Recent Happenings

So, the Tucson tragedy has been all over the news. A man about my age brought a gun to Safeway and shot a congresswoman, killed 6 people, and wounded many others. When I first heard the news, my housemates and I were at a brunch with a JV from Alaska and her parents. We watched the news intently at the restaurant, and have followed the story since then on the Internet.

I was having a difficult time describing how I felt the other day, but I'll try to put it into words here. At first, it felt very weird. I didn't know any of the victims or the shooter, and the grocery store was up in the North of Tucson, which is not that close to us. Not to say I didn't feel very bad about the shootings because I did, but it didn't feel like it happened that close or that it could have happened to me.

Then, in the following days, when we learned more about the victims and I thought more about some of the things we have done here (like going to protests) I thought--wow I could've been at something that could have broken out into violence. And that 9 year old girl that died could have been one of the 9 year old kids that I teach at this school. That's when it started to feel more real.

Then the other night, I had a nightmare about everyone I saw had a gun and was trying to shoot me. It felt very real in the dream and when I woke up and went to work I found out about the protests that were going to happen at little Christina's funeral, so it wasn't a great day. (luckily the Westboro church will not picket her funeral because they made a deal with a DJ for airtime, but they are still picketing the other victims' funerals, which is ridiculous and makes me sad/mad:(

Yesterday, we went to go see Obama speak at the U of A. Jen and I didn't get in because the line had about 13,000 people in front of us and only 12,000 could get in. We ended up going to the stadium right next to where Obama spoke and watching it on the jumbo screen in there. (with about 13,000 more people) This is when I felt the most connected to the Tucson community. I loved Obama's speech and it made me tear up several times just thinking of how devastating this is for the victim's families and for the community. But we will stay strong and Tucson is a great town. Like the president of the U of A said, it's a city that feels like a small town. Some people on CNN are saying it was strange there was so much clapping at the speech and it should have been more of a memorial than a pep rally. I felt however, that the speech was very appropriate and the clapping was all of us joining together to agree and applaud what he was saying. It didn't feel like a campaign speech to me at all. I thought it was amazing and I was so glad I went.

This weekend, after the tragedy and before Obama's speech, I drove up to Phoenix to see the parents and for the Oregon game. They didn't get me tickets, but it was still fun and we went to the official tailgate party. It was a much needed break from all the sadness in Tucson. It was great to see the parents and they are coming back in February!

I think today, after hearing Obama's speech about us coming together, I am feeling a lot better. I continue to pray for the victims and their families as well as the family of the shooter. Gabriel Giffords is recovering in the hospital right now and I hope she makes a full recovery. It's such an inspirational story to see her recover. When Obama said she opened her eyes for the first time yesterday, I was so happy.

Update for my previous blog: I put photos on Facebook from Guatemala: HERE