The Arc of Her Survival
April 12, 2017 12:32 PM Subscribe
A decade ago, Kristina Anderson was shot while in her French class at Virginia Tech, during a morning when a troubled student killed 32 people and wounded 17.
These days she describes her experience, in city after city, giving presentations about school and workplace safety. She did 86 last year. It’s a job, a way of reshaping the meaning of that terrible day again and again. Survival, she’s still learning, isn’t a one-time thing, a seam stitched and then forgotten.
These days she describes her experience, in city after city, giving presentations about school and workplace safety. She did 86 last year. It’s a job, a way of reshaping the meaning of that terrible day again and again. Survival, she’s still learning, isn’t a one-time thing, a seam stitched and then forgotten.
"You wake up and you decide the world is good."
That's the part where I had to take a walk around the block so I didn't cry at my desk.
posted by lumpenprole at 3:21 PM on April 12, 2017 [6 favorites]
That's the part where I had to take a walk around the block so I didn't cry at my desk.
posted by lumpenprole at 3:21 PM on April 12, 2017 [6 favorites]
I can't believe it's been ten years.
posted by joycehealy at 4:13 PM on April 12, 2017 [12 favorites]
posted by joycehealy at 4:13 PM on April 12, 2017 [12 favorites]
I remember where I was when this happened, probably because I knew people in high school who were Virginia Tech students at the time. None of them were in the classroom at the time, but I wonder how it affected them. The ways in which these kinds of traumas affect us can be so subtle.
I am a PhD student at a university that had a shooting in recent memory; it happened before I began my studies here. Every year around the same time, the same tributes go up.
It echoes even to those of us who weren't on campus when it happened. One day can have ripples for years.
posted by actionpotential at 7:23 PM on April 12, 2017 [2 favorites]
I am a PhD student at a university that had a shooting in recent memory; it happened before I began my studies here. Every year around the same time, the same tributes go up.
It echoes even to those of us who weren't on campus when it happened. One day can have ripples for years.
posted by actionpotential at 7:23 PM on April 12, 2017 [2 favorites]
That was a very touching piece--what a strong woman and what a long healing process. She must think every day about how she and her friend almost skipped class that day, but decided not to at the last minute.
I teach at a college, and I remember finding out about the Virginia Tech shooting from my office mate. She read me the breaking news headline from the CBC website and we just sat there silently afterward, imagining what it must have been like for those students and professors. I can't believe it's been ten years.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 7:42 PM on April 12, 2017
I teach at a college, and I remember finding out about the Virginia Tech shooting from my office mate. She read me the breaking news headline from the CBC website and we just sat there silently afterward, imagining what it must have been like for those students and professors. I can't believe it's been ten years.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 7:42 PM on April 12, 2017
I posted this to facebook and a friend said they'd heard her speak as she's as powerful as the article makes it sound.
I love that she's weaved a more beautiful mandala out of this crap sandwich than I could ever hope to. I more feverishly hate the fact that she has so much call for her insights.
Also, I cannot express how much I hope the media continues to the nameless shooter thing. All the coverage of "Blahde Blah Shooty McAssholersian" reinforces the legs of "feel my pain", "remember my name". Look, we failed those people by not recognizing their pain, but that's a far cry different than the failure to pull a gun to express your anguish.
But human preference to negativity causes us to forget that the majority of people suffering find a way to heal or muddle through or at worst, self harm.
posted by drewbage1847 at 9:32 PM on April 12, 2017 [2 favorites]
I love that she's weaved a more beautiful mandala out of this crap sandwich than I could ever hope to. I more feverishly hate the fact that she has so much call for her insights.
Also, I cannot express how much I hope the media continues to the nameless shooter thing. All the coverage of "Blahde Blah Shooty McAssholersian" reinforces the legs of "feel my pain", "remember my name". Look, we failed those people by not recognizing their pain, but that's a far cry different than the failure to pull a gun to express your anguish.
