Virginia Tech

As I'm sure you're all aware, Cho Seung-Hui, a student at Virginia Tech, opened fire on his classmates on Monday, April 16th. He killed 33, including himself and injured several others. According to CNN's report, Cho's roommates and English professors knew how disturbed he was and often tried to get him to seek help. His roommates described him as a loner and his professors often found his writing graphically violent and disturbing.

Did you know one of Cho's victims was a 76-year-old engineering professor and Holocaust survivor? Liviu Librescu was barricading his door so his students could escape through the window when he was killed. It pains me to think about this man who had his life taken from him by someone so consumed by hate, when he escaped from a blazing inferno of hatred decades ago. But, he has been immortalized as a hero for his selflessness and bravery.

What's so painful about this situation is that Columbine, as we approach the eighth anniversary, can no longer be labeled as the "worst school shooting in history." Sadly, it's been out-done. Sadly, someone took more lives. Sadly, even more damage has been done.

And now, the discussion begins. "Who's to blame?" and "What can we do to prevent other shootings?"

We could blame violent TV, movies and videogames if we wanted. They don't really encourage violent behavior in those who aren't already inclined to be violent, but they certainly bring violent tendencies out in violent and troubled people. Maybe a little of it has to do with Cho's general loneliness. But, how lonely and how depressed would someone have to be to shoot over 30 people? How is someone driven to that? We might never know.

And we might never know how to prevent these tragedies. They say if Harris and Klebold's parents paid a little closer attention, the whole Columbine massacre could have been avoided. Apparently, they had blueprints and instructions for explosives and firearms lying openly around their rooms along with journals full of disturbing levels of hatred towards everything. But, in Cho's case, professors and roommates did take notice and still it couldn't have been prevented. And banning guns won't help because there are obviously other methods of mass murder. The answer isn't at all a simple one, but one day I'm confident we'll find it.

Until then, however, all I can do is pray that nobody is filled with such an anger that they take the lives of others -- Until then, all I can do is pray for Virginia Tech.

Trashing Helmick

Drake's Environmental Action League (DEAL) is putting on Earth Week this week. Everyday there will be activities celebrating the planet and whatnot.

Today we trashed Helmick Commons. All of the garbage from the first-year halls from over the weekend was collected and then sorted through to find all recyclable items just to show how much we end up throwing away that can actually be recycled or otherwise reused. It was incredible how much we ended up pulling out. It was kind of gross at first, but I got over it and kind of enjoyed it after a while.

It's kind of fun going through some people's garbage, let me tell ya. We found all sorts of stuff that people just chucked. I found a perfectly good copy of a Bill Bryson book, countless textbooks, clothes, tons of plastic Easter eggs, binders, a whole six-pack of Coke, some really nice decorative boxes and loads of other stuff. I was tempted to take some things but had to remind myself that all of it was sitting in the garbage. As Jerry Seinfeld would say, "adjacent to refuse is refuse." So, I restrained myself.

I probably could have stolen seven different identities today with all the voided checks, credit card bills and whatnot that we found. People really need to make sure they shred that stuff. I mean it's really easy to just rip open a bag of garbage and go through it to find stuff like that.

Plus, it's cool to see what people have been up to. You can tell a lot about a group of people by the garbage they chuck. Each bag was labeled with the hall and the floor that it came from.... huh... interesting...

But, back to the point.... The residence halls have recycling programs. I'm not sure how it works everywhere else, but I know in my hall all you have to do is put your recyclables outside your door at 10pm on Sunday and people come around and pick it up for you. It's as simple as that. I'm sure all the people who throw out the recyclable items care about the environment; they're just too lazy to take the time to put their can in a different bin.

APO Formal

Last night was the APO formal and it was a lot of fun. We had it at the Comfort Suites at Living History Farms hotel and that place is so adorable. It's very Iowan and country-like.

The food was amazing and I probably thought it was more amazing since it wasn't Hubbell food (although, to Hubbell's credit, they've stepped up their game lately). We had salad, chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes and a HUGE slice of chocolate cake for dessert. It was delicious.

There was also an awards ceremony and I recieved the Pledge of the Year award for the Lambda Freel pledge class so that was very exciting :) Brothers from other chapters were there, too.

