There has been another tragic school shooting, this time at Northern Illinois University. I don't know what to say about such senseless violence, and although many universities have updated safety protocols in the wake of Virginia Tech. it is still all-too-easy for a disturbed person to walk into a lecture hall and kill whoever happens to be there.
As John Lynch reflects at Stranger Fruit, it is sobering to learn of such events, the news making me think about escape routes & what I would do if the unthinkable happened during the course of what would have started as any other normal day. I can't simply tell myself "It couldn't happen here," and push it out of my mind, and it is a bit unnerving that we live during a time when such tragedies occur with horrifying frequency.
The instructor for the class, a graduate TA, is a vertebrate paleontologist. He was hurt, but is in good enough condition to be talking to the press.
Hopefully you will get to meet him at a conference someday, and will be able to talk about much better things.
whatever happened to your post about your slight paranoia concerning these shootings? I just can't find it. I searched "shooting", "university", and "Illinois" yet still no result.