I should probably say something about the recent shootings in Moscow. On the heels of a student murder less than two months ago, everything just seems a little surreal. As if this little, rather bucolic town had been plopped straight into some sort of Hollywood horror movie. Earlier that day (a gorgeous Saturday), I had gone downtown to do some errands--and I saw a huge gaggle of children out on a field trip with their adult guardians. At the time, I certainly didn't think that that evening, someone would start raining bullets at that very spot.
Another student mused if this would scare parents--that they would start pulling their kids from attending the coming year. I don't know. I wouldn't fault a non-resident from thinking that perhaps this place is a hotbed for homicidal maniacs. Violence scares people. But is it really different from any other place? Bad things happen everywhere.
