Newtown Tragedy Horrifies and Enrages Fordham Graduate Students

     When I learned on Friday afternoon about the horrifying school shooting that had taken place that morning, I was in the staff lunchroom in the high school where I work in the afternoons. I was actually writing a post for this blog, about a new dating website for graduates called "Gradhearts." I quickly scrapped that post, for obvious reasons, and began to read about the event on the internet.
      It was hard to not to be viscerally affected by the news -- with laughing students milling around in the school library just yards away from me, and having recently just practiced the shooter on the premises lockdown drill in this school, all of the teachers and staff in the lunchroom were barely able to speak, choking back tears.
      Later in the day, as information unfolded about what exactly happened, and how and why it could have happened, the GSAS community began to respond to the shooting via social media. The response was, at first, to express shock, sadness, and bewilderment. Most everyone used words like "unspeakable," "unfathomable," and "incomprehensible," in their responses on Friday. Many, including me, had an extremely physical reaction, feeling sickened, nauseous, ill, and/or shaky.
     That day, Father McShane released the following statement:

Dear Members of the Fordham Family,
Our hearts are broken today by the senseless killing of children and adults—we are not yet sure of how many—at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.
Words like horror and tragedy almost lose their meaning in the face of such loss. The pain and sorrow of the victims’ families is unimaginable, and must be nearly unendurable.
I know you all join with me in prayer for the souls of those who were killed, and for their loved ones, whose mourning is only beginning. Keep the grief-struck families in your hearts, and pray, too, for the healing of their community, and this nation, from this most grievous wound.
Sincerely,
Joseph M. McShane, S.J.

     As the weekend wore on, more of us began to come to terms with how we felt about this massacre: enraged, furious, saddened, heartbroken, fed up, disgusted. More of us began speaking out on social media, together working through the arguments and ideas about gun control, the Second Amendment, mental illness, mental healthcare, violence, media coverage, American cultural values, and even religion, God, and faith.
     Tonight, President Obama spoke at an interfaith memorial service and prayer vigil for the victims, delivering a moving and inspiring speech calling for change. Many of us are now responding to this speech, too, searching for a way to make meaning out of the senseless horror.
     As a community, I know we will continue to discuss this, and I hope we will not only keep the conversation going but also be moved to action. I hope the GSAS family can contribute positively and constructively to this call for change in our social policies and cultural values. I give all my love, thoughts, prayers, and hope to the families and community members affected by this tragedy.
     The faces of the 6 and 7 year olds who died, and the faces of the teachers who died trying to protect them, are flashing now on my TV screen. It is too sad. I try to think about their families and I get sick again.
     I try to think about the survivors -- the children and teachers who were in the next room, or the room down the hallway, as their friends and classmates and co-workers were murdered. I am heartbroken for them, too.
    My job at the high school I mentioned above is to provide academic and behavioral support to one of my students with autism. I feel deeply, too, for him, hoping that the emerging coverage related to this tragedy about Autism Spectrum Disorder-- the disorder that makes his life so much harder than his friends' lives --  won't make people afraid of him or others who also struggle with it.
    More to say, of course... but for now, good night. -- Liza

From Tragedy to Knowledge, From Darkness to Light

Hello GSAS students and friends,
    This week the mass-shooting in Colorado has both saddened and unnerved me. While my heart goes out to the survivors and the families of the victims who are enduring this terrifying and life-altering tragedy -- as my tears fall while I hear fathers, mothers, daughters, sons, sisters, and brothers talk of the loved ones they lost --  my intellectual side simultaneously has been tossing and turning over the cultural and social implications of this horror that need not have happened. Since the event, I have thinking about how graduate study and scholarship might be useful in shedding light on this tragedy and perhaps preventing future ones. To me, if graduate study can’t be used to helped improve society in some way and make the world a better place, it shouldn’t even exist.
   Here are some seeds of scholarship that might be cultivated by those within academia and brought to bear on the public consciousness.

1.)    Studies in sociology, political science, and law on gun control and policy. Can scholars and academics study this issue so that politicians can stop saying, “We need more studies on how gun control laws would actually impact these kinds of events.” A certain politician has said that he didn't think any particular law would prevent people who are intent on doing harm from carrying out their harm -- is this true? What basis is this claim made from? I'd like to see some scholarly discussion on this so that we as a society have some real basis from which to draw our conclusions.

2.)    Studies in poli/sci and American Studies Programs and American History on the 2nd amendment – how can we make the public more aware and in touch with the origin, purpose, and effects of this amendment? What is, actually, the right to keep and bear arms, and why do we have it, who and what does it protect, and what does it mean for a society, and how can we view this right in light of 21st century advancements in both ethics and technology? Instead of just reflexively saying, “We need to protect the second amendment,” let’s strive to increase an awareness about what it really is. Let’s open a conversation about this right of ours, and make the conversation more accessible to all. The effects of this amendment, or right, have a bearing on our lives whether we want it to or not. We need to become more familiar with our rights and why we have them. Graduate and academic conversations can be a starting point for getting this conversation into the public consciousness.

3.)   Studies to increase awareness of and education about mental illness, mental disturbances, and mental health. Academics have to research more about the relationship between our societal choices and values and the state of our individual and collective mental health. What can we do to nurture our psyches, and what can we do to prevent our psyches from becoming diseased, disordered, and disconnected from reality?

These are just some preliminary thoughts about what discussions must, I believe, begin to rise up out of the horror and pain of this needless tragedy. Again, my thoughts and love are with the survivors, the victims, and family and friends whose lives were all changed forever on July 20th.
Until next time, Liza