Hello everyone
Here is the running order - there are still some loose ends and maybe scenes at the bottom. I have made some suggestions about how I think the maybes might work. Please spend Friday running this as much as possible and discussing the maybes. We will run the show on Tuesday and I will come in for a work-in-progress on Friday 12 December.
Thanks
Michael
Preset - Chairs are upturned onstage
Scene 1 - Chairs stood up / drawn around / removed / standing in squares / Danielle's choreography [Audio: Pilote]
Scene 2 - 5 movements [Audio: Scenes from childhood]
Scene 3 - Amish scarves [Audio: These people are a disgrace]
Scene 4 - Adam routine forwards / backwards [Audio: Raindrop prelude]
Scene 5 - Adam ties scarves round wrists and lines up victims [Audio: Your father your family / woman praying in the street from YouTube]
Scene 6 - The Ordnung [Audio: French Canadian]
Scene 7 - Phone Call [Audio: Olbermann voiceover]
Scene 8 - Hostage scene [Audio: Ave Maria / You Tube Amish Grace audio]
Scene 9 - Family Snapshots [Audio: John Cale]
Scene 10 - Lord's Prayer [Audio: Fur Elise] - Adam writing list
Scene 10.5 - Amish School House description
Scene 11 - Monday Monday [Audio: Monday Monday] - Adam packing bag
Scene 12 - Timeline [Audio: Clock]
Scene 13 - List [Audio: 4 minute Warning] - Adam turning
Scene 13.5 - Olbermann
Scene 14 - Letter [Audio - Paradise] - Adam writing letter
Scene 14.5 - Second phone call
Scene 15 - Media Questions and Answers [Audio: Horn - Nick Drake / interview in street]
Scene 16 - Video montage
Maybes TBC:
Amish makeover
Olbermann
Second Phone Call
Blue Sky Thinking
Amish School House Description
Media questions and answers
Wednesday 3 December 2008
Wednesday 26 November 2008
Tragedy in Amish Country
These Photos are the last letter wrote to his wife and his list of objects.
Below is a rough timeline that police have been able to piece together of events leading up to the attack, after interviewing Charles Roberts' wife. Details of the girls' injuries are spotty, since the families asked the hospitals not to report on their medical conditions and the hospitals agreed to respect their privacy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, Oct. 2, 2006
3 a.m. — Roberts is home from work after finishing his milk run, picking up milk between Amish farms.
7:30 a.m.- 7:45 a.m. — Roberts and his wife, Marie, are up with their children getting them ready for school.
8:45 a.m. — Roberts walks his children to the bus stop.
9 a.m. — Marie Roberts leaves the house before her husband. She heads to a prayer group at the Presbyterian Church, picking up a friend along the way. Charles Roberts was to leave for a random drug test as required by his employer for his license to drive a truck in Pennsylvania.
9:15 a.m. — Marie arrives at the Presbyterian Church.
10:30 a.m . — Marie leaves the church with her friend.
10:45 a.m. — Marie drops off her friend.
10:45 a.m. - 10:50 a.m. — Roberts' wife tries to call him from their home phone. He has taken her cell phone.
10:48 a.m. — The Lancaster County emergency communications web site shows 20 incident calls listed to the normally quiet Bart Township.
10:50 a.m. — Charles Roberts calls his wife and will not tell her where he is but says he is not coming home and that the police have arrived. He then tells his wife the location of his suicide notes. She finds some of the suicide notes and calls her mother and 911.
The Aftermath
Seven girls are airlifted and one is transported via ground ambulance to various hospitals.
Marian Fisher, 13 is deceased at the scene; however, she is transported by ground ambulance to Lancaster General Hospital, where she is officially pronounced dead. She reportedly requested that Charles Roberts shoot her and let the other ones go. Barbie, her 11-year-old sister, s aid, "And shoot me second."
Anna Mae Stoltzfus, 12 is pronounced deceased at the scene.
Naomi Rose Ebersol, 7 is carried outside by Pennsylvania State Troopers. She dies outside the school, shortly after they arrive .
Barbie Fisher, 11 is sent to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The extent of her injuries is unknown at the time.
Rachel Ann Stoltzfus, 8, sustains a shattered jaw and wounds in her shoulder and side.
Esther King, 13, sustains injuries, the extent of which are unknown.
Sarah Ann Stoltzfus, 8, is sent to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The extent of her injuries are also unknown.
tlc.discovery.com/convergence/amish/timeline/timeline.html
Alison
Morning the Amish Tragedy.
Milk Truck-Driver Executed Children in Pennsylvania Amish Schoolhouse
Charles Carl Roberts IV, a 32-year-old milk-truck driver carrying three guns and a childhood grudge, stormed into a one-room Amish schoolhouse on Monday, sent the boys and adults outside, barricaded the doors with two-by-fours and then opened fire on a dozen girls. Roberts killed some of the girls and critically injured others, before turning a gun upon himself and committing suicide. The latest reports state that six of the girls have died and the death toll might rise. Most of the children were shot execution-style at point-blank range after being lined up along the chalkboard inside the schoolhouse, their feet bound with wire and plastic ties. The shooting occurred around 10:45 a.m. on Monday in Nickel Mines, which is located in the heart of Pennsylvania Amish country.
On the evening of the shooting, Amish neighbors from the Nickel Mines community gathered to talk about their feelings of grief with each other and mental health counselors. According to reports by counselors who attended the grief session, the Amish family members grappled with a number of questions: Do we send our kids to school tomorrow? What if they want to sleep in our beds tonight, is that okay? But one question they asked might surprise outsiders. What, they wondered, can we do to help the family of the shooter? Plans were already underway for a horse-and-buggy caravan to visit Charles Carl Roberts’ family with offers of food and condolences. The Amish don’t automatically translate their grieving into revenge. Rather, they believe in redemption.
The Funeral Services
Funeral services for many of the children are being held on Thursday. In the aftermath of Monday’s violence, the Amish are looking inward, relying on themselves and their faith, just as they have for centuries. They hold themselves apart from the modern world, and have as little to do with civil authorities as possible. Amish mourners have been going from home to home for two days to attend viewings for the five victims, all little girls laid out in white dresses made by their families. Such viewings occur almost immediately after the bodies arrive at the parents’ homes.
Typically, they are so crowded, ”if you start crying, you’ve got to figure out whose shoulder to cry on,” said a Mennonite midwife who delivered two of the five girls slain in the attack. At some Amish viewings, upwards of 1,000 to 1,500 people might visit a family’s home to pay respects. Such visits are important, given the lack of e-mail and phone communication.
Update: In Thursday’s Amish funeral ceremonies, made even more touching and heartbreaking by centuries-old simplicity, four of the little girls were buried as the Amish of Pennsylvania turned the other cheek. With television and newspaper cameras kept at a distance, and police helicopters enforcing a no-fly zone overhead, one of the few non-Amish guests invited to the funeral of seven-year-old Naomi Rose Ebersole, the first little girl to be buried, was Marie Roberts, the killer’s wife.
With tears in her eyes, Mrs. Roberts sat in the back of one of the 34 black horse-drawn carriages that were part of the funeral cortege behind Naomi’s horse-drawn hearse. On the way from the church to the hilltop cemetary, the procession passed Mrs Roberts’ home where her husband, Charles, loaded up his guns before heading for the little village school on Monday.
On Saturday, Amish mourners joined family and friends for the funeral of the Pennsylvania truck driver who killed five Amish girls before taking his own life. Charles Carl Roberts IV was laid to rest in the graveyard of the Georgetown United Methodist Church, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The cemetery is not far from the school where the shootings took place and the Amish graveyard where his victims are buried. The Amish who came to the burial gave condolences to Roberts’ wife and three children.
Also on Saturday, local Amish leaders met to discuss the future of the West Nickel Mines School. Mike Hart, one of two non-Amish members of a board set up to handle donations following the killings, said the plan is to build a new school in a different location.
As part of their traditional manner during times of crisis, the deeply-religious villagers of Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, turned inwards for support yesterday with prayers before, during and after each of the three ceremonies. As a Quaker, I have an empathic sense for the devout, private and quiet commitment to passivism and peace shared by members of The Old Order Amish. My kindest thoughts are with the Amish people as they embark upon the mutually reciprocal journey of healing themselves.
Here is the link from where I got this infomation from.
disembedded.wordpress.com
Alison
Charles Carl Roberts IV, a 32-year-old milk-truck driver carrying three guns and a childhood grudge, stormed into a one-room Amish schoolhouse on Monday, sent the boys and adults outside, barricaded the doors with two-by-fours and then opened fire on a dozen girls. Roberts killed some of the girls and critically injured others, before turning a gun upon himself and committing suicide. The latest reports state that six of the girls have died and the death toll might rise. Most of the children were shot execution-style at point-blank range after being lined up along the chalkboard inside the schoolhouse, their feet bound with wire and plastic ties. The shooting occurred around 10:45 a.m. on Monday in Nickel Mines, which is located in the heart of Pennsylvania Amish country.
On the evening of the shooting, Amish neighbors from the Nickel Mines community gathered to talk about their feelings of grief with each other and mental health counselors. According to reports by counselors who attended the grief session, the Amish family members grappled with a number of questions: Do we send our kids to school tomorrow? What if they want to sleep in our beds tonight, is that okay? But one question they asked might surprise outsiders. What, they wondered, can we do to help the family of the shooter? Plans were already underway for a horse-and-buggy caravan to visit Charles Carl Roberts’ family with offers of food and condolences. The Amish don’t automatically translate their grieving into revenge. Rather, they believe in redemption.
The Funeral Services
Funeral services for many of the children are being held on Thursday. In the aftermath of Monday’s violence, the Amish are looking inward, relying on themselves and their faith, just as they have for centuries. They hold themselves apart from the modern world, and have as little to do with civil authorities as possible. Amish mourners have been going from home to home for two days to attend viewings for the five victims, all little girls laid out in white dresses made by their families. Such viewings occur almost immediately after the bodies arrive at the parents’ homes.
Typically, they are so crowded, ”if you start crying, you’ve got to figure out whose shoulder to cry on,” said a Mennonite midwife who delivered two of the five girls slain in the attack. At some Amish viewings, upwards of 1,000 to 1,500 people might visit a family’s home to pay respects. Such visits are important, given the lack of e-mail and phone communication.
Update: In Thursday’s Amish funeral ceremonies, made even more touching and heartbreaking by centuries-old simplicity, four of the little girls were buried as the Amish of Pennsylvania turned the other cheek. With television and newspaper cameras kept at a distance, and police helicopters enforcing a no-fly zone overhead, one of the few non-Amish guests invited to the funeral of seven-year-old Naomi Rose Ebersole, the first little girl to be buried, was Marie Roberts, the killer’s wife.
With tears in her eyes, Mrs. Roberts sat in the back of one of the 34 black horse-drawn carriages that were part of the funeral cortege behind Naomi’s horse-drawn hearse. On the way from the church to the hilltop cemetary, the procession passed Mrs Roberts’ home where her husband, Charles, loaded up his guns before heading for the little village school on Monday.
On Saturday, Amish mourners joined family and friends for the funeral of the Pennsylvania truck driver who killed five Amish girls before taking his own life. Charles Carl Roberts IV was laid to rest in the graveyard of the Georgetown United Methodist Church, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The cemetery is not far from the school where the shootings took place and the Amish graveyard where his victims are buried. The Amish who came to the burial gave condolences to Roberts’ wife and three children.
Also on Saturday, local Amish leaders met to discuss the future of the West Nickel Mines School. Mike Hart, one of two non-Amish members of a board set up to handle donations following the killings, said the plan is to build a new school in a different location.
As part of their traditional manner during times of crisis, the deeply-religious villagers of Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, turned inwards for support yesterday with prayers before, during and after each of the three ceremonies. As a Quaker, I have an empathic sense for the devout, private and quiet commitment to passivism and peace shared by members of The Old Order Amish. My kindest thoughts are with the Amish people as they embark upon the mutually reciprocal journey of healing themselves.
Here is the link from where I got this infomation from.
disembedded.wordpress.com
Alison
Amish Forgiveness is Christ Like
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=qjJt3wKXdRc
This is another News footage from the last one i posted about Amish Forgiveness is christ like.
Alison
This is another News footage from the last one i posted about Amish Forgiveness is christ like.
Alison
Amish Forgiveness
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=drLx40tKZpg
Here is another link to another bit of footage about Amish Forgiveness.
Alison
Here is another link to another bit of footage about Amish Forgiveness.
Alison
Amish School Shooting Photo Essay
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=WgJ5uLRfMmk
This is an idea of what I could do to edit for footage.
Alison
This is an idea of what I could do to edit for footage.
Alison
Amish Tragedy
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=tkNeRzCnne4
Here is some interesting footage, it wasnt what I thought but yet again its more Amish.
Alison
Here is some interesting footage, it wasnt what I thought but yet again its more Amish.
Alison
Amish Interviews
Interview news footage Link to some Amish having an Interview.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=hoCWIQCw6eM"
Alison
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=hoCWIQCw6eM"
Alison
Explaining the Amish Way of Life
Here is a link Explaing the Amish Way of Life, again the footage will not load up.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=PAgSCTdnrhk
Alison
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=PAgSCTdnrhk
Alison
Tuesday 25 November 2008
The Ordnung
The list of rules Amish members must follow is called the 'Ordnung':
* They may not own or operate any sort of motor vehicle
* Airplane travel is forbidden
* · Horse and buggy transportation is used
* · There is a dress code that must be followed
* · Boys and men wear hats outside of the house, suspenders and distinctive pants and shirts usually home made by a woman of the family.