The decorations were beautiful and the music was great (and so was the DJ... hehe).

But, enough talk... pictures!!!!


The centerpiece

Me before the party

The Alpha Phi Omega Omega Gamma Family

A very exciting time of year

Yesterday was Blitz Day, which is when the theme for the Drake Relays theme is announced. Blitz Day has its own theme every year, which is different than the Relays theme. The Blitz Day theme was "Relays Gone Wild" which I thought was really, really cool. Unfortunately the weather wasn't so great so the Blitz Day picnic had to be inside in Olmstead. It was still fun, though. The Relays host and hostess were announced (I don't remember their names) and as I said, the theme for Relays, which is "The Legacy Lives On" or something like that. At first I didn't really like it, but it's grown on me over the past few hours.

Blitz Day also pretty much kicks off the two-ish weeks of activities surrounding the Drake Relays. I'm a freshman so this will be my first year experiencing the Drake Relays so I'm really, really excited. There are so many fun activates planned. There's going to be a comedian, a hypnotist, a foam dance party, a parade and of course STREET PAINTING which I am so excited to get to participate in with APO. More paint ends up on the painters than on the actual street, so I need to drudge up some old clothes to wear.

Then, of course, there are the actual events of the Relays themselves. Track stars from all over come to compete. My dad works with a guy who actually won the Relays one year. I'm really excited because 1) I'm a photographer for the paper and therefore have all of these great opportunities to get pictures and 2) finally I get to take pictures of outdoor sports. Indoor sports are cool, but taking pictures in a gym with all that weird lighting is hard and kind of annoying.

I'm also getting really excited because I'm leaving in three weeks. At this time three weeks from now I'll be on my way home with a whole lot of stuff. I was looking at it all the other day and it's really amazing how much more stuff I acquired since being here.

This weekend will be exciting, too because my APO formal is tomorrow and the Spring Fling/RA Placement party is on Sunday so expect more blogs to go with that and pictures of course.

In the meantime, check out this pic of the awesome balloon thing at the Blitz Day Picnic!

Easter

My family doesn't celebrate Easter too much. I mean, we usually do baskets and dye eggs and stuff but it's not usually a huge deal at our house. Regardless, it was still weird to be away from home on a holiday. And I think most of that had to do with the fact that the campus was practically empty. There were six other people eating brunch at Hubbell. It was strange. The residence halls were ghost towns.

I convinced my RA that Easter isn't Easter unless you dye eggs so the few of us who were left on the floor dyed eggs. It went really well and under the incredibly detailed directions of my mom, I boiled the most perfect eggs that were ever boiled. I was shocked. There weren't even any of those little cracks in them. It was great. The secret is you have to put a little bit of vinegar in the water before you boil it and then a little bit of vinegar in each cup of dye when you mix it so the colors are brighter.

Here's a picture of our results:



A few weeks ago I volunteered at the Boys and Girls club with APO. We dyed eggs with the kids and that was a little less successful. The dye wasn't good and the eggs were still warm. Plus, right after the eggs were finished dyeing, the kids wanted to eat the eggs which we didn't anticipate at all so warm egg got everywhere and it was probably the most disgusting thing ever. One kid even threw an egg out of the window.

Pictures:

The ISA Formal

It's Easter weekend and most of my friends went home since they live pretty close. The friends who stayed had plans I wasn't too interested in, so my RA cajoled me into attending the ISA formal. ISA is the International Students Association. The formal was held at the Marriott downtown it's a really nice place. For fifteen dollars you got a limo ride to and from the hotel and a plated dinner with salad and dessert. I figured I would probably spend my Friday night doing homework (or at least planning on doing homework) anyway so I decided to go with her.

I realized of course I would probably know nobody there, but thought that maybe I could meet new people. Plus, my APO formal is next weekend and I bought an adorable dress over Spring Break so I thought that it would be fun to get a little more mileage out of it.

Our limo pulled up to the hotel around 6:30. My RA was running around doing stuff since she was on the committee that planned the formal so I just sat down. Luckily, one of the girls from my floor, Prudence, was there too and I sat with her. Then Josiah showed up. I had met him the previous day. Apparently Duhita (my RA) cajoled him into going, too and he was pretty much in the same boat as I was. He didn't know anybody either so we decided to be awkward together.

