Feel free to comment. If you want a personal answer, leave your email, and I won't publish the comment. Nasty comments and spam links will not be tolerated.