I heard the news about Giffords and the other victims around noon. By the time various media were reporting that she wasn't dead after all, I had to pull myself away from the Google searches and Facebook updates. Rehearsal awaited.
The TV was on at Ron's house. We watched a little bit of the press conference as we set up. Not a lot that we hadn't heard already. The one bit of data I hadn't known before was that the shooting took place at the Safeway on Oracle, just north of Ina. I used to shop there all the time.
Ron turned the set off. I wished he hadn't done that, but wasn't sure why. They were repeating the same information at this point. If anything new surfaced, I could hear about it in a few hours. And after a bunch of rehearsals canceled due to illnesses and holidays, we really needed to play.
So, we played.
I asked Ron to turn the TV back on when we were done. Funny, that need to stay connected. It wasn't like I was going to rush out and DO something when I learned if Giffords was still alive, or the killer's name, or the exact death toll.
4 comments:
I heard about the shootings at noon as well (first on NPR). I listened to the news non-stop after that, and also kept checking online. It felt so surreal. Just so tragic and senseless.
There IS a need to stay connected in tragedies like this. I feel the same way.
The dust is settling, with Giffords doing better than I possibly would have expected, though the extent of damage isn't known. The nine-year-old getting killed still messes me up.
Almost makes me grateful that the Westboro Church (of "God hates fags" fame) has announced that they're going to picket the six funerals. No, I'm not kidding. There are already grassroots movements underway in Tucson to form a human barrier. I don't know if the grassroots thing will be necessary, as I've heard there will be a lot of security. But it might feel good to do SOMETHING.
I understand the sentiment. Most of the last few days have been spent glued to the TV or internet. I don't know why that connection is so important to us, but it is.
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