We, like most of the country, have been enthralled and horrified by the Virginia Tech tragedy for the past 2 days. Now that all the details are coming out it's got me thinking about the strange kids. You know, the kinda smelly ones. Every grade school had that kid with the home-given haircuts who ate glue, sometimes soiled himself, and had to take Ritalin. By high school he/she would have hopefully formed some alternate identity; being a goth or a hippie or hacker would fit him in to a group, give him a group of weirdos to hang with. (Click that link, really) And that was fine too because you didn't have to hang out with him or feel sorry for him. He had his loser crew. Sometimes they would stare at you a little too long in the cafeteria, and he bumped into you in the hallway and may have pulled a hair out of your head the other day, but overall he's harmless.
But then comes college, and the epitome of slum-life: the college dorm. Hotties, studious dorks, skanks, drunks, potheads, athletes, and smelly kids all forced to live together in one shithole tower. Every dorm floor had at least one; my beloved Harrison Hall floor 8 had the girl who wore Eagle/lighting bolt tshirts and had half her hair cut into bangs. But the worst she ever did was pick up men on the internet and not wash her bedding all semester (including after a period mishap). I didn't have to live with her, but her roommate threatened our RA that she would drop out if she didn't get moved, and eventually Smelly Girl had her own spacious 12x15 cinder block cell.
The roommates and teachers of Virginia Tech shooter Cho Seung-Hui are now coming forward with stories of a very troubled, angry little stalker. One professor said 'I would have been shocked' if it wasn't him. They saw the warning signs, reported him to RAs and the police, but it wasn't enough. And what more can you do? We all are trained to take note of people who act curiously, report their odd behavior to those in charge, but then what happens?
Not sure where to go with this... I need to get back to carefully assessing/staring harshly at the creepy guy at work.
Cho's Myspace
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