Blacksburg, Day 3: Pictures and things [images]

As I look at the photos of the victims of Monday's tragedy, I'm filled with sadness. But I'm also filled with pride: Ours is a rich and diverse campus, and our lives here at Virginia Tech are enriched every day for the wealth of international opinion and perspectives represented in our community. These thirty-two randomly-selected victims represent five continents.

In the photos that follow, I've tried not to make people the focus of the photos, out of respect for their privacy. You've seen plenty of hugging and crying students already on television. There are, unavoidably, people in the photos, but they're not photos of people. I'm trying to show other ways that this story has left a mark on our campus.

(These images are clickable thumbnails.)

• Despite experiencing snow flurries on campus on Monday -- caught in the footage from that day's news, the weather today is much more spring-like and seasonable:

  

• Many of the businesses around town are displaying signs like these, letting the campus know that the whole town shares in their loss:

         

• On campus, we have these concrete posts along the sidewalks on campus, intended to protect pedestrians by keeping cars off of them.  Around Norris Hall, these posts were sawed down in order to allow ambulances to get closer to the building.

  

• The building itself is still sealed off by police tape, and surrounded by police cars.  A window on the second floor is broken, but you probably can't tell it in this picture.    

   

• Dorms, which used to be open-access during the day, are now restricted 24 hours a day by electronic ID swipe.  The sign reads, "The building is on card access indefinitely.  DO NOT allow people to follow you in."
• Media are still crawling all over the campus, emboldened by today's news about Cho Seung-Hui.  We faculty are getting e-mails from higher-ups telling us to get "clearance" before talking to them.  

  

  I'll point out that orange and maroon ribbons are wrapped around just about every tree on campus.  The trees in the immediate vicinity of Norris and Ambler-Johnston Halls sport black ribbons.  The trees inside the police-taped-off area don't have any ribbons, though, which makes me think this was a student effort, and not an official action on the part of the university.

• Not everyone is happy with the continued media presence, depriving our campus of a chance to heal and return to normalcy.  (I bet you won't see THIS on CNN...)  

  

• On the campus Drillfield, folks are signing 3-by-6 foot wooden planks with messages.  It's not clear where these planks will end up.  The second picture is a detail from one of these planks; students from nearby campuses are signing them as well.  Schools more distant are sending cards and posters with signatures.

             

• Elsewhere on campus, other spontaneous memorials are popping up.    The first picture is of one of the earliest; the second picture shows 32 stones arranged in a semi-circle.  

         

• Inside the buildings, students and faculty are using their doors to express support.