Thank you for linking to the essay honoring Dawn and Mary. My brain immediately linked two parts of your essay - Butte and school shootings. Butte experienced one of the early school shootings when 11-year-old Jeremy Bullock was killed in 1994. How many students, teachers and staff have been gunned down since then? I know those words sound brutal; but that is the reality. How many education conferences have addressed this horrific topic in the past 27 years? And yet, the horror continues. How many more will die while our politicians send thoughts and prayers? Our hearts break each time we hear the now familiar news of another shooting.
"If we ever forget that all children are our children, then we are fools who have allowed memory to be murdered too, and what good are we then?"
I fear memory is being murdered by our sense of inevitability and helplessness. Dawn and Mary's families remember. Bill and Robin Bullock continue to advocate for school safety in Jeremy's memory.
What a great layout. Proud of you! Dawn and Mary was beautifully crafted. We won't forget. Your one-sentence journal reminds me of the idea of lumens--see below. I wrote a thing like Lexington House a while back, made of lumens.
Lumens*
The bone-pot simmers, the lemon blossom fades.
The last leaf falls.
Regardez, beside the line of roses braving the November air,
just beyond the sage-green shutters to where
a would-be novelist blackens white pages in her chill room.
See you all when winter’s come.
*The lumen is a measure of the total amount of visible light. Also: A very short poem or line of poetry -- idea named by poet Olga Broumas.
Thanks, again and as always, for your words. Honest and heartening.
I'm sitting in a hidden alcove in a satellite campus of Southern Oregon University (Ashland) in Medford, where I am about to host a final (I prefer host to proctor, as my finals are celebratory affairs.) in classroom management for student teachers. I was a young English teacher on the Western Slope of Colorado when disaster struck at Columbine, one of my former students present there and unharmed. I recall exactly where I was and what students were with me, even as we sat on the other side of the Continental Divide from Columbine.
I read "Dawn and Mary" just now and will close my class with a reading of it. In this course, I address school shootings with law enforcement in a practical way, - what can we do to reasonably prepare - so that students (near- and present teachers) can ask the questions they all have about this dark topic. For me, it is an intense cognitive dissonance to prepare my students for the intellectual life of teaching and then segue into unthinkable disaster threat response. But it has to be done. Today, though, Brian gets the last word. Thanks for that, Chris. I appreciate it. I'm excited to read the Doyle collection you pointed out.
My husband and I recently visited friends who live in Newtown. They had just finished telling us how their kids who were in grade school at the time of Sandy Hook, never discuss what happened. Right then at dinner, our friends got a text that their daughter who works at a mall in Newtown, was on lockdown because there was a reported shooter in the mall. Store staff were told to shelter in place, close their gates and keep the shoppers calm. What an unfair, broken mess. And thank you for sharing that essay.
I have known Edie Clark for many years. She was and is a very special human being. In fact, when I was in my twenties(I am now on the verge of 70!), Edie gifted me with some iris bulbs from her garden when I moved into the house in the country(Surry,NH) that my then husband and I had built.
Regrettably I have lost touch with Edie. My fault. I have been through a series of situational changes during the last 20 years that have proved to be quite a distraction(divorce, caring for my elderly Mom, falling in love, etc.). I will definitely try to look Edie up. Thank you so very much for your comment.
I've been sitting with a stone in my stomach each day I've dropped my son off at high school. I can't believe we have people growing up having to experience such trauma. The idea of a 'lock down' drill is just galling to me as it is, let alone that we live in a country that allows this to be normalized. My god. Thank you for sharing the essay--a beautiful, strong call to memory. Always feel better after reading your posts--it's what we need so much of in our world.
Good stuff does happen! Just look at the poetry you have written and presented to us! What a gift!
Thank you for making available events and for sharing your experience in Butte. Elevation 6,000ft. Wow! Our regional landmark out this way is Mt. Monadnock. It towers above us at approx. 3,165 ft. I’ll have to look up the elevation of Keene to put all of this into perspective.
With regard to the school shootings, indeed, what will it take? May God Bless those brave women. We all hope that we would be courageous enough to sacrifice the ultimate in defense of the innocent. I think that most of us would.
Thanks again Chris for sharing the beauty of your creation with all of us.
Chris, could you consider sharing your personal email address with me? I do not have a current address for you. If you decline, it is OK. I respect your privacy. There are just times when I feel compelled to share a photo or a thought.
I will never forget the first day dropping my eldest off at first grade and then finding a private place to sob. Not because he was growing up so fast but because school shootings were top of my mind every moment. It's been several years since then and it's still top of my mind every single damn morning.
I am so heartened to hear you're teaching again, though. That is One Very Good Thing.
My spouse it going to start traveling for work again starting in January, so my ability to go to retreats and things is disappearing, but I am sending the Silence information to anyone I can think of!
Thank you for linking to the essay honoring Dawn and Mary. My brain immediately linked two parts of your essay - Butte and school shootings. Butte experienced one of the early school shootings when 11-year-old Jeremy Bullock was killed in 1994. How many students, teachers and staff have been gunned down since then? I know those words sound brutal; but that is the reality. How many education conferences have addressed this horrific topic in the past 27 years? And yet, the horror continues. How many more will die while our politicians send thoughts and prayers? Our hearts break each time we hear the now familiar news of another shooting.