* · Men grow a beard and keep their upper lip shaven once they are married
* · Girls and women must keep their head covered with bonnet or prayer cap, dress and apron rules vary from community to community
* · Reject the use of electricity from the public grid in the country
* · Amish must marry other Amish
* · The rules of Meidung or shunning must be followed
* · The Amish do not pay into or collect social security or any other kind of insurance
* · The Amish children only need to attend school through the 8th grade. Once they have completed school they boys will begin working either for their father or their father will help them line a job up to start making money for the family. The girls will begin to stay at home and help out more with laundry, dishes, house cleaning etc.
* · An Amish child may not keep his/her own money until they are married or until they turn 21. The parents limit any spending money that the children might have and all of the money they earn is to go towards the family to help out financially.
http://www.parker.org/DivisionIII/Class%20Pages/Senior%20Project/Tim%20Roper/Rules.htm
* They may not own or operate any sort of motor vehicle
* Airplane travel is forbidden
* · Horse and buggy transportation is used
* · There is a dress code that must be followed
* · Boys and men wear hats outside of the house, suspenders and distinctive pants and shirts usually home made by a woman of the family.
* · Men grow a beard and keep their upper lip shaven once they are married
* · Girls and women must keep their head covered with bonnet or prayer cap, dress and apron rules vary from community to community
* · Reject the use of electricity from the public grid in the country
* · Amish must marry other Amish
* · The rules of Meidung or shunning must be followed
* · The Amish do not pay into or collect social security or any other kind of insurance
* · The Amish children only need to attend school through the 8th grade. Once they have completed school they boys will begin working either for their father or their father will help them line a job up to start making money for the family. The girls will begin to stay at home and help out more with laundry, dishes, house cleaning etc.
* · An Amish child may not keep his/her own money until they are married or until they turn 21. The parents limit any spending money that the children might have and all of the money they earn is to go towards the family to help out financially.
http://www.parker.org/DivisionIII/Class%20Pages/Senior%20Project/Tim%20Roper/Rules.htm
Transcript
Transcript of Charles Carl Roberts' 911 Call
The following is a series of 911 transcripts from the morning of the Amish school shooting. The callers identified in this 911 transcript are Amos Smoker, who first reported the incident at the schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pa, gunman Charles Carl Roberts; and Roberts' wife, Marie.
10:35:29
911 Dispatcher: Lancaster County 911, do you need police, fire or ambulance?
Mr. Smoker: Yes, this is Amos Smoker.
911 Dispatcher: OK.
Mr. Smoker: There's a, there's a guy in the school with a gun.
911 Dispatcher: OK, what, what, what school, where at?
Mr. Smoker: White Oak Road.
911 Dispatcher: What city, township or borough is that in?
Mr. Smoker: How's that?
911 Dispatcher: What city, township or borough is that in?
Mr. Smoker: Bart Township.
911 Dispatcher: OK, stay on the line, it's state police.
Mr. Smoker: OK.
(Call being transferred to State Police)
State Police PCO: State Police Dispatch Center.
Mr. Smoker: Yes, this is Amos Smoker. (Line goes dead)
---
10:41:35
911 Dispatcher: Lancaster County 911.
Caller: Did someone call in for police at a school?
911 Dispatcher: What school, what school was it?
Caller: West Nickel Mines School.
911 Dispatcher: Nickel Mines School, somebody with a gun?
Caller: Yes.
911 Dispatcher: Hold on one second, did you call before? We transferred to State Police.
Caller: OK, someone's coming out.
911 Dispatcher: Well, I don't know, I'm going to transfer you, OK, I don't dispatch them here, hold on, does anybody need an ambulance do you know?
Caller: I don't know.
911 Dispatcher: OK, hold on, is he in the school?
Caller: I don't know nothing, I don't know.
911 Dispatcher: Alright, hold on.
(Call being transferred to State Police)
911 Dispatcher: Is this Amish school?
Caller: Yes it is.
911 Dispatcher: In Bart Township?
Caller: Yes.
Pennsylvania State Police PCO: Pennsylvania State Police, PCO Campbell, hello..
911 Dispatcher: Go ahead sir.
PCO Campbell: Sir, go ahead, State Police. (Line goes dead)
---
10:55:38
911 Dispatcher: Lancaster County 911, do you need police, fire or ambulance? Hello.. Your cell phone is cutting in and out. Do you have an emergency?
Mr. Roberts : Yes.
911 Dispatcher: OK, what's the address of the emergency?
Mr. Roberts : It's on White Oak Road. I just took, uh, ten girls hostage and I want everybody off the property or, or else.
911 Dispatcher: OK, alright.
Mr. Roberts: Now.
911 Dispatcher: Hold on a second.
911 Dispatcher: Hello.
Mr. Roberts : Yeah.
911 Dispatcher: OK, what's the problem there?
Mr. Roberts: Don't try to talk me out of it, get em all off the property now.
911 Dispatcher: Sir, I want you to stay on the phone with me, OK? I'm going to let the State Police down there, I need to let you talk to them, OK, can I transfer you to them.
Mr. Roberts: No, you tell them and that's it. Right now or they're dead, in two seconds.
911 Dispatcher: (To unidentified person at County-Wide Communications): He won't let me transfer.
(To Mr. Roberts): Hang on a minute, we're trying to tell them, OK.
Mr. Roberts: Two seconds that's it.
911 Dispatcher: Sir, listen to me. Listen... (Line goes dead)
---
10:58:39
911 Dispatcher: Lancaster County 911.
Ms. Roberts: Yes, my name is Marie Roberts, my husband just called me on his cell phone and told me that he wasn't going to be coming home and that the police were there and not to worry about it. And I have no idea what he is talking about, but I am really scared. And I wondered if, how I find out what's going on?
911 Dispatcher: OK, where are you calling me from?
Ms. Roberts: I'm calling from my home.
911 Dispatcher: And what's that address?
Ms. Roberts: 1084 Georgetown Road.
911 Dispatcher: What township, city or borough is that?
Ms. Roberts: Bart Township.
911 Dispatcher: OK, and your husband didn't tell you where he was?
Ms. Roberts: No, he didn't.
911 Dispatcher: He called you on his cell phone?
Ms. Roberts: Yes he did.
911 Dispatcher: OK, and, and all he said to you was that...
Ms. Roberts: I'm not coming home, um, he was upset about something that had happened twenty years ago, and he said he was getting revenge for it, I don't think he was getting revenge on another person, I'm worried that maybe he was trying to commit suicide.
911 Dispatcher: OK, hang on the line, I'm going to transfer you to the State Police, OK?
Ms. Roberts: Thank you.
911 Dispatcher: Hang on a second..
(Call being transferred to State Police)
PCO Bowerman: State Police Dispatch PCO Bowerman
Ms. Roberts: My name is Marie Roberts, my husband just called me and said that he wasn't coming home and that the police were there and that he left notes for myself and my children and I'm worried that he tried to commit suicide somewhere. And...
PCO Bowerman : What's his name?
Ms. Roberts: Charlie Roberts.
PCO Bowerman: OK, what's, let me ask you a question, hold on for one second please.
Ms. Roberts: Yeah.
PCO Bowerman: You said your name again was?
Ms. Roberts: Marie Roberts.
PCO Bowerman: Marie Roberts, thank you.
PCO Bowerman: Ma'am, let me ask you a question, what kind of vehicle does your husband drive?
Ms. Roberts: He was using my grandpa's pick-up, it's a GMC.
PCO Bowerman: Color.
Ms. Roberts: Blue.
PCO Bowerman: Blue GMC.
Ms. Roberts: Yeah.
PCO Bowerman: One second. OK. ma'am, what's your husbands name?
Ms. Roberts: Charlie Roberts.
PCO Bowerman: Charlie Roberts. And what does he look like?
Ms. Roberts: He is six foot two, short brown, you know like buzzed brown hair, um, he is thirty-two years old, wears glasses, I guess he's like maybe 195 pounds.
PCO Bowerman: OK, you say he left notes?
Ms. Roberts: Yes.
PCO Bowerman: What did the notes say?
Ms. Roberts: Like, the thought of not my children, not seeing them grow up, like, let's see, uh, I'm not even sure, here it is, my daughter Abigail I want you to know that I love you and I'm sorry I couldn't be here to watch you grow up, that's how the notes start.
PCO Bowerman: OK, hold on one moment. (Line goes dead)
The following is a series of 911 transcripts from the morning of the Amish school shooting. The callers identified in this 911 transcript are Amos Smoker, who first reported the incident at the schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pa, gunman Charles Carl Roberts; and Roberts' wife, Marie.
10:35:29
911 Dispatcher: Lancaster County 911, do you need police, fire or ambulance?
Mr. Smoker: Yes, this is Amos Smoker.
911 Dispatcher: OK.
Mr. Smoker: There's a, there's a guy in the school with a gun.
911 Dispatcher: OK, what, what, what school, where at?
Mr. Smoker: White Oak Road.
911 Dispatcher: What city, township or borough is that in?
Mr. Smoker: How's that?
911 Dispatcher: What city, township or borough is that in?
Mr. Smoker: Bart Township.
911 Dispatcher: OK, stay on the line, it's state police.
Mr. Smoker: OK.
(Call being transferred to State Police)
State Police PCO: State Police Dispatch Center.
Mr. Smoker: Yes, this is Amos Smoker. (Line goes dead)
---
10:41:35
911 Dispatcher: Lancaster County 911.
Caller: Did someone call in for police at a school?
911 Dispatcher: What school, what school was it?
Caller: West Nickel Mines School.
911 Dispatcher: Nickel Mines School, somebody with a gun?
Caller: Yes.
911 Dispatcher: Hold on one second, did you call before? We transferred to State Police.
Caller: OK, someone's coming out.
911 Dispatcher: Well, I don't know, I'm going to transfer you, OK, I don't dispatch them here, hold on, does anybody need an ambulance do you know?
Caller: I don't know.
911 Dispatcher: OK, hold on, is he in the school?
Caller: I don't know nothing, I don't know.
911 Dispatcher: Alright, hold on.
(Call being transferred to State Police)
911 Dispatcher: Is this Amish school?
Caller: Yes it is.
911 Dispatcher: In Bart Township?
Caller: Yes.
Pennsylvania State Police PCO: Pennsylvania State Police, PCO Campbell, hello..
911 Dispatcher: Go ahead sir.
PCO Campbell: Sir, go ahead, State Police. (Line goes dead)
---
10:55:38
911 Dispatcher: Lancaster County 911, do you need police, fire or ambulance? Hello.. Your cell phone is cutting in and out. Do you have an emergency?
Mr. Roberts : Yes.
911 Dispatcher: OK, what's the address of the emergency?
Mr. Roberts : It's on White Oak Road. I just took, uh, ten girls hostage and I want everybody off the property or, or else.
911 Dispatcher: OK, alright.
Mr. Roberts: Now.
911 Dispatcher: Hold on a second.
911 Dispatcher: Hello.
Mr. Roberts : Yeah.
911 Dispatcher: OK, what's the problem there?
Mr. Roberts: Don't try to talk me out of it, get em all off the property now.
911 Dispatcher: Sir, I want you to stay on the phone with me, OK? I'm going to let the State Police down there, I need to let you talk to them, OK, can I transfer you to them.
Mr. Roberts: No, you tell them and that's it. Right now or they're dead, in two seconds.
911 Dispatcher: (To unidentified person at County-Wide Communications): He won't let me transfer.
(To Mr. Roberts): Hang on a minute, we're trying to tell them, OK.
Mr. Roberts: Two seconds that's it.
911 Dispatcher: Sir, listen to me. Listen... (Line goes dead)
---
10:58:39
911 Dispatcher: Lancaster County 911.
Ms. Roberts: Yes, my name is Marie Roberts, my husband just called me on his cell phone and told me that he wasn't going to be coming home and that the police were there and not to worry about it. And I have no idea what he is talking about, but I am really scared. And I wondered if, how I find out what's going on?
911 Dispatcher: OK, where are you calling me from?
Ms. Roberts: I'm calling from my home.
911 Dispatcher: And what's that address?
Ms. Roberts: 1084 Georgetown Road.
911 Dispatcher: What township, city or borough is that?
Ms. Roberts: Bart Township.
911 Dispatcher: OK, and your husband didn't tell you where he was?
Ms. Roberts: No, he didn't.
911 Dispatcher: He called you on his cell phone?
Ms. Roberts: Yes he did.
911 Dispatcher: OK, and, and all he said to you was that...
Ms. Roberts: I'm not coming home, um, he was upset about something that had happened twenty years ago, and he said he was getting revenge for it, I don't think he was getting revenge on another person, I'm worried that maybe he was trying to commit suicide.
911 Dispatcher: OK, hang on the line, I'm going to transfer you to the State Police, OK?
Ms. Roberts: Thank you.
911 Dispatcher: Hang on a second..
(Call being transferred to State Police)
PCO Bowerman: State Police Dispatch PCO Bowerman
Ms. Roberts: My name is Marie Roberts, my husband just called me and said that he wasn't coming home and that the police were there and that he left notes for myself and my children and I'm worried that he tried to commit suicide somewhere. And...
