The Virginia Tech Massacre

There's a saying that if you want to stop teenage problems, stick a baby in a bottle and when its 12 put a cork in it. Seung-Hui Cho was way beyond ordinary teenage problems. Yet there's a mindset now that universities and schools should be fortresses. Cho was very sick, yet smart enough to exploit the loopholes of university life. The thing is, that no matter how many holes are closed by increased security, a person intent on finding a hole will find one. Maximum security prisons have lost prisoners.

Since the insane Cho rampage there has been a lot of finger pointing, breast beating and downright anger about Tech. Security was slow. Well, what did you expect? There has never been a shooting at Tech. Campus security does not normally handle this kind of thing. They're used to parking tickets and student brawls. I'm sure they did what seemed right at the time. It's not the fault of Tech. The fault is Cho's. He did the shooting.

Super cop movies have given us unrealistic expectations of police and security. There probably are some James Bond's and John MClane's out there but that's not the norm. In the movies the good guys have a certainty that only comes from knowing the plot ahead of time. Movies have also given us unrealistic expectations about bad guys. There are no markings on potential killers. They don't wear weird hair or have especially nasty tattoos or sneer in a certain way (wait! that's my brother – kidding!). Even if they did, the law can't act on suspicion of possible intent. The law can't act until the deed is committed or being committed.

Cho was a crazy guy who didn't get all the help he needed. In hindsight, it can be shown that he fit a profile for crazy killers. Sure, one teacher thought he was dangerous, but one teacher isn't enough. There could have been a personality conflict. It happens. Evidence needs to build. Perhaps if all of Cho's teachers, roommates and friends had been interviewed the school would have had good evidence of his serious problem. Finding the evidence required time and people the university either didn't have or didn't feel motivated to use. But that's normal. That's what happens around here. Maybe his high school could have told Tech about Cho's problems if they hadn't been bound by privacy laws. Perhaps his parents would have let Tech know that their son needed help if they had thought his condition was serious. Cho was an adult. It was his job to manage his health care. He didn't.

The best thing to do is to learn from Cho. Virginia Commonwealth University has by creating an emergency notification system that combines cell phones, campus TVs and sirens. Tech has created a similar system. We all need to learn a lot more about mental instability and insanity. We need to focus on developing healthy, active and sociable people. If we do those things then most of our problems will go away.

Locking up schools isn't going to fix anything. Especially if the killer is locked up inside.

song of the day

I have discovered Beck. Reminds me of my childhood. Well, of high school anyway. Lovely to be young again.

Timebomb


Current Fads
Listening. Timebomb, Beck and Walls and Bridges, John Lennon; locusts
Watching. Miss Potter (2006)
Activity. home improvement
Gadget. Palm Zire 31
News Source. the default news feeds in Safari
Reading. School Days - Robert B. Parker; Tarot Games - Cait Johnson & Maura D. Shaw; Richmond Times Dispatch - online; GD USA; Fortune (Yes, I really am reading them all right now—I'm a reading addict. What can I say?)

beauty or something like it

I'm listening/watching Leonard Bernstein deliver a lecture about "The Poetry of the Earth" in 1992. I picked it up at the library (VHS tape!) to learn something about poetry. And I have. I've also learned something about music and trends across artistic endeavors.

Bernstein breaks down and analyzes the combinations of phrases that make up a composition. Finally, after about 45 minutes, he talked about poetry in relation to music which actually was quite enlightening but also raised my hackles against formula. By breaking down how music and poetry are put together, he constructs a formula for what is appealing or beautiful.

It's okay that formulas are found and used. It's not okay when the formulas become standards—when only creative works that fit the formula are right, okay, acceptable or beautiful. It's interesting to discover how my experience of beauty breaks down and knowing that might even help me find other beautiful things to enjoy. That knowledge also tends to make a box that I then, somehow, feel compelled to live in.

I now recognize that sometimes I search for understanding so that I can have a short cut to creativity. I take the short cut at the risk of losing my own sense of beauty and limiting my creative flow. There is no easy way to manifest art. There's no one right way. Creating is an experience. Experiencing beauty is a subjective act—not something someone can tell you how to do. Nor can someone else tell you what is beautiful.

Beauty, like Truth, may not exist or, if it does, has a purpose that has nothing to do with yardsticks.

my own backyard

It's nice to be back home, again. I was at the beach for the weekend stubbornly driving in ridiculous traffic to get there. Generally I avoid the beach this time of the year but I had to see the monks making their sand mandala again. This year I stayed for the entire dismantling event.

Going away is good. It feels so great to come back home. I don't know. It might be a little like stopping banging my head against a wall. Or not. Anyway, it keeps me aware of how fortunate I am to have a home, a backyard and place to call my own (however tenuously). So many haven't had the good luck I've had.

I'm writing. It's been hard. Probably because I've been trying to work to a plan. Instead of working on one thing at a time I think I need to write back and forth on more than one project. I can't cut out the other stuff just to focus on the screenplay or whatever. I don't work like that.

Unrelated News
My brother has started his first blog! I've added the link to "my multiverse."

