It's four days into the new semester and already my mind feels overloaded and blown out. How is this possible? This has never happened before. I mean I did have to switch around my (still unfinished) schedule maybe three times in the last three days but seriously this is just plain weird. Dear Prez Skorty do me a favor and tell the profs to go easy on us. Just this once. No? Ugh! Ok then. FINE!
Let the semester begin.
January 27, 2011
On the Matter of Tucson
On January 8th, 2011 I was playing around with my new BlackBerry Torch. You know how it goes with these fancy smartphones (email setup: check, various app downloads all free: check). Just as I had my email all configured I immediately received a News Alert from the New York Times with the title "Congresswoman Shot in Tucson, AZ." How's that for a first email message? I don't mean to seem callous but that is precisely what I thought when I saw the message. At this point I hadn't opened the alert yet so I had absolutely no idea how serious the incident was. I assumed that she was shot maybe in the arm, the leg, you know something non life-threatening. I have a history of hoping for the best and being disappointed. I opened the email. My heart sank.
There in black and white was the horrible severity of what had happened. Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head, right through the brain. She wasn't the only one, at least a dozen others injured with two dead. As the minutes ticked by the casualty count increased as did the death toll. Finally, the absolute final numbers. Twenty injured, six dead. Initially, Rep. Gabby Giffords was reported among the dead and I learned that she was one of us, a Cornellian. It hurt more. I mourned for her the only way I could think of. I broadcast my feelings as a Facebook/BlackBerry Messenger status and through vigorous texting and phone calls with friends. For people who had never known Gabrielle Giffords, we the current Cornellians became surprisingly devoted to our (at the time assumed to be) deceased counterpart. She was one of us and with her death a link in the chain would be lost. Sappy, I know but it's damn true.
If I may take the focus off of Tucson for a moment (excuse any seeming callousness that results from this), I think it is important to note that this campus has been through so much in the last year. We have lost six of our fellow students to suicide, one to murder in a foreign country and yet another to a horrific accident. In addition we had to deal with such intense media scrutiny after three suicides in less than a month. A campus that wanted to mourn internally had to do so publicly.
For a big campus with such a large enrollment, one thing that makes Cornell so unique, I believe, is the atmosphere of a family. You can't walk across this campus without stopping to talk to three people and waving and nodding to ten more. We are a family. We complain and bitch about each other and this school and all the work we have to do but when it comes down to it we turn into Tyler Perry's Madea the minute someone messes with anyone who has ever had the distinction of calling themselves a Cornellian. So upon hearing that Gabby Giffords was dead, Cornellians whether we were black or white or Democrat or Republican or an international student without a care for American politics, took to social media to express their furor and sadness. While the media showed America mourning along with the families of the dead (still assuming at the time that Mrs.Giffords was among the dead), Facebook and Tumblr showed Cornell mourning one of its own. We take this kind of thing VERY personally. I don't cry easily...I spent ten minutes bawling those big ugly sobs.
And then on the Huffington Post's live blog I saw the news SHE WASN'T DEAD! My dear reader, I can assure you that Cornell University breathed a collective sigh of relief. This dreary winter time campus (even though we were all far away from it for winter break), in the middle of Nowheresville, NY rejoiced for the life of one of it's own. And then we realized that there was more to the story. There was a little girl of only 9 years old who had left the world much too soon. There were the mothers, sisters, aunts, brothers and most importantly innocent human beings who had left before it was their time.
By now you've all heard the story, seen the mini-bios on various news networks so I don't need to reiterate for you. All of these people were important and valued members of our society and none deserved to die in that manner. In this post I will not investigate the causes of this shooting. I shall save that for a later date as the conflict rages on in the media. This post is simply to honor the lives lost and to reflect and remember. It is also a post from one Cornellian to another. To Gabrielle Giffords and her family please remember that you have another family, a thousand miles away in a little town called Ithaca. We love you and we pray for you (even me the sacrilegious heathen on the hill). We will never forget you and we believe that you will make a full recovery.
You are one of us and you always will be.
There in black and white was the horrible severity of what had happened. Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head, right through the brain. She wasn't the only one, at least a dozen others injured with two dead. As the minutes ticked by the casualty count increased as did the death toll. Finally, the absolute final numbers. Twenty injured, six dead. Initially, Rep. Gabby Giffords was reported among the dead and I learned that she was one of us, a Cornellian. It hurt more. I mourned for her the only way I could think of. I broadcast my feelings as a Facebook/BlackBerry Messenger status and through vigorous texting and phone calls with friends. For people who had never known Gabrielle Giffords, we the current Cornellians became surprisingly devoted to our (at the time assumed to be) deceased counterpart. She was one of us and with her death a link in the chain would be lost. Sappy, I know but it's damn true.
If I may take the focus off of Tucson for a moment (excuse any seeming callousness that results from this), I think it is important to note that this campus has been through so much in the last year. We have lost six of our fellow students to suicide, one to murder in a foreign country and yet another to a horrific accident. In addition we had to deal with such intense media scrutiny after three suicides in less than a month. A campus that wanted to mourn internally had to do so publicly.
For a big campus with such a large enrollment, one thing that makes Cornell so unique, I believe, is the atmosphere of a family. You can't walk across this campus without stopping to talk to three people and waving and nodding to ten more. We are a family. We complain and bitch about each other and this school and all the work we have to do but when it comes down to it we turn into Tyler Perry's Madea the minute someone messes with anyone who has ever had the distinction of calling themselves a Cornellian. So upon hearing that Gabby Giffords was dead, Cornellians whether we were black or white or Democrat or Republican or an international student without a care for American politics, took to social media to express their furor and sadness. While the media showed America mourning along with the families of the dead (still assuming at the time that Mrs.Giffords was among the dead), Facebook and Tumblr showed Cornell mourning one of its own. We take this kind of thing VERY personally. I don't cry easily...I spent ten minutes bawling those big ugly sobs.
And then on the Huffington Post's live blog I saw the news SHE WASN'T DEAD! My dear reader, I can assure you that Cornell University breathed a collective sigh of relief. This dreary winter time campus (even though we were all far away from it for winter break), in the middle of Nowheresville, NY rejoiced for the life of one of it's own. And then we realized that there was more to the story. There was a little girl of only 9 years old who had left the world much too soon. There were the mothers, sisters, aunts, brothers and most importantly innocent human beings who had left before it was their time.
By now you've all heard the story, seen the mini-bios on various news networks so I don't need to reiterate for you. All of these people were important and valued members of our society and none deserved to die in that manner. In this post I will not investigate the causes of this shooting. I shall save that for a later date as the conflict rages on in the media. This post is simply to honor the lives lost and to reflect and remember. It is also a post from one Cornellian to another. To Gabrielle Giffords and her family please remember that you have another family, a thousand miles away in a little town called Ithaca. We love you and we pray for you (even me the sacrilegious heathen on the hill). We will never forget you and we believe that you will make a full recovery.
You are one of us and you always will be.
Happy New Year!
Ummm sorry about the wait everyone. I got caught up in doing a whole bunch of stuff and then I (shockingly) forgot about the existence of my own blog (I know right?!) for a little while. But I swear that from this point on you shall see the blog you know and love. Give me some time. I'm working on a few things right now. HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!
January 2, 2011
What's your opinion on the current Health Care Reform situation and abortion?
Health Care Reform = good but I don't like all of the terms. I am also pro-choice. I would never have an abortion myself but what other people do with their body is most definitely not my business.
what was the biggest thing u regret doing for a friend
Saying I did something I didn't do to cover up for something. A little white lie so nothing bad but still. Oh and breaking up with another friend's boyfriend for her.
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