PCO Bowerman : What's his name?
Ms. Roberts: Charlie Roberts.
PCO Bowerman: OK, what's, let me ask you a question, hold on for one second please.
Ms. Roberts: Yeah.
PCO Bowerman: You said your name again was?
Ms. Roberts: Marie Roberts.
PCO Bowerman: Marie Roberts, thank you.
PCO Bowerman: Ma'am, let me ask you a question, what kind of vehicle does your husband drive?
Ms. Roberts: He was using my grandpa's pick-up, it's a GMC.
PCO Bowerman: Color.
Ms. Roberts: Blue.
PCO Bowerman: Blue GMC.
Ms. Roberts: Yeah.
PCO Bowerman: One second. OK. ma'am, what's your husbands name?
Ms. Roberts: Charlie Roberts.
PCO Bowerman: Charlie Roberts. And what does he look like?
Ms. Roberts: He is six foot two, short brown, you know like buzzed brown hair, um, he is thirty-two years old, wears glasses, I guess he's like maybe 195 pounds.
PCO Bowerman: OK, you say he left notes?
Ms. Roberts: Yes.
PCO Bowerman: What did the notes say?
Ms. Roberts: Like, the thought of not my children, not seeing them grow up, like, let's see, uh, I'm not even sure, here it is, my daughter Abigail I want you to know that I love you and I'm sorry I couldn't be here to watch you grow up, that's how the notes start.
PCO Bowerman: OK, hold on one moment. (Line goes dead)
Sunday 23 November 2008
Amish Clothing
Clothing
Amish girls in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
The common theme amongst all Amish clothing is plainness; clothing should not call attention to the wearer by cut, color, or any other feature. Rather than using "fancy" buttons, zippers, or velcro, hook-and-eye closures or straight pins are used as fasteners on dress clothing. Snaps are used on everyday clothes, and plain buttons for work shirts and trousers. The historic restriction on buttons is attributed to tradition and their potential for ostentation.[50] In all things, the aesthetic value is plainness. Some groups tend to limit color to black (trousers, dresses) and white (shirts), while others allow muted colors. Dark blue denim work clothing is common within some groups as well. Amish typically sew their own clothing, and work clothing can become quite worn and patched with use.
Women wear calf-length plain-cut dresses in a solid color, such as dark blue or black. Aprons are often worn at home, usually in white or black, and are always worn when attending church. A cape, which consists of a triangular piece of cloth, is usually worn, beginning around the teenage years, and pinned into the apron. In the colder months, a long woolen cloak is worn. Heavy bonnets are worn over the prayer coverings when Amish women are out and about in cold weather, with the exception of the Nebraska Amish, who do not wear bonnets. Girls wear colored bonnets until age nine; older girls and women wear black bonnets.[51] Girls begin wearing a cape for church and dress up occasions at about age eight. Single women wear a white cape to church until about the age of thirty. Everyday capes are colored, matching the dress, until about age forty when only black is used.[52]
Men typically wear dark-colored trousers and a dark vest or coat, suspenders, broad-rimmed straw hats in the warmer months, and black felt hats in the colder months. Married men and those over forty grow a beard. Moustaches are forbidden, because they are associated with European military officers and militarism in general.[53] A beard serves the same symbolic function as a wedding ring and marks the passage into manhood.
During the summer months, the majority of Amish children go barefoot, including to school. The prevalence of the practice is attested in the Pennsylvania Deitsch saying, "Deel Leit laafe baarfiessich rum un die annre hen ken Schuh." ("Some people walk around barefooted, and the rest have no shoes.") The amount of time spent barefoot varies, but most children and adults go barefoot whenever possible.
Amish girls in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
The common theme amongst all Amish clothing is plainness; clothing should not call attention to the wearer by cut, color, or any other feature. Rather than using "fancy" buttons, zippers, or velcro, hook-and-eye closures or straight pins are used as fasteners on dress clothing. Snaps are used on everyday clothes, and plain buttons for work shirts and trousers. The historic restriction on buttons is attributed to tradition and their potential for ostentation.[50] In all things, the aesthetic value is plainness. Some groups tend to limit color to black (trousers, dresses) and white (shirts), while others allow muted colors. Dark blue denim work clothing is common within some groups as well. Amish typically sew their own clothing, and work clothing can become quite worn and patched with use.
Women wear calf-length plain-cut dresses in a solid color, such as dark blue or black. Aprons are often worn at home, usually in white or black, and are always worn when attending church. A cape, which consists of a triangular piece of cloth, is usually worn, beginning around the teenage years, and pinned into the apron. In the colder months, a long woolen cloak is worn. Heavy bonnets are worn over the prayer coverings when Amish women are out and about in cold weather, with the exception of the Nebraska Amish, who do not wear bonnets. Girls wear colored bonnets until age nine; older girls and women wear black bonnets.[51] Girls begin wearing a cape for church and dress up occasions at about age eight. Single women wear a white cape to church until about the age of thirty. Everyday capes are colored, matching the dress, until about age forty when only black is used.[52]
Men typically wear dark-colored trousers and a dark vest or coat, suspenders, broad-rimmed straw hats in the warmer months, and black felt hats in the colder months. Married men and those over forty grow a beard. Moustaches are forbidden, because they are associated with European military officers and militarism in general.[53] A beard serves the same symbolic function as a wedding ring and marks the passage into manhood.
During the summer months, the majority of Amish children go barefoot, including to school. The prevalence of the practice is attested in the Pennsylvania Deitsch saying, "Deel Leit laafe baarfiessich rum un die annre hen ken Schuh." ("Some people walk around barefooted, and the rest have no shoes.") The amount of time spent barefoot varies, but most children and adults go barefoot whenever possible.
Saturday 22 November 2008
Blue Sky
Looking over the houses there's a burst of sunshine
(Marie) wide
Bringing the afternoon sun towards my eyes
(Marie) endless
For some reason the sun is drawing the clouds towards light
(Marie) swallowing
Creating shapes like a river streaming towards the mouth of the sea
(Marie) take off
One cloud looks like abird with it's beak opened dropping food down
(Marie) birds and the formations they make
Across the sky brings a shade of blue creating a very pale blue through to a dark
blue
(Marie) they move in circles and bends
Rising my head up the clouds slowly moves around me creating new shapes with every movement
(Marie) feel guilty?
At one point there's nothing in the sky apart from one cloud that looks like fluffy cream bed
(Marie) sometimes
Two birds circle around me flying off into the distance
(Marie) it says go out and live your life
Behind my right shoulder there's a plane flying past me climbing at a higher altitude disappearing over the houses
(Marie) now
Bird's speed over in a pack of 5 creating a dimond
(Marie) maybe I feel like hiding that day
Looking across me before I see I hear an RAF plane speeding across the sky with authority
(Marie) I have no excuse
Emptyness fills the sky
(Marie) Why is the sky blue?
I can't see the sun
(Marie) Why seems the sky blue?
I only see it's rays spread across the sky
(Marie) Why is it bluer somedays than on other days?
This is the first time there's emptyness nothing but blue sky
(Marie) Sitting in my room at night
As I face towards the direction of the sun
(Marie) I realise I can´t write about the blue sky
I no longer see blue but only white a strong colour which over powers the blue
My blue sky is calm, soothing, mixing it's blueness with it's sunshine.
(Marie) I want to see it.
Here's mine and Marie's blue sky, Marie if you could add your bits then it will be complete
Thanks Larissa
(Marie) wide
Bringing the afternoon sun towards my eyes
(Marie) endless
For some reason the sun is drawing the clouds towards light
(Marie) swallowing
Creating shapes like a river streaming towards the mouth of the sea
(Marie) take off
One cloud looks like abird with it's beak opened dropping food down
(Marie) birds and the formations they make
Across the sky brings a shade of blue creating a very pale blue through to a dark
blue
(Marie) they move in circles and bends
Rising my head up the clouds slowly moves around me creating new shapes with every movement
(Marie) feel guilty?
At one point there's nothing in the sky apart from one cloud that looks like fluffy cream bed
(Marie) sometimes
Two birds circle around me flying off into the distance
(Marie) it says go out and live your life
Behind my right shoulder there's a plane flying past me climbing at a higher altitude disappearing over the houses
(Marie) now
Bird's speed over in a pack of 5 creating a dimond
(Marie) maybe I feel like hiding that day
Looking across me before I see I hear an RAF plane speeding across the sky with authority
(Marie) I have no excuse
Emptyness fills the sky
(Marie) Why is the sky blue?
I can't see the sun
(Marie) Why seems the sky blue?
I only see it's rays spread across the sky
(Marie) Why is it bluer somedays than on other days?
This is the first time there's emptyness nothing but blue sky
(Marie) Sitting in my room at night
As I face towards the direction of the sun
(Marie) I realise I can´t write about the blue sky
I no longer see blue but only white a strong colour which over powers the blue
My blue sky is calm, soothing, mixing it's blueness with it's sunshine.
(Marie) I want to see it.
Here's mine and Marie's blue sky, Marie if you could add your bits then it will be complete
Thanks Larissa
Tuesday 18 November 2008
Running Order
Scene 1:Chalk drawing
Our interpretation of Paradise (AV video footage)
Barn raising (Child building barn)
Scene 2: Suicide notes (Milk) (AV)
Scene 3: Arrange school chairs (Movement piece)
Scene 4: Descriptions of school house
Scene 5: News reports (AV and video footage and live footage)
Scene 6: Blue skies (AV)
Scene 7: Gesture piece (Ave Maria)
Scene 8: Lords prayer (Classroom-English and German)
Scene 9: Freeze Frames (Meeting his wife, photos being taken but showing images of the aftermath)
Scene 10: Monday, Monday (Dance)
Scene 11: Timeline
Scene 12: 5 Point journey of Carl Roberts
Scene 13: Carl Roberts’s shopping list
Scene 14: Scarf piece
Scene 15: Holding each other (Lords prayer in the background)
Chalk rubbing off (Someone from the other group)
Here is the working running order of the show
Larissa
Our interpretation of Paradise (AV video footage)
Barn raising (Child building barn)
Scene 2: Suicide notes (Milk) (AV)
Scene 3: Arrange school chairs (Movement piece)
Scene 4: Descriptions of school house
Scene 5: News reports (AV and video footage and live footage)
Scene 6: Blue skies (AV)
Scene 7: Gesture piece (Ave Maria)
Scene 8: Lords prayer (Classroom-English and German)
Scene 9: Freeze Frames (Meeting his wife, photos being taken but showing images of the aftermath)
Scene 10: Monday, Monday (Dance)
Scene 11: Timeline
Scene 12: 5 Point journey of Carl Roberts
Scene 13: Carl Roberts’s shopping list
Scene 14: Scarf piece
Scene 15: Holding each other (Lords prayer in the background)
Chalk rubbing off (Someone from the other group)
Here is the working running order of the show
Larissa
There is a web site you should all take a look at, it is the aftermath of the Armish Shooting, reporters are interviewing residents in Nickelmine about their thoughts of the shooting.
The footage for some reason will not load up....
There are there parts to the footage free hand filmed, and in one there is a women praching to God, cameras up on her....
It is interesting to watch, I will try to upload video footage but in the mean time if you type in the address below it should take you too it.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dFgYVNui3U8
The Title if this web page does not load up is The Armish Shooting Part one
Alison.
The footage for some reason will not load up....
There are there parts to the footage free hand filmed, and in one there is a women praching to God, cameras up on her....
It is interesting to watch, I will try to upload video footage but in the mean time if you type in the address below it should take you too it.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dFgYVNui3U8
The Title if this web page does not load up is The Armish Shooting Part one
Alison.
Monday 17 November 2008
hey guys
was just thinking again about this recurring theme of forgiveness, came across a youtube vid of someone giving an interview on behalf of the amish community who do not give interviews... this guy says how they believe that god is present in life and death...if he is this all powerful 'existence' how could he not intervene on this tragic day...it beats me
was just thinking again about this recurring theme of forgiveness, came across a youtube vid of someone giving an interview on behalf of the amish community who do not give interviews... this guy says how they believe that god is present in life and death...if he is this all powerful 'existence' how could he not intervene on this tragic day...it beats me
Saturday 15 November 2008
Questions for Janice
Did you write this message?
What can I possibly ask you?
How are you now?
How did you cope with the events in the aftermath?
Did the process of writing help?
How do you seperate your emotions from the work you do?
In the future, do you think you will be able to work in the medical profession after such a traumatic event?
What did you think about the Amish forgiveness?
Would you be willing to provide us with any (free) information or facts that you deem appropriate enough to help with our devising?
How did you feel about the media attention?
Do you do anything to remember the event by?
Do you do anything to forget the event?
How does it make you feel that a group of performance students is creating work based on the events in Nickelmines?
What can I possibly ask you?
How are you now?
How did you cope with the events in the aftermath?
Did the process of writing help?
How do you seperate your emotions from the work you do?
In the future, do you think you will be able to work in the medical profession after such a traumatic event?
What did you think about the Amish forgiveness?
Would you be willing to provide us with any (free) information or facts that you deem appropriate enough to help with our devising?
How did you feel about the media attention?
Do you do anything to remember the event by?
Do you do anything to forget the event?
How does it make you feel that a group of performance students is creating work based on the events in Nickelmines?
