I love my school, I love my college town, I love my country, even though they are all a mess.
I woke up to the bad news on CNN in my hotel room in Guangzhou. Strange thing is, that night I was in a deep sleep and dreamed of an old college friend I hadn't heard from in years. When I heard the news I was stunned that this horrific event happened in my college town. Suddenly the international spotlight was on Tucson, and I'm sad that it will be remembered for this. It's 2011 and us Americans are still cowboys to the rest of the world.
I watched the memorial from my computer at work and I was flooded with emotion. UA + USA is obviously a recipe to make my stone heart bleed. The site of the memorial, McKale Center, is where I graduated from 10 years ago this year. I know in a few minutes the solidarity and sadness will fade, and we'll go back to our frivolous first world problems. I hope that hard times in America will make us stronger, but there's a lot of hate out there right now. This isn't about guns or politics. This is about accountability and responsibility for ourselves and others. We just have to do better.
All of us, we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children's expectations.
You've been on my mind a lot, Tucson. Keep your head up.
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