Uncomfortably numb

I was at work on Thursday - Valentine's Day - when the CNN News Alert popped into my inbox. It was about a school shooting, and, shamefully, I almost deleted it without reading any further. Because, well, because it was "just another school shooting."

As I was about to put my finger on the delete key, it caught my eye. The name of the school. Northern Illinois University. A chill ran through me. Between 1991 and 1994, NIU was my home. It was the place I learned to be the lawyer I am today.

The sad thing is, I wouldn't have read any further if I hadn't seen the name of the school on that CNN News Alert. I'm afraid we've become uncomfortably numb to tragedy.

Maybe we just don't want to believe that it can happen.

But the reality is that it does, and that it's happening more and more.

Just 12 days before the killings at NIU, 5 women were shot to death in a mall in Tinley Park, Illinois. Not far from where I grew up. One of the victims was a counselor from Homewood-Flossmoor High School. My high school.

Two mass murders, less than two weeks apart. Too close to home. Too many lives ended much too soon.

I don't know what is happening in this world, but these kinds of things just didn't happen when I was a kid. Kids didn't walk into classrooms and start shooting.

I don't know why we, as a nation, aren't talking about it. My guess is that the reason is the same reason I almost deleted that CNN News Alert. We've become numb to it. Uncomfortably numb.

I can honestly, and, shamefully, say that I didn't feel the same way about Columbine and Virginia Tech as I do about Northern Illinois University. Because I didn't have a connection with them. I shook my head in disbelief, sure. But I wasn't shaken by them. Not the way I'm shaken now.

We've got to wake up to it. There needs to be a national dialogue on it. We can't treat these as individual cases. Not any more. It's a systemic problem that needs to be addressed, the same way that we came together after 9/11 to address terrorism. We can't hide and pretend it's going away. I wish that it would, but I don't believe that any more.

I never thought I'd see the day that one of the schools I attended would be one of "those" schools, that it would forevermore share a tragic link to those "other" schools. Columbine and Virginia Tech. Now you can add Northern Illinois University. It is one of "those" schools.

How sad. How very, very sad.

One Super Tuesday

There was a historic primary election today, I'm sure you've heard. Twenty-two states making their choices for the next president. But don't be fooled by the title of this journal entry. It has nothing at all to do with politics.

It's about the publishing game and my own personal Super Tuesday.

The publishing game is like a rollercoaster. Big ups and big downs. And a long waiting line for your ride.

Waiting to hear if you're good enough. Did the magazine accept my article? Does the agent want my manuscript? Did my story make the cut?

Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.

More times than we like to admit, the waiting doesn't pay off. I've had my share of those big downs.

Still we get back in line and wait. Why? Because we want those big ups.

And sometimes the stars align just write, er, right. Today was one of those days for me.

It started with an email announcing that my story, "Recharging an Old Battery," has been accepted for publication in the book "Humor for a Boomer's Heart" (Howard Publishing, October 2008).

Then I came home to a letter from the folks at Chicken Soup for the Soul announcing that two of my stories, "Stroller Derby Season" and "Kids and Grown-Ups: Different as Knight and Day," have been selected to appear in "Chicken Soup for the Father and Son Soul," due out in bookstores next month. You can pre-order on Amazon now.

Three stories. Two books. Months and months of waiting. Two big ups in one Super Tuesday.

Excuse me if I raise my arms and scream at the top of my lungs. This time the waits were worth it.

Update on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 08:41PM by Randy Richardson

Hey, it's not going to be out until October, but you can now also pre-order "Humor for the Boomer's Heart."

Snowfall Effect

I updated the Snowfall Effect Picture Gallery today.

Had to do it, after visiting the "Museum of Modern Ice" at Chicago's Millennium Park and then building a snowknight on the rooftop. All before Super Bowl kickoff.

Groundhog Day 2008

I woke to a blanket of snow on January 1, 2008 (see my last post, New Year's Day, of 1 month ago). 

I woke to a blanket of snow on February 1, 2008 (see my new Picture Gallery, Snowfall Effect).

Sort of like I'm reliving the same day over and over again. Could it just be pure coincidence that today is Groundhog Day? Just asking. 

New Year's Day 2008

A lot of people don't believe Chicago has beaches. It does. They're just painted with a fresh coat of snow right now.

See for yourself, in this Picture Gallery I created of images captured on New Year's Day morning not too far from where I live.