Columbine
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7730502.stm
YouTube has removed a number of videos glorifying the Columbine school killers after an investigation by the BBC. The BBC's Interactive Reporter Siobhan Courtney reports.
Timeline of the shooting
(Dani) Paradise,(Adam) October 2,(Jodie) 2006
(all) 3am-
(Dani) ____Roberts finishes his night shift and returns in darkness to his home in nearby Bart township
(all) 7:30am
(Dani)_____Roberts is up helping his wife (MARIE) get their children ready for school
Abigail(Larissa), Bryson )(Jodie)
(all) 8:45am -
(Dani)___the couple walks the children to their yellow school bus, a neighbour says
(Jodie)____‘’it was unusual to see Roberts on a Monday’’
(all) 9:00am-
(Dani)____Roberts hugs and kisses his children and tells them
(Adam)____‘’remember, daddy loves you’’
(all) 10:25am -
(Marie)____Roberts enters the school house and asks the teacher
(Larissa)_____‘’HAVE YOU SEEN A ClEVIS PIN LYING ALONG THE ROAD?’’
(Alison)_______They deny seeing any such object.
(All) 10:30am
(Marie)____Roberts reappears with a hand gun
(all) 10:31am
(Marie)____He orders the male students to help him
(all) 10:32am
Jodie____The teacher and her mother escape ( run around space)
(all) 10:34am
(Larissa)_____Roberts and the young boy carry utensils into the room
(all) 10:35am
(Dani)_____The teacher and mother arrive at the farm
(all) 10:36am
(Alison)___Amos Smoker places a 911 call (Louise) Police
(Dani)_____Roberts barricades the doors
(all) 10:37am
(Louisa)______Roberts orders the girls in a line
(all)10:39am
(Jodie)_____He allows everyone to leave except the girls
(Dani)______‘’Stay here do not move , you will be shot’’
(all)10:40am
(Louisa)______Emma Fisher escapes because she does not understand english.
(all)10:41am
(Adam)______First troopers arrive at the scene.
(all)10:41am
(Adam)______A second caller reports the incident and is being transfered to the state police.
(all)10:55am
(Adam)______Roberts binds and ties the girls.
(all)10:56am
(Marie)_____The girls are lined up in front of the blackboard.
(Alison)____Mrs Roberts returns home finding suicide notes.
(all)10:57am
(Dani)______Roberts makese a call to his wife and the police (Adam) Marie
(all)10:58am
(Larissa)___Mrs Roberts calls 911 after arriving home from a prayer study group meeting (Marie) Police?
(all)11am
(Adam)______A large crowd assembles outside.
(all)11:00am
(Louisa/Jodie)_Two girls begin negotiating with Roberts
(all)11:07am
(Adam)______Roberts shoots the girls and then himself.
(all)11:08am
(Louisa)______Troopers approach.
The changes we made on the 18th are in here now, if anything's missing go to edit post, lets you change it!
This is all I have guys so if you could fill in the blanks would be great stuff :-)
Danielle
(all) 3am-
(Dani) ____Roberts finishes his night shift and returns in darkness to his home in nearby Bart township
(all) 7:30am
(Dani)_____Roberts is up helping his wife (MARIE) get their children ready for school
Abigail(Larissa), Bryson )(Jodie)
(all) 8:45am -
(Dani)___the couple walks the children to their yellow school bus, a neighbour says
(Jodie)____‘’it was unusual to see Roberts on a Monday’’
(all) 9:00am-
(Dani)____Roberts hugs and kisses his children and tells them
(Adam)____‘’remember, daddy loves you’’
(all) 10:25am -
(Marie)____Roberts enters the school house and asks the teacher
(Larissa)_____‘’HAVE YOU SEEN A ClEVIS PIN LYING ALONG THE ROAD?’’
(Alison)_______They deny seeing any such object.
(All) 10:30am
(Marie)____Roberts reappears with a hand gun
(all) 10:31am
(Marie)____He orders the male students to help him
(all) 10:32am
Jodie____The teacher and her mother escape ( run around space)
(all) 10:34am
(Larissa)_____Roberts and the young boy carry utensils into the room
(all) 10:35am
(Dani)_____The teacher and mother arrive at the farm
(all) 10:36am
(Alison)___Amos Smoker places a 911 call (Louise) Police
(Dani)_____Roberts barricades the doors
(all) 10:37am
(Louisa)______Roberts orders the girls in a line
(all)10:39am
(Jodie)_____He allows everyone to leave except the girls
(Dani)______‘’Stay here do not move , you will be shot’’
(all)10:40am
(Louisa)______Emma Fisher escapes because she does not understand english.
(all)10:41am
(Adam)______First troopers arrive at the scene.
(all)10:41am
(Adam)______A second caller reports the incident and is being transfered to the state police.
(all)10:55am
(Adam)______Roberts binds and ties the girls.
(all)10:56am
(Marie)_____The girls are lined up in front of the blackboard.
(Alison)____Mrs Roberts returns home finding suicide notes.
(all)10:57am
(Dani)______Roberts makese a call to his wife and the police (Adam) Marie
(all)10:58am
(Larissa)___Mrs Roberts calls 911 after arriving home from a prayer study group meeting (Marie) Police?
(all)11am
(Adam)______A large crowd assembles outside.
(all)11:00am
(Louisa/Jodie)_Two girls begin negotiating with Roberts
(all)11:07am
(Adam)______Roberts shoots the girls and then himself.
(all)11:08am
(Louisa)______Troopers approach.
The changes we made on the 18th are in here now, if anything's missing go to edit post, lets you change it!
This is all I have guys so if you could fill in the blanks would be great stuff :-)
Danielle
Friday 14 November 2008
Roberts, in a phone call to his wife Marie, shortly before shooting the girls, told her he had molested two young members of his family 20 years ago, and for the past two years was dreaming about molesting again, police said.
He named the family members and said they were three and five years old when it happened.
Family members interviewed by police couldn't confirm any past molestations and no police reports were filed, said Col. Jeffrey Miller of the Pennsylvania State Police.
He named the family members and said they were three and five years old when it happened.
Family members interviewed by police couldn't confirm any past molestations and no police reports were filed, said Col. Jeffrey Miller of the Pennsylvania State Police.
The interior of a one-room Amish schoolhouse near Monday's shooting, and very similar to the one where a gunman killed five girls, is seen empty early the next day in Nickel Mines, Pa. (Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press)
Gunman angry with himself, God
In the phone call to his wife, Roberts told her he would not be coming home and that he would be getting revenge for another event that happened 20 years ago, but said he couldn't give any further details. He told her where she could find suicide notes for her and their three children.
In the notes, Roberts said he was angry with himself and with God because of the death of his daughter Elise, born prematurely nine years ago. That event, he wrote, changed his life forever.
As his wife was speaking with 911 emergency operators, she heard police sirens in their community.
Police said Roberts brought with him to the school plastic cuffs, clamps and two tubes of personal lubricant, which, Miller said, he could see no other potential reason to have other than as a "sexual assault aid."
Miller stressed there is no evidence any of the victims were sexually assaulted during the incident.
Investigators said they found a wooden board with 10 eyebolts fastened to it, about 25 centimetres apart.
"It's important to note he had 10 victims at that time," said Miller.
Shooter heavily armed
Police said Roberts, who was not Amish, drove to the school with three guns, a stun gun, two knives, a pile of wood and a bag with 600 rounds of ammunition.
He also had a change of clothing, toilet paper, bolts and hardware, and rolls of clear tape, which Miller said indicated he could be prepared for a lengthy standoff.
Roberts began purchasing some of the material from a nearby hardware store as early as Sept. 26 and left a checklist behind in his milk delivery truck, he said. The checklist matches the evidence left in the school, said police.
"He was organized, preplanned and had forethought given to his actions," said Miller.
He let 15 male students, a pregnant woman and three women with infants leave the schoolhouse, barred the doors using the planks and desks, then lined up the girls along a chalkboard.
A teacher and another adult fled to a nearby farmhouse and called for help.
When police arrived, Miller said, Roberts began panicking and firing his weapons.
Victims identified
He shot all 10 female students left inside the school, including several of them in the back of the head at close range. Some had their feet bound together, while others had their feet tied to another student.
He fired as many as four rounds from a shotgun and 13 rounds from an automatic weapon. He then fired another round into his head, said Miller.
"He shot himself in the head as police were entering," said Miller.
The dead have been identified as Naomi Rose Ebersole, 7, Anna Mae Stoltzfus, 12, Marian Fisher, 13, Mary Liz Miller, 8, and her sister, Lina Miller, 7. Two of the injured are aged eight, while the remaining three are aged six, 11 and 13.
There are no photos of the victims because the Amish forbid photography, based on a biblical commandment.
Miller said Roberts was not targeting the Amish and the school was simply chosen because he wanted to kill young girls.
"This is a horrendous, horrific incident for the Amish community," he said. "They're solid citizens in the community. They're good people."
Danielle
Costume examples
images of amish clothing with some examples of what the young girls would wear aswell as the women
Danielle
Danielle
Wednesday 12 November 2008
Forgiveness and freedom of letting go
hey, heres the vid I was talking about on tues.
Reading the lastest blogs got me thinking more about amish forgiveness, and how I still find it difficult to understand that they forgive Roberts, I know they have to due to religion, but surely this should be an exception they must feel some kind of hate???
I found this clip, which had some interesting descriptions of what forgiveness is,and it enabled me to understand more about why they forgave roberts.
If you've been having the same problem coming to to terms with this, have a look it may help.
:-)
Also i liked how the footage was put together and the music used. Maybe we could use this in some way as part of the performance?
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=3D4VMZb8wLY
Danielle
Reading the lastest blogs got me thinking more about amish forgiveness, and how I still find it difficult to understand that they forgive Roberts, I know they have to due to religion, but surely this should be an exception they must feel some kind of hate???
I found this clip, which had some interesting descriptions of what forgiveness is,and it enabled me to understand more about why they forgave roberts.
If you've been having the same problem coming to to terms with this, have a look it may help.
:-)
Also i liked how the footage was put together and the music used. Maybe we could use this in some way as part of the performance?
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=3D4VMZb8wLY
Danielle
Monday 10 November 2008
Addicted to Life and Death
Hello everyone
We have had comments on the blog from Janice Ballenger - the Deputy Coroner about her forthcoming book. Click on comments under the transcript of the You Tube video or the article on undeserved forgiveness. Let's talk more about this tomorrow. Information about book below.
All best
Michael
Addicted to Life & Death: Memoirs of an EMT and Deputy Coroner
Janice Ballenger
We have had comments on the blog from Janice Ballenger - the Deputy Coroner about her forthcoming book. Click on comments under the transcript of the You Tube video or the article on undeserved forgiveness. Let's talk more about this tomorrow. Information about book below.
All best
Michael
Addicted to Life & Death: Memoirs of an EMT and Deputy Coroner
Janice Ballenger
When Janice Ballenger joined a volunteer rescue company, she began keeping a journal, and clipping news articles about the calls she responded to. Now, as an EMT and deputy coroner, she has seen, smelled and touched things most people have difficulty just hearing about. With the thought of "There's nothing worse that I can see", she continued her job. The Nickel Mines Amish School shootings in October 2006, changed that, when a milk truck driver shot ten Amish girls, and killed himself. Read her story as one of the few people who entered the schoolhouse with the bodies inside.
Saturday 8 November 2008
undeserved forgiveness
JEFF JACOBY
Undeserved forgiveness
By Jeff Jacoby, Globe Columnist | October 8, 2006
``THERE WAS not one desk, not one chair, in the whole schoolroom that was not splattered with either blood or glass. There were bullet holes everywhere -- everywhere."
That description is from Janice Ballenger, a deputy coroner in Lancaster County, Pa. She was among the first to enter the West Nickel Mines Amish School after Charles Roberts murdered five girls and severely wounded five others there last week. One of the bodies she examined was that of Naomi Rose Ebersol , a 7-year-old who had been shot 20 times.
How do civilized human beings react to such an atrocity? With horror? Anger? Hatred?
Not the Amish.
Asked by a reporter if the community was angry about the killings, one Amish grandmother, Lizzie Fisher, was adamant. ``Oh, no, no, definitely not," she said. ``People don't feel that around here. We just don't."
Roberts planned his attack meticulously, making a list of supplies he would need, then gradually buying them over a six-day period. It makes the skin crawl just to read the inventory: nails, bolts, wrenches, bullets, guns, earplugs, wooden planks, rope. Roberts brought plastic ties to bind his victims' feet, chains and clamps for restraint, and tubes of K-Y Jelly, a sexual lubricant. Apparently he ``planned to dig in for the long siege," a Pennsylvania State Police colonel surmised, and ``intended to victimize these children in many ways prior to executing them."
Confronted with such premeditated malevolence, what decent person wouldn't seethe with fury and revulsion? What parent or grandparent wouldn't regard such a massacre as not only unspeakable, but well nigh unforgivable?
The Amish wouldn't.
``I don't think there's anybody here that wants to do anything but forgive," one Lancaster County resident was quoted as saying. ``We don't need to think about judgment; we need to think about forgiveness and going on." Many townspeople announced their forgiveness of Roberts directly to his wife and children .
On CNN, a local pastor recounted how the grandfather of Marian Fisher, one of the murdered girls, told younger relatives not to hate Roberts for killing her.
