I understand that school systems all over the country are trying to fight back, but this could be a little overboard.

There used to be a point where teachers were a source of knowledge and wisdom that transcended their role of disciplinarian. Now, teachers are more sex crazed and mentally unbalanced than half the students out there!

In case you haven’t heard, in Murfreesboro, TN, a group of teachers turned an elementary school class trip into an episode of 24. These models for academia, yelled out to the scared 6th grade children, that this was not a test, and that they need to hide under anything they could find. Furthermore, these teachers never even informed any parents or chaperones of their planned festivities. To add the realistic allure of the shake-down, 2 teachers branded real unloaded handguns. Luckily, the Assistant Principal was in on it and thought it would be a learning experience.

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I think we’re all at a point in our lives where an instant without our beloved cell pieces gives us some serious anxiety. I mean, what if that cute guy from my senior seminar sends me a text? I’d totally die if I missed him. Or what if there’s an insanely funny photo op and I can’t whip out my camera phone? That would suck. But what if, I reallllly needed to get in touch with someone in an emergency?

Obviously, every student on Virgina Tech’s campus had their trusty Motorola’s, LG’s and Samsung’s on hand Monday. Victims were able to warn fellow students of the shooter, his location, his appearace … They were even able to contact their parents and friends to say goodbye, or alert them to the fortunate fact that they were okay. And some even took the time to take camera pics and videos of what was going down. Read More »

We’ve all created groups on facebook for various reasons — boredom, procrastination, humor… But yesterday, many of us took the time to dedicate our groups to something serious, something real — the horrific, sad, scary shooting at Virgina Tech.

I heard what happened on the news yesterday. I was shocked. But I can’t say what happened to those poor, unsuspecting students hit me until this morning when I saw the many V-Tech memorial groups on facebook. I saw pictures of the actual students who were shot and killed having fun with their friends, enjoying college, living a carefree life like the rest of us. I read other students’ comments from other schools and felt the sympathy and sadness in their words.

Check out the links to the memorial pages. Read More »

As the horrific events transpired today in Blackburg, Virginia, students, faculty and family members at Virginia Tech found themselves in an unfathomable position- searching for information about the shooting, the shooter and the condition of their classmates, loved ones and friends. The answers just don’t come quick enough as they wait painfully for any information concerning the who, what, where when and why.

As the 24 hour news stations recycle the same 5 minutes of available information, the people of VTech have turned to Facebook in effort to assemble the pieces for themselves. Students are sharing first hand accounts, overheard stories, and names of potential victims- providing them with unprecidented access to information that until now has only been available to the authorities.

In addition, new profiles and groups are rapidly appearing on the site offering condolences and prayers from students around the country. Facebook has become much more than a place to find a “hook-up” or a kegger, but rather a virtual townhall for the VTech communtity to begin a dialog and somehow find a way to pick up the pieces.

Below are some of the Facebook profiles created today:

Extending Our Greatest Sympathies to VTech.

This must stop.

Always Remember Virginia Tech.

According to the Chicago Sun Times and Fox News, the shooter was an Asian National, in the US on a student visa. Unfortunately, in typical new media fashion, they soaked the wrong person’s name, Facebook and MySpace page ALL OVER THE NEWS. If I had not seen it, I wouldn’t have believed it. They pasted his name, bashed him, and then went, “Oh…uh…our bad, we have just been notified this person is still alive and was not involved in the shooting.” They think they have the right name now, but we will see over the next couple of hours.

…OK…time to slow down people. If we have learned ANYTHING as Americans and our global media machine, it is that we cannot rush to media bash innocent-till-proven-guilty people until we have some shred of proof. Then again, I am actually WATCHING Geraldo re-showing his MySpace page to show WHY they thought it was him. In good conscience, I will not link you to it but I am sure by tomorrow we will all know.

Regardless, we know it was 1 guy with a gun and a lot of bullets. There are more comments and updates from people all over the country on Bloomberg. com.

The truth right now is, no one knows why the hell anyone would do this or who this person is. They are assuming that the same person who shot at the dorm in the morning, is the same one who shot up the classrooms. (It seems logical to me.)

However, witnesses have popped up who were in class where the shooting occured. He shot with no words, no comments, nothing. Read more

This person matched the description of the shooter, but was later released.

President Bush weighed in here and promised to help support the investigations in any way.

CNN posted a student video of the events (a little tasteless but they ARE the media).

MSNBC posted a map and timeline of the events.

The sad part is, while the news and every other TV station in the US was covering this – the students had very little information except for an email blast. That is crap. They blamed it on trying to keep students in the safest possible place. If I was a commuter student, the safest place is AT HOME – cancel class for F–KSAKE! But instead, more students were subjected to harm. Now, of course, there is a reasonable expectation – but call radio station, tell the news, do SOMETHING. But early in morning after it happened they thought it was an “isolated” situation.

The students disagree.

What do you think about the University’s decision?

Some sites like CollegeHumor have said that they will continue business as usual, and that’s ok. We, on the other hand, have made the decision to post some links to the most concise information we can find.

As this horrific story continues to unfold, here is what we know:

•2 shootings took place today on VTech campus – 2 hours apart

•atleast 32 students dead, including the gunman (not known if gunman is a student, described as Asian in mid 20’s)

•atleast 21 more injured

•2 – 9mm handguns retrieved from the scene

•all classes have been cancelled today and tomorrow

•President of Virginia Tech calls the shootings a “tragedy of monumental proportions”

•President Bush to address the nation at 4:15 e.

•declared deadliest mass shooting in US history

Click here from more information.

Stay tuned as this story develops.