It's so ... strange. When I first heard about it, there were only 2 dead. I got in the shower, thinking about Columbine and thinking that thank God this wasn't as bad. Then I got out of the shower and I had a text from the girl I finished doing my pre-student teaching with saying to turn on CNN and I did and ... my God.

An entire class?

Oh god, that town is going to be devastated. The survivors are going to go to school in that town are always going to be reminded, because there is always going to be a grade that is too small...

I am watching MSNBC right now. they are reporting the gunman started at the principal's office and then went to his mother's classroom and killed his mother and targeted the children in the classroom.

It is not clear he killed all the kids in the classroom, but that's who seemed to get the worst of it.

It's so strange, you can see his FB page.

There are his college buddies and video of them fucking around.

And if you're a reporter you can just go down his long friends list and start fishing for an interview.

He was a fan of local Quinnipiac Community Theater and Guns and Roses and playing Mass Effect.

I am actively dreading school pickup today because of the other parents who are going to be freaking out and wanting to talk about it. I don;t want to talk about it with them! I want to talk about it with you guys!

Also, Casper at least is old enough that even if we skip NPR tonight she will hear about it from friends. Which means I have to talk to her about it. Ugh. She is at that age where she is starting to realize there are horrible things in the world, and it kills me. I remember that realization myself, and frankly I am not over it yet.

David, just FYI, I have seen reports that there is a Facebook page of a different guy with the same name that some people are taking for the shooter's.

I headed to the Salt Lake Tribune and knowingly dived into the comments on the story. The Trib is the local "liberal" paper, and I use it for a gauge of what passes for reasonable thought around here. there are the usual "If the teachers were armed!" and such comments, but a lot of gun owners are saying "Maybe it is too easy for people to get guns" and "Why is this worse in America when everyone in Switzerland has guns too?"

One person said "It's not gun control we need, it's mental health control", which is a glib way of saying what I'm thinking. Not enough people get the help they need, and too many people refuse to admit they need help. Then they get angry at the world, then they reach for their gun.

Thankfully, most people are jumping down the throats of those advocating for armed citizens who can return fire in cases like this. More people are saying "Yeah, right, untrained people who are scared to death are going to start throwing more bullets around, that's going to improve the situation."

That said, I'm not going just yet over to the comments on the conservative papers. Though there may be some very shaken people over there, as well.

Also, Casper at least is old enough that even if we skip NPR tonight she will hear about it from friends. Which means I have to talk to her about it. Ugh.

I'm dreading that one too.

mac is going to be freaked the fuck out. and last night was the first night in months that he went to bed without me in the room. of course, tonight I am just as likely to want to snuggle him, so no real problem.

I don;t want to talk about it with them! I want to talk about it with you guys!

Hopefully "let's not talk about this in front of the kids" will keep them at bay.