``As we were standing next to the body of this 13-year-old girl, the grandfather was tutoring the young boys, he was . . . saying to the family, `We must not think evil of this man,' " said the Rev. Robert Schenck. ``It was one of the most touching things I have seen in 25 years of Christian ministry."
I can't deny that it is deeply affecting to see how seriously the Amish strive to heed Jesus' admonition to return good for evil and turn the other cheek. For many Christians, the Amish determination to forgive their daughters' murder is awe-inspiring. In his Beliefnet blog, the eloquent Rod Dreher marvels at CNN's story of the Amish grandfather. ``Could you do that?" he writes. ``Could you stand over the body of a dead child and tell the young not to hate her killer? I could not. Please, God, make me into the sort of man who could."
But hatred is not always wrong, and forgiveness is not always deserved. I admire the Amish villagers' resolve to live up to their Christian ideals even amid heartbreak, but how many of us would really want to live in a society in which no one gets angry when children are slaughtered? In which even the most horrific acts of cruelty were always and instantly forgiven? There is a time to love and a time to hate, Ecclesiastes teaches. If anything deserves to be hated, surely it is the pitiless murder of innocents.
To voluntarily forgive those who have hurt you is beautiful and praiseworthy. That is what Jesus did on the cross, what Christians do when they say the Lord's Prayer, what observant Jews do when they recite the bedtime Kriat Sh'ma. But to forgive those who have hurt -- who have murdered -- someone else? I cannot see how the world is made a better place by assuring someone who would do terrible things to others that he will be readily forgiven afterward, even if he shows no remorse.
There are indications that the killer in this case may have been in the grip of depression or delusion . Perhaps it was madness more than evil that drove him to commit this horror, in which case forgiveness might be more understandable.
But the Amish make it clear that their reaction would be the same either way. I wish them well, but I would not want to be like them, reacting to terrible crimes with dispassion and absolution. ``Let those who love the Lord hate evil," the Psalmist writes. The murder of the Amish girls was a deeply hateful evil. There is nothing godly about pretending it wasn't.
Jeff Jacoby's e-mail address is jacoby@globe.com.
© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
The awkward encounter that began Amish school nightmare
By Sam Knight
timesonline
(this article features somedetails I did not pick up on earlier...)
The man at the classroom door was wearing a baseball cap and holding a clevis, a U-shaped piece of metal with holes at each end. He asked the teacher whether anyone had seen one lying around in the road.
Emma Mae Zook, a 20-year-old teacher at the Georgetown Amish School, was put off by his manner — he stood close to her, talking quietly and would not meet her eye — but she stopped her German and spelling lesson and said that she and the children would look out for it.
Then Charles Carl Roberts IV turned around, walked to a pick-up truck parked outside and came back with a shotgun.
Ms Zook, describing the opening minutes of Monday's school shooting in the tiny village of Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, told a local newspaper today that that was the moment she ran to a neighbouring farm to raise the alarm.
Interviews with Ms Zook, her relatives and some of the first emergency officials to arrive at the scene of the shooting have shed more light on the half-hour ordeal that ended with the shooting of ten Amish girls — the deaths of five — and the tearing up of the innocence and calm of one of America's most reclusive communities.
Several members of Ms Zook's family happened to be in her classroom when Roberts, a 32-year-old milk truck driver, appeared at the door. When he re-appeared for the second time, she told the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal that she made eye contact with her mother and they both ran.
Ms Zook's sister-in-law, Sarah, remained behind in the classroom and watched Roberts order a boy to chase the two women and tell them that he would start shooting unless they came back.
The boy's sister, nine-year-old Emma Fischer, ran with him, an instinctive decision that probably saved her life. Their two older sisters were both shot by Roberts: Marian, 13, died, while Barbie, 11, remains in intensive care.
In the minutes that followed, Roberts sent out Sarah, her two young children, and a 21-year-old woman who is eight months pregnant. They stood, unsure what to do, outside the school as Roberts lined up the students against the blackboard. In time, the boys started trickling out of the room and the group started walking to the neighbouring farm.
That's when they heard "pounding" coming from the schoolhouse: the sound of Roberts nailing planks across the doors, shoving desks against the main entrance and, according to police, beginning what he intended to be a prolonged assault of the ten girls under his control.
But two state troopers arrived at the schoolhouse within minutes, followed by eight others, and in the midst of an attempt to make him talk to a hostage negotiator, Roberts started shooting the girls, all of them at close range, before killing himself.
Janice Ballenger, a deputy coroner of Lancaster County, was given the task of checking the dead. She examined Naomi Rose Ebersol, a 7-year-old girl who had died in a policeman's arms, in the school playground.
"She was a 7-year-old angel," she told the Intelligencer Journal. "Kneeling next to the body and counting all the bullet holes was the worst part."
Inside the classroom, "there wasn’t a desk or chair in the room that wasn’t covered in blood or broken glass", said Ms Ballenger. Among stickers of smiling faces and a sign that read "Visitors Brighten People’s Days", she declared Roberts, who had shot himself in the head, dead, and found the body of Anna Mae Stoltzfus, 12, by the blackboard.
Two other girls, sisters Lena and Mary Liz Miller, aged 7 and 8, died of their wounds in separate hospitals overnight. Four more remain in a critical condition.
Ballenger's fellow deputy coroner, Amanda Shelley, was also at the scene: "It was something that I never expected to see in Lancaster County. I realize that my job comes with seeing things that most people wouldn’t want to, but the experience has left me in a fog."
In the post below it states that the new school was build as different as possible from the previous one.
Could that inform our set? We could deconstruct parts of the set and rearrange them as different as possible...
When we were looking at the barn raising before term break we were considering someone representing a child sitting aside on stage building a mini barn with kid´s wooden building blocks. Maybe that could become the new school building?
I still like the idea of building/ deconstructing something on stage, let it be a barn or a school...
Schoolhouse demolished
The West Nickel Mines School was demolished the following week, on October 12, 2006. The site was left as a quiet pasture. A new schoolhouse, called the New Hope School, was built at a different location, near the original site. It opened on April 2, 2007, precisely six months after the shooting. The new school was intentionally built as "different" as possible from the original, including the style of the flooring.
Some of the Amish parents in the region are reluctant to send their children to the new school and instead prefer to educate them at home.
wiki
names of the girls in the school- wikipedia
Victims
[edit]
Fatalities
Naomi Rose Ebersol, aged 7, died at the scene October 2, 2006.[37][38]
Marian Stoltzfus Fisher, aged 13, died at the scene October 2, 2006.[38][39]
Anna Mae Stoltzfus, aged 12, was declared dead on arrival at Lancaster General Hospital, Lancaster, Pennsylvania October 2, 2006.[38][40]
Lena Zook Miller, aged 7, died at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania on October 3, 2006.[41]
Mary Liz Miller, aged 8, died at Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware on October 3, 2006.[42]
[edit]
Injured
All of the surviving Amish schoolgirls were hospitalized.
Rosanna King, 6 years old, was removed from life support at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and sent home at the request of her family on October 4, 2006.[43] Some reports claim the child showed signs of recovery and was sent back to the hospital. Her condition improved, though she is still greatly impaired from the shooting and remains at home. [41][44]
Rachel Ann Stoltzfus, 8 years old[45]
Barbie Fisher, 10 years old[46]
Sarah Ann Stoltzfus, 12 years old
Esther King, 13 years old
The girls wounded in the shooting have made measurable progress in the year since the shooting. Sara Ann Stoltzfus, now 9, does not have full vision in her left eye but is back at school — she was not expected to survive. Barbie Fisher, now 9, pitches in the school softball but just underwent another shoulder operation in hopes of strengthening her right arm. Rachel Ann Stoltzfus, now 9, returned to school in the months after the shooting. Esther King, now 14, returned to school in the months after shooting, graduated and is now working on the family farm.[47] The youngest victim, Rosanna King, 6, wasn't expected to survive and was sent home to die there. She had serious brain injuries and does not walk or talk as of October 2007. Rosanna is confined to a wheelchair, but is said to recognize family members and frequently smiles.[48]
[edit]
Fatalities
Naomi Rose Ebersol, aged 7, died at the scene October 2, 2006.[37][38]
Marian Stoltzfus Fisher, aged 13, died at the scene October 2, 2006.[38][39]
Anna Mae Stoltzfus, aged 12, was declared dead on arrival at Lancaster General Hospital, Lancaster, Pennsylvania October 2, 2006.[38][40]
Lena Zook Miller, aged 7, died at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania on October 3, 2006.[41]
Mary Liz Miller, aged 8, died at Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware on October 3, 2006.[42]
[edit]
Injured
All of the surviving Amish schoolgirls were hospitalized.
Rosanna King, 6 years old, was removed from life support at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and sent home at the request of her family on October 4, 2006.[43] Some reports claim the child showed signs of recovery and was sent back to the hospital. Her condition improved, though she is still greatly impaired from the shooting and remains at home. [41][44]
Rachel Ann Stoltzfus, 8 years old[45]
Barbie Fisher, 10 years old[46]
Sarah Ann Stoltzfus, 12 years old
Esther King, 13 years old
The girls wounded in the shooting have made measurable progress in the year since the shooting. Sara Ann Stoltzfus, now 9, does not have full vision in her left eye but is back at school — she was not expected to survive. Barbie Fisher, now 9, pitches in the school softball but just underwent another shoulder operation in hopes of strengthening her right arm. Rachel Ann Stoltzfus, now 9, returned to school in the months after the shooting. Esther King, now 14, returned to school in the months after shooting, graduated and is now working on the family farm.[47] The youngest victim, Rosanna King, 6, wasn't expected to survive and was sent home to die there. She had serious brain injuries and does not walk or talk as of October 2007. Rosanna is confined to a wheelchair, but is said to recognize family members and frequently smiles.[48]
Friday 7 November 2008
after Dogville
Hi all, after we watched Dogville today we had a bit of a chat regarding the piece. Stuff that came up was:
blackboard floor? possible to outline the set in chalk, wipe out, redraw (mopping up chalky water might give some nice milky effect)
which could in detail be picked up by someone with video camera (following, overview from top of a ladder, passing the camera on, etc)
We all liked how actors were miming props and doors and the sounds they would make were to be heard
Will we create sound on stage? (thinking "All quiet...", coconut shells...)
Shall we prerecord sound and operate on stage?
everyone is teching, everyone is acting- operating sound, video and light from the stage
For anyone who could not make it, these are ideas, nothing has been decided, please comment!!
Am I forgetting anything?
blackboard floor? possible to outline the set in chalk, wipe out, redraw (mopping up chalky water might give some nice milky effect)
which could in detail be picked up by someone with video camera (following, overview from top of a ladder, passing the camera on, etc)
We all liked how actors were miming props and doors and the sounds they would make were to be heard
Will we create sound on stage? (thinking "All quiet...", coconut shells...)
Shall we prerecord sound and operate on stage?
everyone is teching, everyone is acting- operating sound, video and light from the stage
For anyone who could not make it, these are ideas, nothing has been decided, please comment!!
Am I forgetting anything?
Wednesday 5 November 2008
Amish Forgiveness- transcript
Amish Forgiveness is Christ-like
(Transciption of you tube video)
Keith Olbermann:
It was just one of the many extraordinary gestures of forgiveness contained in our number three story in the countdown tonight.
The family of Marian Fisher,
one of the Amish girls killed in a school house on monday,
invited the widow of her killer
to their little girl`s funeral this morning.
That funeral, one of four, on this sad day there,
the fifth is scheduled for tomorrow.
The funeral procession today is simple and humble
from a community
that has met an awful event
with dignity and abiding humanity.
Our correspondend in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania , is Rheema Ellis.
Rehema Ellis:
The horse drawn carriage processions were in step with age old Amish tradition.
First the body of seven year old Naomi Rose Ebersol.
Hours later the body of thirteen year old Marian Fisher.
And late this afternoon the seven year old Lena Miller
and her eight year old sister Mary Liz.
Keeping with tradition the families prepared the bodies.
The young victims clothed in white dresses,
handmade by their mothers.
The services are plain and private.
There is a short sermon and scripture is read.
There is no eulogy.
Just respect for the life.
But not praise.
They reserve that for god.
Kevin King:
There will be ah
Words of comfort.
Read from the bible.
From the german bible.
Ähm
It will be a solemn time.
It will be a time of we´re coming together once again
And just being together.
Ah-Crying on each others shoulders.
Rehema Ellis:
While the non-Amish community was not part of the processions
Many are showing support in other ways.
Much of it in the form of money.
More than 500.000 dollars has been donated to charities
set up for the Amish,
something they are unaccustomed to accepting.
Kevin King:
Far and wide the churches are bringing meals.
We are hearing of co-operations and companies providing food.
They said to me:
you know,
we could handle this on our own.
But- that would not be Christ-like.
Why should we stop people from being a blessing to us?
Rehema Ellis:
And although the Amish recognise the community outpouring as a blessing
What´s needed most now, they said,
are prayers.
Tonight four other girls remain hospitalised,
another student reportedly has been taken off life support.
There is another funeral tomorrow.
But members of this Amish community fear
it may not be the last.
