Liviu Librescu

Small problems and a big tragedy

Art cobbled together with elements from'' Elegy III, oil on canvas by Samuel Bak, 1997,  and Layne Kennedy's "Bullet Ridden Road Sign". Saturday night me and the MoSup were returning from an art show that number one son had in D.C.  Already soaked after bad directions caused us to do a  walking tour in the rain of  Dumbarton Oaks, we looked forward to getting home.  The windows were a bit foggy and I hit a curb at Washington Circle  Blowout.  Left front tire.  Did I say it was raining?  And dark?  Drilled as I am for emergencies, it took just a few minutes to find the owner's manual.  Needed that to find out wtf the spare tire was hidden.  I knew it dropped from under the car, and even found a likely looking nut under the carpet, but couldn't find the wrench to loosen it, or the jack.  And what if the spare was flat?  I hadn't experienced a flat tire in maybe 20 years.  So there's MoSup reading me the directions, and I find it, and blah-blah- blah.  A young Black woman, an angel - who I take it worked at GW Hospital just down the street because she was dressed in whites, saw our predicament (''I almost hit you'') and circled back to deploy a blocking action with her car.  I regret I didn't get her name.  I love her.  So does MoSup. We got home.  And this is why I told you that.  Yesterday I took the car to the tire place, and had a new one installed.  It took about an hour, so I watched the Virginia Tech convocation in the waiting room. The President and Laura arrived, and Charles Gibson, amazingly, noted it by saying of Bush, "he's a man who always likes to give to people." Oh, ABC must have rerun that tape of the fat cop responding at least a half dozen times. I've now seen it as many times as I saw Rodney King being pummeled after he attacked the police.  I think I can figure out what the message was supposed to be (local yokels . etc.). Poor guy will be doing forced workouts for a year. When they began to show pictures of the murdered students and teachers there were gasps heard from around the dingy waiting room.  Makes things personal. When a close shaved (I will not say 'nappy')  bleached blonde haired Afro American "Poetess" was announced, I smelled a Maya Angelou moment coming (affected psycho babble). But no, she was quite good, and forcefully celebrated the strength of the VT community. I liked it. Clap*clap*clap. The sigh of relief was palpable from President Charles Steger when he was announced without hearing boos and catcalls.  That, after all, is what the media have been rabble rousing for.  Instead, he was given hearty applause by the assembled multitude.  Later I saw a Fox News crawl that made note of this (''Despite criticism over his questionable response, Tech president given standing O" ).  But, they won't give up.  Steger will resign, I predict, withing a month after they finish with him. I didn't mind that Tech thought it appropriate to hear from clergy.  We got a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Jew, and a very new age Christian minister who, in a campus that I'll guess is 99.8 Christian, if anything, felt it would be provocative to mention the name Jesus Christ.  At least Tom Cruise was shut out. One honest to god real hero in this tragedy is Professor Liviu Librescu.  The man who threw his body against the classroom door so students would have time to jump out windows.  He was riddled with bullets, but his kids got out.  This morning Pittsburgh radio show host Jim Quinn suggested that the class room door should be bronzed, bullet holes and all, with  Librescu's bronzed image leaning against it.  The statue would be displayed for all time on the Tech campus, as testament to man's better nature in times of adversity.  What a wonderful idea. Today I've heard this news item three times. "University of Miami President, and former Clinton Cabinet member Donna Shalala said  'The massacre at Virginia Tech spoils the college atmosphere.' "  I'm not making that up.  The Donna, who is positioning herself for a return to a new Clinton administration,  added that "she would have locked down the University of Miami immediately,'' if the shooting had occurred there.  STFU Shalala.  You are one of the ugly parts of this story