Virginia Tech

[fabrisse]

My uncle was in lockdown in the building next door to the shootings this morning. He heard the shots as he was teaching his class.

Uncle Jim is not my favorite person in the world, but he's a good mathematician and very good at flunking students. It's important because he teaches the math class that all engineering majors at Tech are required to have. Only 1/4 of the class makes it any given term. My first thought when I heard about all of this was that the gunman was going after him.

(While Jim may not be my favorite person, I'm very glad he's still with us. My thoughts are with all the families of the victims.)

I'm currently trying to work my way through his The Brief Calculus with Applications in the Social Sciences as a way of improving my math. If I ever want to retake the GREs, I figure it's good practice.

The town of Blacksburg is in shock, according to Uncle Jim. The university has an excellent counselling center, but several of their best counsellors are working with the police. While Blacksburg isn't really a small town anymore, none of their officers had ever dealt with death on this scale. The young officers are just out of college themselves; the older ones have kids that are in college.

It's hitting everyone hard.

Comments

[aizjanika.livejournal.com]

Yeah. We're not that close to there, but close enough that I know it's going to be scary. One of my friend's sons went there until this year and one of my son's friends wants to go there eventually.

I'm glad to hear your uncle is okay.

[fabrisse.livejournal.com]

I hope your friend's son will cope. Sometimes it's harder NOT being there, when you still have friends there.

I was very relieved when Uncle Jim called tonight.

[gileswench.livejournal.com]

I'm glad your uncle is okay. It's been terrifying enough without any connection at all to the school. I can only imagine how awful it's been for those who had to wait to hear from friends and loved ones, let alone for those for whom the news was not a relief.