Keith-
Keith Olbermann:
Rehema Ellis
Great
Thanks
Thursday 23 October 2008
Forgiveness and Freedom of Letting go
Ive added this footage too as it could be use towards our performance mixed with our own pictures and music, just for an idea.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?=3D4VMZb8wLY
Alison
On making sure this link worked it did not so you will have to maybe look on youtube and type the title you see in the title box, or you can access it on privios video on youtube.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?=3D4VMZb8wLY
Alison
On making sure this link worked it did not so you will have to maybe look on youtube and type the title you see in the title box, or you can access it on privios video on youtube.
Amish Forgiveness is Christ Like
This youtube footage may be of interest too you, as the parents of one of the Amish girls killed, invited the widow of the girls killer to the funarel of the young girl.
Alison
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=p_D_Z9bskqM
Alison
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=p_D_Z9bskqM
Forgiveness at the Core of Amish Beliefs
From what we talked about of what forgiveness was, I looked it up in the dictionary of the meaning of forgiveness http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgivenessand also looked in the Bible of (Matthew Chapter 6) Teaching about Prayer.
Although most of us know the Lords Prayer, here is a different way of saying it.....
Our Father in Heaven
May your holy name be honoured
May your kingdom come
May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven
Give us today the food we need
FORGIVE us the wrongs we have done as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us.
Do not bring us to hard testing, but keep us safe from the evil one.
Now in verse 14 of Matthew Chapter 6, it is said:-
If you forgive others the wrongs they have done to you, your father in heaven will also forgive you.
But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive the wrongs you have done.
I suppose from reading this, the Amish believe it so much, that they had to forgive the man who murdered their children.
As I googled the internet for What Forgiveness ment for the Amish, I came up on (Forgiveness at the Core of Amish Beliefs
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06277/727246-85.stm
I also have added another link to the Rebel God Amish Forgiveness, how the word Forgiveness links with the Cross... This brings us again back to why the Amish Forgave the enemy for the Murder. "A person who has forgiven a grivous wrong done to them, can understand the meaning of the cross better then a thousand theologians"
http://sharktacos.com/God/2006/10/amish-Forgiveness.html
Alison
Although most of us know the Lords Prayer, here is a different way of saying it.....
Our Father in Heaven
May your holy name be honoured
May your kingdom come
May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven
Give us today the food we need
FORGIVE us the wrongs we have done as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us.
Do not bring us to hard testing, but keep us safe from the evil one.
Now in verse 14 of Matthew Chapter 6, it is said:-
If you forgive others the wrongs they have done to you, your father in heaven will also forgive you.
But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive the wrongs you have done.
I suppose from reading this, the Amish believe it so much, that they had to forgive the man who murdered their children.
As I googled the internet for What Forgiveness ment for the Amish, I came up on (Forgiveness at the Core of Amish Beliefs
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06277/727246-85.stm
I also have added another link to the Rebel God Amish Forgiveness, how the word Forgiveness links with the Cross... This brings us again back to why the Amish Forgave the enemy for the Murder. "A person who has forgiven a grivous wrong done to them, can understand the meaning of the cross better then a thousand theologians"
http://sharktacos.com/God/2006/10/amish-Forgiveness.html
Alison
Wednesday 22 October 2008
Hope is the thing with feathers
"Hope" is the thing with feathers—
That perches in the soul—
And sings the tune without the words—
And never stops—at all—
And sweetest—in the Gale—is heard—
And sore must be the storm—
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm—
I've heard it in the chillest land—
And on the strangest Sea—
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb—of Me.
Emily Dickinson
Acceptance · Affection · Alertness · Ambivalence · Anger · Angst · Annoyance · Anticipation · Anxiety · Apathy · Awe · Boredom · Calmness · Compassion · Confusion · Contempt · Contentment · Curiosity · Depression · Desire · Disappointment · Disgust · Doubt · Ecstasy · Embarrassment · Empathy · Emptiness · Enthusiasm · Envy · Epiphany · Euphoria · Fanaticism · Fear · Frustration · Gratification · Gratitude · Grief · Guilt · Happiness · Hatred · Homesickness · Hope · Horror · Hostility · Humiliation · Hysteria · Inspiration · Interest · Jealousy · Kindness · Limerence · Loneliness · Love · Lust · Melancholia · Nostalgia · Panic · Patience · Pity · Pride · Rage · Regret · Remorse · Repentance · Resentment · Righteous indignation · Sadness · Schadenfreude · Self-pity · Shame · Shyness · Suffering · Surprise · Suspicion · Sympathy · Wonder · Worry
Amish shooting
I was researching more about the Amish community and I stumbled across an article with more information about what happened in the actual school room http://www.800padutch.com/amishshooting.shtml
Devils Playground
Here some footage from Devils playground part one of eight.http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDzDeJ5itr8
In this first part we may get some ideas on how to approch the Amish way incorperate it into the performance, for more footage just visit youtube and type in Devils Playground if link does not work.
These footages from the devils playground are shocking, when i was watching the 2nd part the young Amish boy was selling crack/drugs, to keep a wage, he wants to join the Amish forgood its going to be tricky to give up, if he is using too.
Also if you check out the school thats featured in the clips, it goes with what we disscussed in the lesson..... The School is white all white..
So please get to look at the devils play ground there are eight parts to it.
Footage is even shown of the barn building.
Where does forgiveness come in, well although the Amish forgive, if an Amish 16 year old changed their minds after joing the church, the family will shun them, sort of not forgiving them for breaking a promise... its there last way to tell the childeren they love them, as all ties are severed.
Alison
In this first part we may get some ideas on how to approch the Amish way incorperate it into the performance, for more footage just visit youtube and type in Devils Playground if link does not work.
These footages from the devils playground are shocking, when i was watching the 2nd part the young Amish boy was selling crack/drugs, to keep a wage, he wants to join the Amish forgood its going to be tricky to give up, if he is using too.
Also if you check out the school thats featured in the clips, it goes with what we disscussed in the lesson..... The School is white all white..
So please get to look at the devils play ground there are eight parts to it.
Footage is even shown of the barn building.
Where does forgiveness come in, well although the Amish forgive, if an Amish 16 year old changed their minds after joing the church, the family will shun them, sort of not forgiving them for breaking a promise... its there last way to tell the childeren they love them, as all ties are severed.
Alison
Plain Secrets
On further information you may want to look at this page of an outsiders look of the Armish before we get too indepth of the Amish way of life for performance our selves. To allows to understand the way the Amish are percived from the otherside.
Alison
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyld=11164344
Alison
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyld=11164344
Saturday 18 October 2008
When The Man Comes Around...
I love a bit of Johnny Cash, and as i was in the car with my ipod on...this song came on and it immediately drew my mind to our work that we have done so far. i think that certain lines seem relevant and i like the music as well as the lyrics, i will try and remember to bring it in on tuesday so you guys can have a listen and see if you likey :D
And I heard as it were the noise of thunder
One of the four beasts saying come and see and I saw
And behold a white horse
There's a man going around taking names
And he decides who to free and who to blame
Everybody won't be treated all the same
There'll be a golden ladder reaching down
When the Man comes around
The hairs on your arm will stand up
At the terror in each sip and in each sup
Will you partake of that last offered cup?
Or disappear into the potter's ground
When the Man comes around
Hear the trumpets, hear the pipers
One hundred million angels singing
Multitudes are marching to the big kettledrum
Voices calling, voices crying Some are born and some are dying
It's Alpha and Omega's kingdom come
And the whirlwind is in the thorn tree
The virgins are all trimming their wicks
The whirlwind is in the thorn tree
It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks
Till Armageddon no shalam, no shalom
Then the father hen will call his chickens home
The wise man will bow down before the throne
And at His feet they'll cast their golden crowns
When the Man comes around
Whoever is unjust let him be unjust still
Whoever is righteous let him be righteous still
Whoever is filthy let him be filthy still
Listen to the words long written down
When the Man comes around
Hear the trumpets, hear the pipers
One hundred million angels singing
Multitudes are marching to the big kettledrum
Voices calling and voices crying Some are born and some are dying
It's Alpha and Omega's kingdom come
And the whirlwind is in the thorn tree
The virgins are all trimming their wicks
The whirlwind is in the thorn tree
It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks
In measured hundred weight and penney pound
When the Man comes around.
(Spoken part)And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beastsAnd I looked and behold, a pale horse
And his name that sat on him was Death...And Hell followed with him.
Jodie xx
And I heard as it were the noise of thunder
One of the four beasts saying come and see and I saw
And behold a white horse
There's a man going around taking names
And he decides who to free and who to blame
Everybody won't be treated all the same
There'll be a golden ladder reaching down
When the Man comes around
The hairs on your arm will stand up
At the terror in each sip and in each sup
Will you partake of that last offered cup?
Or disappear into the potter's ground
When the Man comes around
Hear the trumpets, hear the pipers
One hundred million angels singing
Multitudes are marching to the big kettledrum
Voices calling, voices crying Some are born and some are dying
It's Alpha and Omega's kingdom come
And the whirlwind is in the thorn tree
The virgins are all trimming their wicks
The whirlwind is in the thorn tree
It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks
Till Armageddon no shalam, no shalom
Then the father hen will call his chickens home
The wise man will bow down before the throne
And at His feet they'll cast their golden crowns
When the Man comes around
Whoever is unjust let him be unjust still
Whoever is righteous let him be righteous still
Whoever is filthy let him be filthy still
Listen to the words long written down
When the Man comes around
Hear the trumpets, hear the pipers
One hundred million angels singing
Multitudes are marching to the big kettledrum
Voices calling and voices crying Some are born and some are dying
It's Alpha and Omega's kingdom come
And the whirlwind is in the thorn tree
The virgins are all trimming their wicks
The whirlwind is in the thorn tree
It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks
In measured hundred weight and penney pound
When the Man comes around.
(Spoken part)And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beastsAnd I looked and behold, a pale horse
And his name that sat on him was Death...And Hell followed with him.
Jodie xx
Thursday 16 October 2008
Amish Vid
I've just watched this you tube vid about Amish Grace its a book about the Amish and from what I can make out it also talks about the killings and the forgiveness of the Amish community the vid also talks a little about some of the surviving girls which I thought was good as I haven't come across the survivers of the shooting. The vid is good as you learn more about the Amish way and their forgiveness but also about Robert and his family http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gAmeJHXcw4w
Where is my focus...
I don´t know about you guys, but researching this got me revolving a bit around the aspect of the murderer, thinking about what drives a mind that far out, etc, realising that I cant comprehend it, or maybe dont want to.
I guess we all know guilt,fear, shame and hatred to a certain extend, maybe that was it but times a million...
What I find actually more interesting is the aspect of forgiveness. So I m gonna start looking that way research wise, kicking it off with good old wikipedia (yes, how uncreative)...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgiveness
Forgiveness
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Forgiveness (disambiguation).
Forgiveness is typically defined as the process of ceasing to feel resentment, indignation or anger for a perceived offense, difference or mistake, and ceasing to demand punishment or restitution.[1]
This definition, however, is subject to much philosophical critique. Forgiveness may be considered simply in terms of the person who forgives, in terms of the person forgiven and/or in terms of the relationship between the forgiver and the person forgiven. In some contexts, forgiveness may be granted without any expectation of compensation, and without any response on the part of the offender (for example, one may forgive a person who is dead). In practical terms, it may be necessary for the offender to offer some form of acknowledgment, apology, and/or restitution, or even just ask for forgiveness, in order for the wronged person to believe they are able to forgive.[1]
Most world religions include teachings on the nature of forgiveness, and many of these teachings provide an underlying basis for many varying modern day traditions and practices of forgiveness. The Prodigal Son[2] is a well known instance of such teaching and practice of forgiveness. Some religious doctrines or philosophies place greater emphasis on the need for humans to find some sort of divine forgiveness for their own shortcomings, others place greater emphasis on the need for humans to practice forgiveness between one another, yet others make little or no distinction between human and/or divine forgiveness.
However, throughout the ages, philosophers have studied forgiveness apart from religion. Scientific fields such as psychology, sociology and medicine have also studied forgiveness.
Forgiveness doesn't mean a denial of someone's responsibility for wrongdoing, and it doesn't minimize or justify the wrong. One can forgive the person without excusing the act. Depending on the degree and circumstance of the offense, (typically, in assault and murder), the victim can forgive without the need of the offender's interaction or permission. It's often held that an offender should never ask for forgiveness if there is any possibility of hurting the victim any further.
...
Popular recognition of forgiveness
The need to forgive is widely recognized by the public, but they are often at a loss for ways to accomplish it. For example, in a large representative sampling of American people on various religious topics in 1988, the Gallup Organization found that 94% said it was important to forgive, but 85% said they needed some outside help to be able to forgive. However, not even regular prayer was found to be effective. The Gallup poll revealed that the only thing that was effective was "meditative prayer".[14]
[edit]
Forgiveness as a foundation for authoritarian control
Yoga teachers Joel Kramer and Diana Alstead analyse the use of unconditional love and the associated concept of forgiveness as a foundation for authoritarian control.[15] They survey religions worldwide to make their assertion that religious imperatives of forgiveness are often used to perpetrate cycles of ongoing abuse. They state that "to forgive without requiring the other to change is not only self-destructive, but ensures a dysfunctional relationship will remain so by continually rewarding mistreatment."
...
Hinduism
The concept of performing atonement from one's wrongdoing (Prayaschitta — Sanskrit: Penance), and asking for forgiveness is very much a part of the practice of Hinduism. Prayashitta is related to the law of Karma. Karma is a sum of all that an individual has done, is currently doing and will do. The effects of those deeds and these deeds actively create present and future experiences, thus making one responsible for one's own life, and the pain in others.