But human preference to negativity causes us to forget that the majority of people suffering find a way to heal or muddle through or at worst, self harm.
posted by drewbage1847 at 9:32 PM on April 12, 2017 [2 favorites]
I was a senior at Virginia Tech when the shooting occurred. Fortunately I was not on campus at the time, but it was a horrible, horrible time. Even though I was relatively unaffected in any direct way, the trauma hit the entire community very hard. Not everyone knew someone who was shot, but I think everyone knew someone who knew someone who was.
It's had echoes for me that I'm still discovering and processing. A couple of years ago, at a completely different university, I attended a talk which happened to be held in the Modern Languages department's building. As I was walking through the building to the lecture room, I started feeling a tremendous anxiety, and I had no idea why. It took me some time to recognize that I was suddenly thinking about the April 16 shooting, presumably because Tech's foreign languages department was so heavily affected. If those kinds of unexpected psychological effects of past trauma are still impacting me, I can only imagine what it must be for those who survived being in Norris hall that day.
I only knew one person who was killed on April 16, and I didn't know her well. Maxine dated a good friend and roommate of mine. She was generally quiet, shy-seeming, but nice. Even though I didn't know her well, it was nice having her around. She would have been in her early thirties now. I wonder what she would have done with her life, whose lives she would have touched, how she would have used her education to make the world better for herself and for those around her. She would have been someone worth knowing better, I think.
The anniversary is difficult every year.
posted by biogeo at 9:48 PM on April 12, 2017 [16 favorites]
It's had echoes for me that I'm still discovering and processing. A couple of years ago, at a completely different university, I attended a talk which happened to be held in the Modern Languages department's building. As I was walking through the building to the lecture room, I started feeling a tremendous anxiety, and I had no idea why. It took me some time to recognize that I was suddenly thinking about the April 16 shooting, presumably because Tech's foreign languages department was so heavily affected. If those kinds of unexpected psychological effects of past trauma are still impacting me, I can only imagine what it must be for those who survived being in Norris hall that day.
I only knew one person who was killed on April 16, and I didn't know her well. Maxine dated a good friend and roommate of mine. She was generally quiet, shy-seeming, but nice. Even though I didn't know her well, it was nice having her around. She would have been in her early thirties now. I wonder what she would have done with her life, whose lives she would have touched, how she would have used her education to make the world better for herself and for those around her. She would have been someone worth knowing better, I think.
The anniversary is difficult every year.
posted by biogeo at 9:48 PM on April 12, 2017 [16 favorites]
Very good article. Thanks for posting.
posted by vignettist at 1:03 PM on April 13, 2017
posted by vignettist at 1:03 PM on April 13, 2017
thanks very much for this link. I'm cowed by her strength and vulnerability (strength through vulnerability?), and by her straightforward empathic approach.
sometimes I worry as there are more and more traumatic news events, that anniversaries, remembrances, and deeper understanding of the myriad reverberations -- and underlying contributing factors -- get buried or sit unwitnessed by those who weren't immediately/directly affected. (at least Metafilter is here to catch them...)
biogeo, I was in a few classes and extracurriculars (theater crew, etc.) with Maxine from grades 8-12. a supremely awkward, silent, and angsty half-decade for me, but through it all Max consistently stood out as true blue. she was sunny, proudly nerdy (and well-adjusted), a string player, a tough cookie, and genuinely one of those people who could be friendly with anyone. we weren't close, but it was a real relief to have her in the same room.
I have to stop here.
posted by cluebucket at 5:06 PM on April 13, 2017 [4 favorites]
sometimes I worry as there are more and more traumatic news events, that anniversaries, remembrances, and deeper understanding of the myriad reverberations -- and underlying contributing factors -- get buried or sit unwitnessed by those who weren't immediately/directly affected. (at least Metafilter is here to catch them...)
biogeo, I was in a few classes and extracurriculars (theater crew, etc.) with Maxine from grades 8-12. a supremely awkward, silent, and angsty half-decade for me, but through it all Max consistently stood out as true blue. she was sunny, proudly nerdy (and well-adjusted), a string player, a tough cookie, and genuinely one of those people who could be friendly with anyone. we weren't close, but it was a real relief to have her in the same room.
I have to stop here.
posted by cluebucket at 5:06 PM on April 13, 2017 [4 favorites]
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