Today was supposed to be a good day. Last night, like a kid dreaming of proverbial sugarplum fairies, I literally dreamt of the Red Camera, which was set to be unveiled today at the National Association of Broadcasters convention. Instead, today has been -- well, there aren't words.
As many of you know, I teach at Virginia Tech. If, somehow, you have not heard, there were a series of shootings on campus today that left over 30 people dead. Apparently this is the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, though I find it sad that there's a need to keep such statistics.
For those of you that emailed me, some of whom I've never even met face to face, thank you so much for your concern. I am alright. Shaken, for sure -- we were under "lock down" for several nerve-wracking hours -- but deeply thankful that my students and I made it through the day unscathed. More than anything else, though, my heart is just broken to pieces over the victims and their families. I expect that things will only grow sadder as more news comes out, particularly when the names of the deceased start to be released to the public. I do not look forward to waking up tomorrow and reading the news.
I tell my students that storytelling is citizenship -- a "service profession", really. Tomorrow I'll try to think of something positive and useful for my students to do with our video cameras.