Forgiveness is a great power
Addressing Dhritarashtra, Vidura said: "There is one only defect in forgiving persons, and not another; that defect is that people take a forgiving person to be weak. That defect, however, should not be taken into consideration, for forgiveness is a great power. Forgiveness is a virtue of the weak, and an ornament of the strong. Forgiveness subdues (all) in this world; what is there that forgiveness cannot achieve? What can a wicked person do unto him who carries the sabre of forgiveness in his hand? Fire falling on the grassless ground is extinguished of itself. And unforgiving individual defiles himself with many enormities. Righteousness is the one highest good; and forgiveness is the one supreme peace; knowledge is one supreme contentment; and benevolence, one sole happiness." (From the Mahabharata, Udyoga Parva Section XXXIII, Translated by Sri Kisari Mohan Ganguli).[7]
I guess we all know guilt,fear, shame and hatred to a certain extend, maybe that was it but times a million...
What I find actually more interesting is the aspect of forgiveness. So I m gonna start looking that way research wise, kicking it off with good old wikipedia (yes, how uncreative)...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgiveness
Forgiveness
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Forgiveness (disambiguation).
Forgiveness is typically defined as the process of ceasing to feel resentment, indignation or anger for a perceived offense, difference or mistake, and ceasing to demand punishment or restitution.[1]
This definition, however, is subject to much philosophical critique. Forgiveness may be considered simply in terms of the person who forgives, in terms of the person forgiven and/or in terms of the relationship between the forgiver and the person forgiven. In some contexts, forgiveness may be granted without any expectation of compensation, and without any response on the part of the offender (for example, one may forgive a person who is dead). In practical terms, it may be necessary for the offender to offer some form of acknowledgment, apology, and/or restitution, or even just ask for forgiveness, in order for the wronged person to believe they are able to forgive.[1]
Most world religions include teachings on the nature of forgiveness, and many of these teachings provide an underlying basis for many varying modern day traditions and practices of forgiveness. The Prodigal Son[2] is a well known instance of such teaching and practice of forgiveness. Some religious doctrines or philosophies place greater emphasis on the need for humans to find some sort of divine forgiveness for their own shortcomings, others place greater emphasis on the need for humans to practice forgiveness between one another, yet others make little or no distinction between human and/or divine forgiveness.
However, throughout the ages, philosophers have studied forgiveness apart from religion. Scientific fields such as psychology, sociology and medicine have also studied forgiveness.
Forgiveness doesn't mean a denial of someone's responsibility for wrongdoing, and it doesn't minimize or justify the wrong. One can forgive the person without excusing the act. Depending on the degree and circumstance of the offense, (typically, in assault and murder), the victim can forgive without the need of the offender's interaction or permission. It's often held that an offender should never ask for forgiveness if there is any possibility of hurting the victim any further.
...
Popular recognition of forgiveness
The need to forgive is widely recognized by the public, but they are often at a loss for ways to accomplish it. For example, in a large representative sampling of American people on various religious topics in 1988, the Gallup Organization found that 94% said it was important to forgive, but 85% said they needed some outside help to be able to forgive. However, not even regular prayer was found to be effective. The Gallup poll revealed that the only thing that was effective was "meditative prayer".[14]
[edit]
Forgiveness as a foundation for authoritarian control
Yoga teachers Joel Kramer and Diana Alstead analyse the use of unconditional love and the associated concept of forgiveness as a foundation for authoritarian control.[15] They survey religions worldwide to make their assertion that religious imperatives of forgiveness are often used to perpetrate cycles of ongoing abuse. They state that "to forgive without requiring the other to change is not only self-destructive, but ensures a dysfunctional relationship will remain so by continually rewarding mistreatment."
...
Hinduism
The concept of performing atonement from one's wrongdoing (Prayaschitta — Sanskrit: Penance), and asking for forgiveness is very much a part of the practice of Hinduism. Prayashitta is related to the law of Karma. Karma is a sum of all that an individual has done, is currently doing and will do. The effects of those deeds and these deeds actively create present and future experiences, thus making one responsible for one's own life, and the pain in others.
Forgiveness is a great power
Addressing Dhritarashtra, Vidura said: "There is one only defect in forgiving persons, and not another; that defect is that people take a forgiving person to be weak. That defect, however, should not be taken into consideration, for forgiveness is a great power. Forgiveness is a virtue of the weak, and an ornament of the strong. Forgiveness subdues (all) in this world; what is there that forgiveness cannot achieve? What can a wicked person do unto him who carries the sabre of forgiveness in his hand? Fire falling on the grassless ground is extinguished of itself. And unforgiving individual defiles himself with many enormities. Righteousness is the one highest good; and forgiveness is the one supreme peace; knowledge is one supreme contentment; and benevolence, one sole happiness." (From the Mahabharata, Udyoga Parva Section XXXIII, Translated by Sri Kisari Mohan Ganguli).[7]
Wednesday 8 October 2008
music and thoughts on peoples reactions
What about ´in heaven everything is fine` from the Eraserhead movie? Also available as the Pixies cover. All on u tube.
It´s a bit like a mantra of consolation, is it too sarcastic? I guess that´s what I like about it.
I was thinking about the voices of the people left behind, not only the amish, but also the wider public and their reactions to the tragedy. How is the media dealing with the subject- what a convoy- have u seen it on the u tube video? And then the woman lamenting on the roadside. It seemed like she used the situation to produce herself, or is that her way of dealing with grief? What do I know.
In the book ´Hey Nostradamus` The first quarter of the story is the voice of a shot schoolgirl, remembering the incident, intercut with the curses and prayers of people left behind. I think that´s quite a good way of showing a scope of reactions to a described event...
It´s a bit like a mantra of consolation, is it too sarcastic? I guess that´s what I like about it.
I was thinking about the voices of the people left behind, not only the amish, but also the wider public and their reactions to the tragedy. How is the media dealing with the subject- what a convoy- have u seen it on the u tube video? And then the woman lamenting on the roadside. It seemed like she used the situation to produce herself, or is that her way of dealing with grief? What do I know.
In the book ´Hey Nostradamus` The first quarter of the story is the voice of a shot schoolgirl, remembering the incident, intercut with the curses and prayers of people left behind. I think that´s quite a good way of showing a scope of reactions to a described event...
music
What do you think about using Beethoven´s Für Elise? Too over used? I guess it´s a connection as the murderes infant daughter was called Elise...
Amish Poem
Sonnets for the Amish Girls of Nickel Mines
By Ann Hostetler
I.
He tied their legs together, made them face
the blackboard, released their brothers, mothers,
teachers, then barred the doors with two-by-fours.
Ten pairs of toes lined up in place.
Ten pairs of arms could not erase
a moment set in motion by such error.
Ten starched white caps could not conceal their terror
as ten heads bowed in simple grace.
Where once they took their turns to stand apart
and write a sum or sentence they had learned,
(the unprepared might feel some mild concern),
they now could hear each others’ beating hearts
as his handgun called the roll—Mary,
Lena, Marian, Anna Mae, Naomi Rose.
II.
Naomi Rose, Mary, Lena, Marian
and Anna Mae – dressed in white by family
and placed in wooden caskets on display
for last loving looks from friends and kin –
now ride in somber carriages again
past the home of him who took their life away
leaving a family puzzled and betrayed
of all they thought he could be as a man.
Their last journey protected by patrol
– even reporters must have a pass –
they move on to church and grave. We are left
without a verse or story to console
us on an autumn day whose shining grass
reflects the sun, a blue sky of clouds bereft.
III.
A blue sky of clouds bereft, wide open
to receive the innocent. But those who live
must have their explanation; the other five
girls recover in intensive care – again
they’ll have to live the moments of their pain
even as their families struggle to forgive
the gunman, receive his widow, kids.
For us or them, life will never be the same.
We wait to gather crumbs of consolation
from what they can remember or will tell
of what’s unspeakable: the oldest girl
offering to be shot in lieu of others,
her slumped body found beneath chalked letters:
unexpected visitors bring sunshine.
IV.
Unexpected visitors bring sunshine:
the covered casserole still oven-warm,
gleaming jars of produce from the farm
home-preserved: peaches, cucumbers in brine,
blackberry jam, hard-boiled eggs stained with wine
of red-beet juice. This red will do no harm.
This giver’s knock brings blessing, not alarm,
an offering to those who’ve lost in kind.
The scattered toys, the silent house awash
in grief that stunned a family unable
to believe what had been done. The Amish
givers ease the unlocked door ajar and rest
the box of food on the empty kitchen table.
Forgiveness is the unexpected guest.
© 2006 by Ann Hostetler. All rights reserved.
By Ann Hostetler
I.
He tied their legs together, made them face
the blackboard, released their brothers, mothers,
teachers, then barred the doors with two-by-fours.
Ten pairs of toes lined up in place.
Ten pairs of arms could not erase
a moment set in motion by such error.
Ten starched white caps could not conceal their terror
as ten heads bowed in simple grace.
Where once they took their turns to stand apart
and write a sum or sentence they had learned,
(the unprepared might feel some mild concern),
they now could hear each others’ beating hearts
as his handgun called the roll—Mary,
Lena, Marian, Anna Mae, Naomi Rose.
II.
Naomi Rose, Mary, Lena, Marian
and Anna Mae – dressed in white by family
and placed in wooden caskets on display
for last loving looks from friends and kin –
now ride in somber carriages again
past the home of him who took their life away
leaving a family puzzled and betrayed
of all they thought he could be as a man.
Their last journey protected by patrol
– even reporters must have a pass –
they move on to church and grave. We are left
without a verse or story to console
us on an autumn day whose shining grass
reflects the sun, a blue sky of clouds bereft.
III.
A blue sky of clouds bereft, wide open
to receive the innocent. But those who live
must have their explanation; the other five
girls recover in intensive care – again
they’ll have to live the moments of their pain
even as their families struggle to forgive
the gunman, receive his widow, kids.
For us or them, life will never be the same.
We wait to gather crumbs of consolation
from what they can remember or will tell
of what’s unspeakable: the oldest girl
offering to be shot in lieu of others,
her slumped body found beneath chalked letters:
unexpected visitors bring sunshine.
IV.
Unexpected visitors bring sunshine:
the covered casserole still oven-warm,
gleaming jars of produce from the farm
home-preserved: peaches, cucumbers in brine,
blackberry jam, hard-boiled eggs stained with wine
of red-beet juice. This red will do no harm.
This giver’s knock brings blessing, not alarm,
an offering to those who’ve lost in kind.
The scattered toys, the silent house awash
in grief that stunned a family unable
to believe what had been done. The Amish
givers ease the unlocked door ajar and rest
the box of food on the empty kitchen table.
Forgiveness is the unexpected guest.
© 2006 by Ann Hostetler. All rights reserved.
Tuesday 7 October 2008
videos on the amish
Heres a link to a few videos on the amish community that I think could be useful
http://www.padutch.com/amishvideo.shtml
http://www.padutch.com/amishvideo.shtml
The Amish Community
Originaly from Germany, The Amish in Pensilvania Dutch Country / Lancaster Country known as 'plain People', are an old order who are different from most Americans by choice and are very devoted to their faith.
They use horse drawn power and separate them selves from the modern world, preferring the natural traditional way of life of farming and forgoing the luxury's of television, Radio, cars and electricity.
They take the bible commands sirriusly and the 25 different Amish, Mennonite Brethren Church groups, each have their own traditions and bible interpretations.
By keeping separate from the modern world, helps their community strengthen.
The community do allow their teenage children however to venture out into the modern world when they turn 16 years of age.
This is so they can experince for themselves what the modern world is like. The thought behind this is to allow the young Amish to make a choice between the life they know and the strange modern way of life. Usualy the modern way of life is too much to take in and understand so they return to the natural way of life in the Amish Comunity.
There is A book by Tom Shachtman's Rum Springa: To be or not to be, Amish had its beginnings in the research done for the documentry film (Devils Playground. He mentions things that parents can learn from the Amish Pactice.
The web sites below may be worth looking at.
Alison Darksus
www.800padutch.com/amish.shtml - The Amish and the Plain People of Lancaster County PA
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyld=5455572 - Rumspringa: Amish Teens Venture into Modern Vices: NPR
They use horse drawn power and separate them selves from the modern world, preferring the natural traditional way of life of farming and forgoing the luxury's of television, Radio, cars and electricity.
They take the bible commands sirriusly and the 25 different Amish, Mennonite Brethren Church groups, each have their own traditions and bible interpretations.
By keeping separate from the modern world, helps their community strengthen.
The community do allow their teenage children however to venture out into the modern world when they turn 16 years of age.
This is so they can experince for themselves what the modern world is like. The thought behind this is to allow the young Amish to make a choice between the life they know and the strange modern way of life. Usualy the modern way of life is too much to take in and understand so they return to the natural way of life in the Amish Comunity.
There is A book by Tom Shachtman's Rum Springa: To be or not to be, Amish had its beginnings in the research done for the documentry film (Devils Playground. He mentions things that parents can learn from the Amish Pactice.
The web sites below may be worth looking at.
Alison Darksus
www.800padutch.com/amish.shtml - The Amish and the Plain People of Lancaster County PA
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyld=5455572 - Rumspringa: Amish Teens Venture into Modern Vices: NPR
WHAT MAKES A MAN SHOOT OTHERS AND THEN HIMSELF?
