April 18: ‘Multimedia Manifesto’

The actions were terrifying. The outpouring of support was touching. The story behind Cho Seung-Hui’s actions is beyond disturbing.

Just after 4 p.m. our Towerlight editor and TVNewser blogger Brian Stelter received word that NBC had received a package from the man who murdered 33 Virginia Tech students. By 4:22 the news was up on his blog (after I threatened to break the story myself). And at 6:30 Brian Williams kicked off NBC’s Nightly News with a story on the ‘Multimedia Manifesto’ received by his network earlier that day.

Minutes later the above picture was taken.

Only about half of the office is shown, but all eyes in the room were fixed directly on Williams’ report. Numerous pictures of Cho were shown, as well as videos filled with hatred, frustration, and angst. He referred to himself as a martyr. Claimed that his actions could have been avoided. Said he was sick of the hedonism that surrounded him. As he pointed guns, knives, and hammers in his pictures, he pointed the finger at everyone but himself in his videos (‘You caused me to do this’).

I don’t want to go in too great a length about today’s findings (editor’s note: I did…sorry, keep reading), but it is scary to think about how much thought went into the events on the Va. Tech campus. That he fled the scene of the early shootings, returned to his room to write his lengthy letter, possibly filmed some of his last tirades, went to the post office, and mailed the final remnants of his grossly misled existence to one of our country’s foremost news organizations.

Cho did this for attention. That’s obvious. From the looks of things, he wanted people to know his name in a world he felt rejected by and isolated from. It makes me thankful that more people who have had enough with this world don’t attempt to make waves on their way out, just as Cho did.

Thom Yorke’s words in the Radiohead song ‘High and Dry’ have been trapped in my head all day, and it’s hard not to see the relevance.

“You’d kill yourself for recognition

What makes it far more disgusting is the fact that Cho felt the need to take 32 others with him. And no possible explanation, through words, pictures, or videos, could ever account for that. As much as he attempts to shift the blame on those who he claimed to be wronged by, nothing in the package could possibly do anything but cause people to think, ‘Man, he is far more screwed up than we could ever imagine.’

Terrifying. Disturbing.

Downright sad.

April 17: Lets Go…Hokies

I think it’s pretty safe to say that Monday’s shootings at Virginia Tech still weighed quite heavily on the hearts and and minds of most people today. You simply don’t shake something of that magnitude off overnight, regardless of how detached you may be from the situation. Just imagine what it must be like for those who woke up this morning and for the first time were without someone they love. Knowing that person would not wake up to see April 17, 2007. I get the feeling that if I were in that position it would hit me pretty hard the day after.

The reminders were abundant. I woke up earlier than I would have otherwise needed to so that I could help deliver our special edition Towerlight, and hand them out around campus. For the most part people were receptive (with the exception of the girl who said, “No thanks, I already heard about it”).

While driving around campus I stopped at a red light behind a car with a Va. Tech bumper sticker, stuffed mascot inside the rear windshield, and another sticker or two elsewhere. The bumper sticker read something to the effect of, “If God wasn’t a Hokie why would the leaves turn maroon and orange in the Fall.”

At the University Union on campus there is a huge banner set up for people to sign, which will eventually be sent to Blacksburg. When I walked by just after 5:30 it appeared to be pretty much covered with signatures. From there I caught the tail end of Towson’s official Virginia Tech Vigil. The room, which is likely the largest conference/event room on campus was packed. A number of people with ties to Va. Tech spoke. At one point one of the speakers led the crowd in a Let’s Go…Hokies chant. It was a pretty cool thing to be a part of.

Events like these went on all across the country. One of the women who spoke tonight has a daughter at Va. Tech, and she said she planned on telling her daughter that all of us at Towson would be with them at 8 p.m. for their candlelight vigil. I think if everyone who took some time out of their day to reflect on what happened Monday gathered in Blacksburg, the entire state of Virginia would have to be shut down. And after what happened yesterday, I think everyone at Va. Tech would be just fine with that.

*Sorry I did not get a more fitting photo. Today was tax day (that is if it wasn’t yesterday or the day before). My roommate J.D. agreed to do my taxes if I get him Pasta Mista. Best deal I ever made in my life. Hands down.

April 16: Dark Day in Blacksburg

“I was a newspaper reporter on the day of the Columbine shootings; I still remember how the news almost made me physically ill (and it was one of the reasons I left journalism). I feel the same way today…”

It’s difficult enough to know how to respond to a tragedy like today’s shootings at Virginia Tech University. Things get a bit more hazy when you’re forced to juggle your feelings and convictions as a human being with your responsibilities as a journalist. Hundreds of people across the country were presented with the moral and ethical weight of that dilemma from newspapers, television stations and the innumerable other news outlets.

Even The Towerlight had to answer this call.

Upon arriving at the newspaper office for our weekly Monday afternoon meeting I was informed that we were leaning towards putting out a special edition paper to be printed and distributed on Tuesday (as opposed to our twice-weekly, Monday and Thursday issues). This idea is not unprecedented. In past years special editions have been put out in response to a former university president’s resignation, a meningitis scare, and a missing student. However in my four years at the school it is the first such instance (Mark Perkins’ resignation in 2002 is the most recent). What makes this situation unique is the fact that it is the first time The Towerlight has released a special section devoted to something unrelated to Towson University.

Not long after our meeting I found the above comment in response to the news release on planetblacksburg.com. And it immediately struck a cord with me. I could never imagine directly dealing with Columbine or the Va. Tech shootings. Being on location talking to those whose lives were put in danger, and whose loved ones were killed. How do you approach them? How do you explain to them that you aren’t solely interested in breaking a story or getting a good soundbite. That you are genuinely concerned about their feelings. That there is no way you will ever be able to relate to their emotions, but that you will do all you can to take them into account.

It’s my biggest qualm with the field I have chosen to dedicate my life to.

In instances like this I feel the inner struggle most deeply. In literature we analyze the various forms of conflict present within a novel; man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs. environment, man vs. technology, man vs. animal, man vs. self. The list goes on. The lattermost form seems to be the most evident in the life of a journalist. Man vs. Self. Human being vs. Journalist. How do you juggle the two? I always imagine my sensitivites as a human being having the upperhand. Whether that will make me a good or bad journalist in the long run is something I have often wondered.