Good Morning, RVA: Feelings and frustration
Yesterday sure did blow, but maybe today will be a lot better.
Good morning, RVA! It’s 63°F, and today looks free and clear with a high of 84°F, a heck-no chance of precipitation, and a twinkle in its eye.
Water cooler
Yesterday turned out to be terrible, with two TV newspeople from WDBJ in Roanoke shot and killed by a disgruntled former employee. By now, you probably know the rest: a manhunt ensued, the guy was posting on Twitter and Facebook (including a first-person video of the shootings), and he shot himself and later died.
It’s tough to know how to talk about this stuff. Since Ross has been on vacation, he’s had to update our too-complicated-for-me-to-grok homicide page three times. And I’ve had to say to him things like “There was a shooting in Gilpin Court but the victim lived, so I’ll be in touch if I need you,” (there were two shootings there on Tuesday, and the police basically had to move in). My heart truly goes out to the families of Alison Parker and Adam Ward–and the family of Vester Flanagan too–but being a journalist puts you in a weird position of having kind of a birds-eye view of what moves The People and what The People want to know about. And, The People, we should be moved a lot more by the violence that’s all around us, every day. It is real, and it is alarming.
This was the best article I could find about yesterday, guns, social media, and live television. Here’s another from Vox that rounds up some good stats and editorial feelings. And this was one of only a handful of pieces I could find about why these rampage shooters–and a huge majority of an kind of shooter–are men.
And to make our disenchantment complete, the tiny surprise panda at the National Zoo has died.
I promise I’ll lighten up in a second, but first, read this great editorial by A. Barton Finkle at the Times-Dispatch about how the City has handled some majority-Latino poverty areas by slapping them with a bunch of fines.
VCU Medical Center is now VCU Health, but it’s still accurate to use VCU Medical Center in some cases. Which…great! I try hard, but “MCV” is what comes out of my mouth.
James L. Thornhill’s new Black Cyclone mural has a neat background, which Peter Galuszka at Style will tell you all about!
Sports!
- Nats lost to Padres by one run last night, and this very evening, we shall determine who will go home the winner of this series, and who will just go home to weep.
- Squirrels sold out their game last night, as I was well aware, being caught in the Diamond-area melee, and won the day AND their series. They go on to play the Akron “Angry Ducks” tonight.
What to expect
- Food news!
- 5 things to do this weekend!
- A truly gorgeous photo essay on what “back to school” really feels like on the VCU campus.
- All of the ways to reuse your recycling bin (for real this time).
This morning’s longread
A Gorilla Match (or 5) at the Bronx Zoo
Man, the process of getting animals to make more animals is more complicated than you’d think. Also, “stud registry number.” Heh.
“There’s sex without bonding in humans and other animals,” he said. “Is there any romance in a one-night stand? Well yes, some, but it’s not very high quality, very deep or long lasting.”
Lions and elephants make male gorillas look like family men. Ernie plays with his babies, and can stop a young gorilla from too much roughhousing just by arching his sagittal crest. The male gorilla will protect the troop if it is threatened, and because female gorillas will leave if they are unhappy, Ernie has an incentive to behave himself.
This morning’s Instagram
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Susan Howson
Susan Howson is managing editor for this very website. She writes THE BEST bios.
Notice: Comments that are not conducive to an interesting and thoughtful conversation may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
Susan Howson’s writing is usually witty and fun. I usually laugh out loud and appreciate her seeing the humor in whatever life is throwing at us.
This morning I appreciated the pissed-offness, and reality that not everything in the world is pretty and good, and lots of people have data and answers that could make things better, but we live in Horseville, because we’re surrounded by naysayers (thank you Tracy Jordan and Liz Lemon.) So we move onto the next topic and distract ourselves with things that don’t hurt as much like murals, the instagram pics of the day, and how at least the weather isn’t going to suck the life out of us today.
Sometimes life hands us (personally and humanity) shit sandwiches and it’s frustrating. And after a while you just phone it in just to get through the day, and maybe today will be better, and maybe it won’t. Define better. Columbine made me fearful of going back to high school. I thought 9/11 was the end of the world, especially when my high school English teacher told our class we ALL would be drafted, even the women, it was going to be worse than Vietnam… I think he had a PTSD breakdown and I never forgot that moment. I thought Sandy Hook would spark change, but all it’s done is force my friend’s kindergarten-age children in Virginia on their third day of school to learn how to hide from shooters in the school, after learning how to handle a fire drill, of course. I thought the DC Sniper was terrifying… I can’t imagine being five and being taught to hide in my classroom closet JUST IN CASE a person comes in to kill us all with military grade weapons. And then there’s the Charleston Shootings – when in the wake of that tragedy, pretty much all we’ve done is bitch about confederate flags, which is GREAT, but it didn’t solve or address the problem that people are being shot with guns – not flags. Or the Holocaust for crying out loud and there are people who deny it ever happened. BUT all this said… taking a step back and considering WE, the United States of America, are a nation that invented The Trail of Tears – I really have a hard time seeing an end to this madness. Humans are going to rape and murder each other, namely men, until the end of time – no matter what laws are in place. It’s been happening for eons. It’s nothing new. What’s new is we see so much of it happening live on television – it makes it our own personal reality as opposed to reading about it in the Newspaper and thinking “oh that happened there.” … it happens in our living rooms and offices at work.
And on that note… MCV always and forever, and keep on keeping on Susan… you’re one of the best of the best. There’s nothing funny about yesterday and lives are devastated and we’re all affected by having to watch it whether we wanted to or not (I didn’t want to – it auto-played and I was left stunned and sick) … but we all just keep living because that’s what we have to do. Thank you for not blaming mentally ill people for this tragedy which perpetuates the stigma surrounding our brain’s health and well-being… which perpetuates people not seeking help. Most people suffering from mental health issues are more likely to hurt themselves. [END OF RANT]