Our Hearts Are with the Huskies
Unless you're in outer space or a cave, you've no doubt heard what transpired yesterday at Northern Illinois University. No need to summarize it here as the news is all over the Web.
The shootings have impacted me in a couple of ways. First of all, I'm currently a graduate student in the communication program at NIU and walk by Cole Hall all the time. It' s right near Reavis and Du Sable Halls, where the journalism and communcation classes are held.
Secondly, the hospital in Rockford where I work is treating one of the victims, who arrived by helicopter last night right before 8 p.m. So, it was a crazy night and early morning dealing with media calls from across the country. The amount of misinformation that flows during a situation like this is readily apparent when you are personally involved in it. Fortunately, our patient is doing well. It's been a challenge, though, to protect his privacy from the prying eyes of the media.
Dealing with the situation on a professional level meant that it wasn't really until this morning that what had happened yesterday really hit me on a personal level. My family has a long history and relationship with NIU and DeKalb. My father has an undergraduate degree from NIU and my wife earned her master's in physical therapy from Northern. My grandmother has lived in DeKalb as long as I've been alive and my parents now live in Sycamore, DeKalb's next-door neighbor.
The DeKalb/Sycamore area is a sleepy little town dominated fairly well by the university. And, the region sits smack dab in the middle of the some of the most fertile farmland in the country. From the air, I'm fairly certain that its footprint among the cornfields is like Las Vegas in the desert. It's quiet in the summer, as college towns usually are, but hums with activity during the school year. In short, a nice town in which to live and go to school.
Never really dreamed that that quiet town amidst the corn fields would become the center of national media attention. And for all the wrong reasons. . .
The shootings have impacted me in a couple of ways. First of all, I'm currently a graduate student in the communication program at NIU and walk by Cole Hall all the time. It' s right near Reavis and Du Sable Halls, where the journalism and communcation classes are held.
Secondly, the hospital in Rockford where I work is treating one of the victims, who arrived by helicopter last night right before 8 p.m. So, it was a crazy night and early morning dealing with media calls from across the country. The amount of misinformation that flows during a situation like this is readily apparent when you are personally involved in it. Fortunately, our patient is doing well. It's been a challenge, though, to protect his privacy from the prying eyes of the media.
Dealing with the situation on a professional level meant that it wasn't really until this morning that what had happened yesterday really hit me on a personal level. My family has a long history and relationship with NIU and DeKalb. My father has an undergraduate degree from NIU and my wife earned her master's in physical therapy from Northern. My grandmother has lived in DeKalb as long as I've been alive and my parents now live in Sycamore, DeKalb's next-door neighbor.
The DeKalb/Sycamore area is a sleepy little town dominated fairly well by the university. And, the region sits smack dab in the middle of the some of the most fertile farmland in the country. From the air, I'm fairly certain that its footprint among the cornfields is like Las Vegas in the desert. It's quiet in the summer, as college towns usually are, but hums with activity during the school year. In short, a nice town in which to live and go to school.
Never really dreamed that that quiet town amidst the corn fields would become the center of national media attention. And for all the wrong reasons. . .
posted by W.S. Wuori at 2:54 PM
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