It has been a very difficult week and, this morning, we are marking the one week anniversary of the massacre of innocents at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, which took away innocent, beautiful lives on a golden morning during what is considered a holiday season.
Everyone in the US continues to mourn and, as we go about our daily lives, we have often stopped to reflect and to remember the children and the educators and to thank the first responders.
At 9:30AM today, we will be having a moment of silence at UMass Amherst, as we were informed by our Chancellor, and the bells will peel 26 times, to honor the 20 young children who lost their lives and the six educators.
Nature is mourning as well -- we are experiencing torrentials rains and high winds.
As we all reflect on this senseless, horrific tragedy, those of us who are educators can't help to try and ease the pain somehow in whatever way that we can.
Some universities have had alums die in the massacre and have had children of alums perish -- my husband's university, the University of Hartford, for example, which has set up a Support page.
The University of Connecticut has established a memorial scholarship.
In times like these, we need to embrace one another for support and to watch out for one another.
Make the most of each minute that you are on planet earth.
Showing posts with label Newtown. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Newtown. Show all posts
Friday, December 21, 2012
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Offering Support to Newtown
We were in Newtown twice yesterday and President Obama will be there today.
As I had written in my most recent post, we go through Newtown, Connecticut fairly regularly as a transit point en route to and from seeing relatives.
We were to have been in Newtown on Friday morning, when the horrific tragedy took place. However, although I am on sabbatical this year, I decided it would be appropriate and interesting to attend a Faculty Meeting and I wanted to to see colleagues and staff who were being honored at the Isenberg School of Management and to recognize all that they do for the school. There was a reception afterwards in our atrium.
Our trip was delayed by a day and, yesterday, to honor the victims of the shootings at the Sandy Hook Elementary School and the grieving family members and community, we stopped there in the morning and then again in the evening. We were picking up our daughter from college for winter break since her last final exam was yesterday.
In a small way, we wanted to offer comfort to those that we saw from the owners of the Blue Colonial Diner with the wreath below, to the waitresses and workers there, and even to the journalists. Last night, while having dinner there, I spoke with two Swedish female journalists who were seated at the table next to us. I immediately recognized the language since I spend so much time in Sweden. "How can anyone make sense of this?" one of them said to me. We saw the TV news vehicles with satellite dishes and many reporters. The diner was packed both in the morning and in the evening and one waitress said that she had known all the children who perished. In a small community one can't help but recognize and interact with others.
Several said to us that "Friday was the hardest day" and the weariness and pain of all was palpable.
On a bridge someone had hung up a big hand-made banner which said: "We love (in the form of a big blue heart) Sandy Hook Elementary School."
As I had written in my most recent post, we go through Newtown, Connecticut fairly regularly as a transit point en route to and from seeing relatives.
We were to have been in Newtown on Friday morning, when the horrific tragedy took place. However, although I am on sabbatical this year, I decided it would be appropriate and interesting to attend a Faculty Meeting and I wanted to to see colleagues and staff who were being honored at the Isenberg School of Management and to recognize all that they do for the school. There was a reception afterwards in our atrium.
Our trip was delayed by a day and, yesterday, to honor the victims of the shootings at the Sandy Hook Elementary School and the grieving family members and community, we stopped there in the morning and then again in the evening. We were picking up our daughter from college for winter break since her last final exam was yesterday.
In a small way, we wanted to offer comfort to those that we saw from the owners of the Blue Colonial Diner with the wreath below, to the waitresses and workers there, and even to the journalists. Last night, while having dinner there, I spoke with two Swedish female journalists who were seated at the table next to us. I immediately recognized the language since I spend so much time in Sweden. "How can anyone make sense of this?" one of them said to me. We saw the TV news vehicles with satellite dishes and many reporters. The diner was packed both in the morning and in the evening and one waitress said that she had known all the children who perished. In a small community one can't help but recognize and interact with others.
On a bridge someone had hung up a big hand-made banner which said: "We love (in the form of a big blue heart) Sandy Hook Elementary School."
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Newtown -- When a Horrific Tragedy Strikes a Beautiful Community
The horrifying news from Newtown on a beautiful Friday morning when children were in school, parents were at work or at home, during a season that is to be filled with peace and joy, has shocked the country and the world.
We have been to Newtown, Connecticut many times as a drive-through town en route to visit relatives. We stop and eat at the Blue Colony Diner in Newtown. What we have enjoyed in the diner is not only the delicious food, but also the warm service, and the people that we see there -- very friendly, in groups, enjoying one another. This diner in this community has been a respite for my family on many trips.
What can only be viewed as a terrorist attack at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, with even President Obama delivering a very moving speech, as a loving father, signals, in an extremely painful way, that our society is losing some of its core foundations.
We can take some solace, as we grapple with this tragedy, that, as the events unfolded, there were so many heroes at the school -- including teachers who secured, sheltered, and protected the children.
When I saw the news I, as many others, was shell-shocked, and I immediately reached my husband, who is a faculty member at the University of Hartford.
He told me that he had been to Sandy Hook Elementary School in the late 1990s when he was the Connecticut Space Grant Director. He was there to give an award to the school's kindergarten class, at that time, for their development of a "Magic Treehouse" type set of web pages on Space Exploration. When he visited the school, he also brought with him a set of books on space for its library.
Reach out to one another, especially to the innocent children, and live each day to the fullest. Do what you can in and for your communities.
Our deepest sympathies to all those who suffered incalculable losses of loved ones. We are all thinking of you and have you in our hearts and prayers.
We have been to Newtown, Connecticut many times as a drive-through town en route to visit relatives. We stop and eat at the Blue Colony Diner in Newtown. What we have enjoyed in the diner is not only the delicious food, but also the warm service, and the people that we see there -- very friendly, in groups, enjoying one another. This diner in this community has been a respite for my family on many trips.
What can only be viewed as a terrorist attack at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, with even President Obama delivering a very moving speech, as a loving father, signals, in an extremely painful way, that our society is losing some of its core foundations.
We can take some solace, as we grapple with this tragedy, that, as the events unfolded, there were so many heroes at the school -- including teachers who secured, sheltered, and protected the children.
When I saw the news I, as many others, was shell-shocked, and I immediately reached my husband, who is a faculty member at the University of Hartford.
He told me that he had been to Sandy Hook Elementary School in the late 1990s when he was the Connecticut Space Grant Director. He was there to give an award to the school's kindergarten class, at that time, for their development of a "Magic Treehouse" type set of web pages on Space Exploration. When he visited the school, he also brought with him a set of books on space for its library.
Reach out to one another, especially to the innocent children, and live each day to the fullest. Do what you can in and for your communities.
Our deepest sympathies to all those who suffered incalculable losses of loved ones. We are all thinking of you and have you in our hearts and prayers.
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