My iTunes Purchases

Wow! This is a great widget! Forgot to mention you can choose from three sizes and five color schemes. Love this one. I hope you will, too!

If I had to define my taste, I'd say "eclectic." And you?

My iTunes

Here's a nifty widget from Apple that shows you my iTunes favorites. It seems to be a list of the music I play or have played at least once using iTunes on my machine. Some of the names in small type don't look familiar to me, but I have a lot of tunes. The big, bold names are really the ones I play most often so if you want to know what I like, check those names. I thought I played U2 more often than the size of its name shows, but I realize now that I play them a lot in the car, and that's not reflected in this widget.

Downside? I had to partially break my privacy with the iTunes Store to do this. I had to agree to let Apple access my account but just for this widget. I don't know. I feel a bit squidgey about that but, obviously, not too much to not do it. Anyway, this is a trial. If it works then I'll be making this a regular feature. Let me me know if it makes my page way too long to load.

I'll be testing it myself this weekend when I shut down my machine. We'll see how it works then.

Nice blogger swag, btw.

I've been sorted

Actually, I did my own sorting. Back in the day when that cute little 13-year-old girl sold her Harry Potter fan site for $1million, I was sorted into Slytherin simply because I chose a snake as a pet. At that point I hadn't even read the books. After finishing the seventh book and reading the devilishly clever riddles a student needs to answer to gain access to the Ravenclaw common room, I decided I was in Ravenclaw. Good riddles = definitely cool. Now, I can prove it officially. Of course, I may have skewed the test, but then the other answers weren't for me anyway.


Sort me!

Here's my question. Why does all the official Warner Bros. Ravenclaw paraphernalia come up as silver and navy blue? Apparently the colors are bronze and blue, but I haven't seen any mention of the blue being navy blue. And where did the silver come from? Bronze is made by adding tin to copper. Could this be it? I will probably get around to rereading book one some day just to get straight on which shade of blue is the Ravenclaw blue.

Why do I care? I'd like an authentic Ravenclaw scarf. Lacking access to Diagon Alley, I'll be making my own.

Is it just me or is there really a general lacking of interest in all things HP since the seventh book came out?

John Lennon on iTunes!!

Yippee! Plus exclusive videos! I'm checking it all out as soon as I get back from the job.

George is the only hold out now. I guess some grudges die really, really, really hard.

Current Fads
Listening. my alternative library and Memory Almost Full -Paul McCartney; weird shrieking dog noises
Watching. Art Heist (2004)
Activity. changing my diet
Gadget. none!
News Source. the news feeds in Safari
Reading. The Dark Endless Tea Time of the Soul - Douglass Adams; The Schwarzbein Principle - Diana Schwarzbein and Nancy Deville; Feeling and Form - Susanne K. Langer; GD USA; MacWorld; Media Week (Yes, I really am reading them all right now—I'm a reading addict. What can I say?)

extremes

This time of year and then that other time, like the depths of winter, say right around Christmas until, oh, March, I get antsy. And I do silly stuff like update my lame Yahoo! Avatar. Here she is!

I also browse the Personals. And accidentally activated my profile. I had 27 views within days. And seven messages. Since I haven't subscribed I can't do anything other than send a canned message. So I just didn't go back. But I kept getting emails about how many views I had and how many new messages I've been sent, so I turned my profile off.

I'm a bit concerned about my use of the word "so." What would be better? I don't feel like rewriting to eliminate it. How about "ergo" or "ipsit facto" or "therefore"? All worse choices, I believe. Guess I'll just have to lean on "so" for awhile.

I hope you're doing better than I am! Keep cool.

I'm a published poet!

Yes. That's right. I've published a little book of poems, thus making the contents ineligible for any publication that prefers first rights. Oh well. There are plenty more where that came from! Anyway, it's just a chapbook which shouldn't really count as publication since it's self publishing. Back in the day, chapbooks were hand made, just like zines used to be. So glad I missed that part. This is where being a graphic designer comes in handy. I can get almost anything ready for publishing.

Go buy a copy (or two or three)! Makes a great gift for yourself. Available as a download or printed copy and it's really cheap.

Permanent Shoes

Here's a new concept in shoery: one inny many outies. They are called skins. My favorite is Hailey (the last women's shoe in the slide show) althought Aimee is nice, too. Unfortunately someone thought that women would like all their shoes in black. Who did that market research? The shoes all come in other colors, of course, but they all come in black! Funerals, anyone?

Aside from that, it is an interesting concept and just might work. Imagine never having to break in another pair of shoes and always knowing your size. I like the notion of being able to order online and know that when they get here my shoes will fit and be comfortable right away. The trick will be in getting the right "bone", or inner structure of the shoe. I'm sure that will involve a custom fit. Fortunately Richmond is one the map. Yay Richmond!

You can find out more at the link above and here where you can also order your bone (if you feel like taking the risk).

Something Completely Different
Thanks to my daughter, Kathleen, for leaving her old computer here and the nice 17" LCD display. My display is dying so I'm using hers. For an "old" display it's pretty good and much better my 1998 model. And thanks to Apple for making the G4 compatible with any old display I jam on it. That's real plug and play. Not that fake stuff whosname is pandering.