Most of the evening was spent eating dinner and giving out the ISA awards. That part was a little odd because I of course had no idea who most of the people were and just sort of clapped as loud as everybody else clapped.

Around 10 the dance started and that was great fun. I was with my RA a couple of her friends she introduced me to, Josiah, and a couple of girls from APO who I know so that was nice and not too awkward I didn't think.

Overall I had a lot of fun and it was really cool to go out and try something that different. On the limo ride home, there were four languages being spoken including Vietnamese and Spanish. I was a really different experience and I'm glad I went.

I took some pictures, of course!!!

A true American Enigma

Ok, I'm sure no matter how disconnected you like to think you are with the rest of the world (in which case I wonder why you're wandering the bloggosphere if it is indeed your hope to say in this disconnected state), everybody knows what's goin' down on good ol' AI these days. For those not too fluent in the reality show acronym lingo, allow me to clarify. I'm referring to American Idol. Specifically, I'm referring to the little situation they have on their hands with one of their contestants -- Sanjaya.

Again, for those who are clueless (or just wish they were clueless), allow me to elaborate. Sanjaya is one of the top-twelve contestants on American Idol. I'll skip the part where I do nothing but bash his erratic, Michael Jackson-esque style and go straight to the part where I simply say that the guy has no talent. You know how people get all offended when you tell them that they or someone they know aren't very good at whatever it is that they're doing (or trying to do)? And they come back with a retort something to the effect of "Hey, I have more talent in my pinky finger than you do in your whole body!"... ? Yeah, well... I think my pinky finger could take him. Seriously. I was in band for six years and they say that the band is made up of all the kids who couldn't sing in the choir but still wanted to participate in music. There's a reason why they say that, and I'm still confident that I would beat him in a singing competition.

I'm also certain that you all know why he's still in the competition. There are all sorts of websites out there like www.votefortheworst.com which pick the worst contestant from every call-in show and encourage people to vote for them to see how long they can possibly stay in the competition. So, Sanjaya is still in the competition while about three other contestants with real talent have been kicked off of the show. Not really fair, huh? But, what can anybody do? It's the American Idol, right? America gets to pick... and if America wants to pick Sanjaya who I can only describe as strange... they should be able to, right? That might be true, but I think it's an insult to Sanjaya and to the rest of the country who is participating in the vote for these people who have been persuaded by a website to string along someone who cannot sing. Rumors say that Simon Cowell might quit the show if Sanjaya wins.

I never saw Sanjaya audition, so I cannot attest to his powerful vocals that were strong enough to propel him to Hollywood. What I do know is that recently he's been doing some truly crazy things. The past couple of weeks, he's really been going absolutely nuts on the stage. Paula puts it nicely and says something like he's "coming out of his shell," or something like that. I don't think that's what it is at all. I think he's gotten wind of what's going on with the voting and he's going out there to do whatever the heck he wants and isn't concerned about how he sounds because he knows, inevitably, he'll be safe. I can't blame him. I'd probably do the same. No, I wouldn't. I would probably try extra hard to prove myself to the country since I know I've already been voted as the worst.

Unless, of course Sanjaya himself is behind these websites. Maybe he created them just so he can get more votes!! What is he doing in his spare time, anyway... surely he is not practicing.

And how 'bout that Mohawk thing he was sporting last week? I have a picture of it. Ryan looked absolutely terrified of the thing. I would be, too. I'm sorry, but I just don't understand why that was necessary at all. And start paying attention to his shoes... they seem so odd to me. On top of which, why does he always find it so incumbent upon himself to dress like Michael Jackson? I mean, does he even realize that Michael Jackson has so many negative associations? He knows about the little boys, I assume. I just hope to God that that's not the image he's trying to create for himself. He would disappoint his fan -- that thirteen year old who was simply drowning in her own tears during his performance a couple of weeks ago who I feel completely sorry for because her tear-sodden face was plastered all over all sorts of trashy E! Channel shows that week.

Whatever the reason, his hair or his shoes, Sanjaya could be the one for America to choose (subtle Dr. Seuss reference there if you didn't catch that). Although, you want to know what I really think? Who is really behind it? I think the person behind Sanjaya's success is William Hung... the more we're subjected to whatever Sanjaya is doing, William Hung's albums are selling....