"If we ever forget that all children are our children, then we are fools who have allowed memory to be murdered too, and what good are we then?"
I fear memory is being murdered by our sense of inevitability and helplessness. Dawn and Mary's families remember. Bill and Robin Bullock continue to advocate for school safety in Jeremy's memory.
https://www.mtpr.org/montana-news/2019-08-21/25-years-later-parents-of-butte-school-shooting-victim-speak-out
May we never become desensitized to this horror. May we never look away.
What a great layout. Proud of you! Dawn and Mary was beautifully crafted. We won't forget. Your one-sentence journal reminds me of the idea of lumens--see below. I wrote a thing like Lexington House a while back, made of lumens.
Lumens*
The bone-pot simmers, the lemon blossom fades.
The last leaf falls.
Regardez, beside the line of roses braving the November air,
just beyond the sage-green shutters to where
a would-be novelist blackens white pages in her chill room.
See you all when winter’s come.
*The lumen is a measure of the total amount of visible light. Also: A very short poem or line of poetry -- idea named by poet Olga Broumas.
Another beauty and filled with poetry
Thanks, again and as always, for your words. Honest and heartening.
I'm sitting in a hidden alcove in a satellite campus of Southern Oregon University (Ashland) in Medford, where I am about to host a final (I prefer host to proctor, as my finals are celebratory affairs.) in classroom management for student teachers. I was a young English teacher on the Western Slope of Colorado when disaster struck at Columbine, one of my former students present there and unharmed. I recall exactly where I was and what students were with me, even as we sat on the other side of the Continental Divide from Columbine.
I read "Dawn and Mary" just now and will close my class with a reading of it. In this course, I address school shootings with law enforcement in a practical way, - what can we do to reasonably prepare - so that students (near- and present teachers) can ask the questions they all have about this dark topic. For me, it is an intense cognitive dissonance to prepare my students for the intellectual life of teaching and then segue into unthinkable disaster threat response. But it has to be done. Today, though, Brian gets the last word. Thanks for that, Chris. I appreciate it. I'm excited to read the Doyle collection you pointed out.
Take care,
-Nigel Waterton
My husband and I recently visited friends who live in Newtown. They had just finished telling us how their kids who were in grade school at the time of Sandy Hook, never discuss what happened. Right then at dinner, our friends got a text that their daughter who works at a mall in Newtown, was on lockdown because there was a reported shooter in the mall. Store staff were told to shelter in place, close their gates and keep the shoppers calm. What an unfair, broken mess. And thank you for sharing that essay.
Antonia,
I have known Edie Clark for many years. She was and is a very special human being. In fact, when I was in my twenties(I am now on the verge of 70!), Edie gifted me with some iris bulbs from her garden when I moved into the house in the country(Surry,NH) that my then husband and I had built.
Regrettably I have lost touch with Edie. My fault. I have been through a series of situational changes during the last 20 years that have proved to be quite a distraction(divorce, caring for my elderly Mom, falling in love, etc.). I will definitely try to look Edie up. Thank you so very much for your comment.
Sincerely,
Melissa
Thank you Chris! And by the way, the elevation of Keene, NH is 486’!
I've been sitting with a stone in my stomach each day I've dropped my son off at high school. I can't believe we have people growing up having to experience such trauma. The idea of a 'lock down' drill is just galling to me as it is, let alone that we live in a country that allows this to be normalized. My god. Thank you for sharing the essay--a beautiful, strong call to memory. Always feel better after reading your posts--it's what we need so much of in our world.
Good stuff does happen! Just look at the poetry you have written and presented to us! What a gift!
Thank you for making available events and for sharing your experience in Butte. Elevation 6,000ft. Wow! Our regional landmark out this way is Mt. Monadnock. It towers above us at approx. 3,165 ft. I’ll have to look up the elevation of Keene to put all of this into perspective.
With regard to the school shootings, indeed, what will it take? May God Bless those brave women. We all hope that we would be courageous enough to sacrifice the ultimate in defense of the innocent. I think that most of us would.
Thanks again Chris for sharing the beauty of your creation with all of us.
Chris, could you consider sharing your personal email address with me? I do not have a current address for you. If you decline, it is OK. I respect your privacy. There are just times when I feel compelled to share a photo or a thought.
Sincerely,
Melissa
Dawn and Mary was beautiful. My mother was an elementary principal for 20 years and she would have run toward the bullets to save her kids.
Thanks for sharing the Butte article! I hadn’t seen it and loved the poems.
Dawn and Mary. Damn. I was just in Keene, NH in October. Beautiful area.
I will never forget the first day dropping my eldest off at first grade and then finding a private place to sob. Not because he was growing up so fast but because school shootings were top of my mind every moment. It's been several years since then and it's still top of my mind every single damn morning.
I am so heartened to hear you're teaching again, though. That is One Very Good Thing.
My spouse it going to start traveling for work again starting in January, so my ability to go to retreats and things is disappearing, but I am sending the Silence information to anyone I can think of!
Antonia, I am so glad!
Could you consider giving me your email address? Mine is melissamagaletta@icloud.com.
Have a wonderful day!