Lots to think about today, particularly around Newtown. The thoughts are distinct though the emotion is singular: overwhelming sadness and frustration --not separate but singular.
1. In the context of The Actual Dance, my show The Actual Dance, I have written a poem about The Actual Dance that the parents or siblings of those murdered that day must dance. Go to the web site www.theactualdance.com and click on the Poetry and click on the Poem "Hollow"
2. In the context the "response" -- It is a seriously frustrating and sad phenomena that our country is stuck the mud and unwilling and unable to address the existential evil of guns. They should be as licensed (if not more so) as cars and the clearance process to own one should be no less stringent and renewable as a drivers license. DMV is going to make sure I'm not blind, that I am literate, and have the basic coordination to drive a car. I can be mad, stupid and unable to aim straight, but I can own a guns, any type of gun.
3. Finally, who are we and what are we doing? I saw on a TV news show a school going through and active shooter drill. The TV reporter was praising how well it was done and how strong the training was. Perhaps prescient in relation to what happened yesterday in Colorado. Yet, I remember when I was kid what we did that looked and felt so similar to the threat of our day: Nuclear Attack Drills. We were taught to not look out the windows, get into the center of the room and crunch under our desks. There would be periodic unannounced "drills." 65 years later the drill is the same, roughly, the danger is random acts of violence. It is the levels of security we are super-imposing over our kids and school systems when the real problem is the guns. And maybe too the culture that continues to glorify and promote violence as a solution to an personal problem.
There you go. I feel so much better now, sigh.