Columbine
On April 20th 1999 two high school students 18 year old Dylan Klebold and 17 year old Eric Harris walked into Columbine High in Littleton Colorado and in less than 15 minutes had shot and killed 12 students and a teacher, had injured 23 pupils and left thousands psychologically traumatised (Lawrence & Birkland, 2004 p1193). They then turned their guns on themselves. The boys were armed with 4 guns, over 900 rounds of ammunition (bought from the local K-Mart) and 50 explosive devices. It is interesting to note that this occurred about an hour after the largest US bombing in Kosovo (Moore, 2002). Littleton Colorado’s biggest employer is Lockheed Martin which is the world’s biggest weapons maker so weapons are an integral part of the town (Moore, 2002). Although the company accepts no responsibility for what happened at Columbine high school they do now offer anger management training to all the local schools.
the rest of the article can be found at http://www.guncrime.org/case_studies.html
On April 20th 1999 two high school students 18 year old Dylan Klebold and 17 year old Eric Harris walked into Columbine High in Littleton Colorado and in less than 15 minutes had shot and killed 12 students and a teacher, had injured 23 pupils and left thousands psychologically traumatised (Lawrence & Birkland, 2004 p1193). They then turned their guns on themselves. The boys were armed with 4 guns, over 900 rounds of ammunition (bought from the local K-Mart) and 50 explosive devices. It is interesting to note that this occurred about an hour after the largest US bombing in Kosovo (Moore, 2002). Littleton Colorado’s biggest employer is Lockheed Martin which is the world’s biggest weapons maker so weapons are an integral part of the town (Moore, 2002). Although the company accepts no responsibility for what happened at Columbine high school they do now offer anger management training to all the local schools.
the rest of the article can be found at http://www.guncrime.org/case_studies.html
US school triggers outrage by letting teachers carry guns
''In recent years the US has seen a number of fatal shootings on school campuses, most notoriously at Columbine High School, Colorado, where two pupils killed 12 pupils and a teacher and wounded dozens of others.''
http://news.scotsman.com/world/US-school-triggers-outrage-by.4398765.jp
''In recent years the US has seen a number of fatal shootings on school campuses, most notoriously at Columbine High School, Colorado, where two pupils killed 12 pupils and a teacher and wounded dozens of others.''
http://news.scotsman.com/world/US-school-triggers-outrage-by.4398765.jp
POEMS ON PARADISE
http://www.poetseers.org/themes/list_topic/poems_about_paradise
PARADISE ON EARTH
PART 2
Life's not just for Paradise,
or places out of time,
for there's something even stranger yet,
that wont fit in a rhyme.
Just when I thought I'd seen it all,
and whilst sitting on a hill,
I saw, quite all around me,
the final Cosmic thrill.
'Twas like all love ascended
upon the Earth that day;
and the Essences of Paradise
arrived on Earth... to stay.
For twenty years I'd questioned
the reason for my birth;
but then the pieces hit the mark,
when Paradise came to Earth.
There was not much that I could do,
my self was all... 'undone',
and liberated from its chain,
I danced, with One... with One !?
For twenty years I'd wondered
what more there was to do:
but on second thoughts, I'll keep it !
And best that you do too.
By: Dick Richardson
West Somerset.
UK.
Danielle
http://www.poetseers.org/themes/list_topic/poems_about_paradise
PARADISE ON EARTH
PART 2
Life's not just for Paradise,
or places out of time,
for there's something even stranger yet,
that wont fit in a rhyme.
Just when I thought I'd seen it all,
and whilst sitting on a hill,
I saw, quite all around me,
the final Cosmic thrill.
'Twas like all love ascended
upon the Earth that day;
and the Essences of Paradise
arrived on Earth... to stay.
For twenty years I'd questioned
the reason for my birth;
but then the pieces hit the mark,
when Paradise came to Earth.
There was not much that I could do,
my self was all... 'undone',
and liberated from its chain,
I danced, with One... with One !?
For twenty years I'd wondered
what more there was to do:
but on second thoughts, I'll keep it !
And best that you do too.
By: Dick Richardson
West Somerset.
UK.
Danielle
In quotes: Virginia gunman's message
Cho Seung-hui sent 28 video clips to NBC
Excerpts from video recordings sent to NBC News by Cho Seung-hui - the student who shot at least 30 people at Virginia Tech university on Monday.
You had a hundred billion chances and ways to have avoided today. But you decided to spill my blood. You forced me into a corner and gave me only one option. The decision was yours. Now you have blood on your hands that will never wash off.
You had everything you wanted. Your Mercedes wasn't enough, you brats. Your golden necklaces weren't enough, you snobs. Your trust funds wasn't enough. Your vodka and cognac wasn't enough. All your debaucheries weren't enough. Those weren't enough to fulfil your hedonistic needs. You had everything.
You have vandalized my heart, raped my soul and torched my conscience. You thought it was one pathetic boy's life you were extinguishing. Thanks to you, I die like Jesus Christ, to inspire generations of the weak and the defenceless people.
Do you know what it feels to be spit on your face and to have trash shoved down your throat? Do you know what it feels like to dig your own grave? Do you know what it feels like to have throat slashed from ear to ear? Do you know what it feels like to be torched alive? Do you know what it feels like to be humiliated and be impaled on a cross and left to bleed to death for your amusement?
You have never felt a single ounce of pain your whole life. Did you want to inject as much misery in our lives as you can just because you can?
I didn't have to do this. I could have left. I could have fled. But no, I will no longer run. It's not for me. For my children, for my brothers and sisters that you (expletive). I did it for them.
When the time came I did it. I had to.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6570369.stm
Cho Seung-hui sent 28 video clips to NBC
Excerpts from video recordings sent to NBC News by Cho Seung-hui - the student who shot at least 30 people at Virginia Tech university on Monday.
You had a hundred billion chances and ways to have avoided today. But you decided to spill my blood. You forced me into a corner and gave me only one option. The decision was yours. Now you have blood on your hands that will never wash off.
You had everything you wanted. Your Mercedes wasn't enough, you brats. Your golden necklaces weren't enough, you snobs. Your trust funds wasn't enough. Your vodka and cognac wasn't enough. All your debaucheries weren't enough. Those weren't enough to fulfil your hedonistic needs. You had everything.
You have vandalized my heart, raped my soul and torched my conscience. You thought it was one pathetic boy's life you were extinguishing. Thanks to you, I die like Jesus Christ, to inspire generations of the weak and the defenceless people.
Do you know what it feels to be spit on your face and to have trash shoved down your throat? Do you know what it feels like to dig your own grave? Do you know what it feels like to have throat slashed from ear to ear? Do you know what it feels like to be torched alive? Do you know what it feels like to be humiliated and be impaled on a cross and left to bleed to death for your amusement?
You have never felt a single ounce of pain your whole life. Did you want to inject as much misery in our lives as you can just because you can?
I didn't have to do this. I could have left. I could have fled. But no, I will no longer run. It's not for me. For my children, for my brothers and sisters that you (expletive). I did it for them.
When the time came I did it. I had to.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6570369.stm
Monday 6 October 2008
usa and the lobby for firearms
National Rifle Association
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
National Rifle Association
National Rifle Association logo
Formation November 1871
Headquarters Fairfax, Virginia
Membership 4.3 million[1]
Website http://www.nra.org/
This article concerns the National Rifle Association of the USA. For the UK organisation, see National Rifle Association of the United Kingdom
The National Rifle Association, or NRA, is a non-profit (501(c)(4)) group dedicated to the protection of the Second Amendment of the United States Bill of Rights and the promotion of firearm ownership rights, marksmanship, firearm safety, and the protection of hunting and self-defense in the United States. It was established in New York in 1871 by William Conant Church and George Wood Wingate as the American Rifle Association; its first President was former Senator and famous Civil War Union Army General Ambrose Burnside[2]
The NRA sponsors firearm safety training courses, as well as marksmanship events featuring shooting skills and sports. The NRA is sometimes said to be the single most powerful lobbying organization in the United States.[3] It bases its political activity on the principle that gun ownership is a civil liberty protected by the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights, and claims to be the oldest continuously operating civil liberties organization in the United States. According to its website, the NRA has "more than four million members."[1]
as found on wikipedia
scary stuff, I really recommend Michael Moore´s Bowling For Columbine to anyone who has not seen it yet,it get´s the problem across!
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
National Rifle Association
National Rifle Association logo
Formation November 1871
Headquarters Fairfax, Virginia
Membership 4.3 million[1]
Website http://www.nra.org/
This article concerns the National Rifle Association of the USA. For the UK organisation, see National Rifle Association of the United Kingdom
The National Rifle Association, or NRA, is a non-profit (501(c)(4)) group dedicated to the protection of the Second Amendment of the United States Bill of Rights and the promotion of firearm ownership rights, marksmanship, firearm safety, and the protection of hunting and self-defense in the United States. It was established in New York in 1871 by William Conant Church and George Wood Wingate as the American Rifle Association; its first President was former Senator and famous Civil War Union Army General Ambrose Burnside[2]
The NRA sponsors firearm safety training courses, as well as marksmanship events featuring shooting skills and sports. The NRA is sometimes said to be the single most powerful lobbying organization in the United States.[3] It bases its political activity on the principle that gun ownership is a civil liberty protected by the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights, and claims to be the oldest continuously operating civil liberties organization in the United States. According to its website, the NRA has "more than four million members."[1]
as found on wikipedia
scary stuff, I really recommend Michael Moore´s Bowling For Columbine to anyone who has not seen it yet,it get´s the problem across!
I was thinking about what a crime like that triggers in the mind of a deeply religious person? I guess a non believer can say, this is awful and tragic and the person who did it is crazy, and that´s that. But if you believe in a big plan, in a guiding hand from above, how do you deal with it?
Would you feel betrayed by god?
Or would you accept it as part of the plan?
Would you feel betrayed by god?
Or would you accept it as part of the plan?
Sunday 5 October 2008
this articles say's that Roberts was acting in a revenge that happened twenty years ago but that was something which he did. How can he do something in revenge when what happened he said he did 20years ago to me he seemed to have wanted to re-offend. Have a look at the article and tell me what you think?
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/US/10/02/amish.miller/index.html
larissa
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/US/10/02/amish.miller/index.html
larissa
Killer's Letter
Here is a post to one of the letter's which Charles had left for his wife. Read it, it really explains alot of things from his view http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/5404714.stm
Larissa
Larissa
Paradise Lost
Also it makes reference to his daughter who died at a young age which it seems he never full recovered from what happened to her. Looking at that I thought that maybe by him going into an Amish community he felt closer to God and maybe he felt that he was punshing God????
Larissa
Larissa
Paradise Lost
Hiya guys,
While I was looking at the article "Paradise Lost" I noticed that it was said that Charles reacted to an incident 20 years ago. I found out that when he was 11-12 he sexually abused his young relatives who at the time would have been 3 and 5. All though all of his relatives were questioned and the ones who would have been at that aged at the time, it was thought to be untrue or that they were too young to remeber but here is the website where I found this information http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/5404144.stm
Larissa
While I was looking at the article "Paradise Lost" I noticed that it was said that Charles reacted to an incident 20 years ago. I found out that when he was 11-12 he sexually abused his young relatives who at the time would have been 3 and 5. All though all of his relatives were questioned and the ones who would have been at that aged at the time, it was thought to be untrue or that they were too young to remeber but here is the website where I found this information http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/5404144.stm
Larissa
another day in paradise???
She calls out to the man on the street
sir, can you help me?
Its cold and Ive nowhere to sleep,
Is there somewhere you can tell me?
He walks on, doesnt look back
He pretends he cant hear her
Starts to whistle as he crosses the street
Seems embarrassed to be there
Oh think twice, its another day for
You and me in paradise
Oh think twice, its just another day for you,
You and me in paradise
She calls out to the man on the street
He can see shes been crying
Shes got blisters on the soles of her feet
Cant walk but shes trying
Oh think twice...
Oh lord, is there nothing more anybody can do
Oh lord, there must be something you can say
You can tell from the lines on her face
You can see that shes been there
Probably been moved on from every place
cos she didnt fit in there
Oh think twice...
Danielle
Thursday 2 October 2008
Paradise Takes Time.
Time is a dream,
A dream of the mind.
When time is lost amongst the flowers...
The winds stay silent,
The sea's stay calm.
Paradise,
A land of never wanting.
Paradise,
An Angel's silent flight.
What is Paradise?
A place full of dreams...
Security, Happiness, Forgivness... Love...
What do you dream?
Out of time,
Out of mind,
Out of Place...
Paradise is a dream,
Created by the mind,
As comfort for the sole...
What is time?
Time is you.
When you walk it takes time.
When talk it takes time.
Paradise takes time to find...
When you find it...
Time,
Your time will stop.
Danielle
A dream of the mind.
When time is lost amongst the flowers...
The winds stay silent,
The sea's stay calm.
Paradise,
A land of never wanting.
Paradise,
An Angel's silent flight.
What is Paradise?
A place full of dreams...
Security, Happiness, Forgivness... Love...
What do you dream?
Out of time,
Out of mind,
Out of Place...
Paradise is a dream,
Created by the mind,
As comfort for the sole...
What is time?
Time is you.
When you walk it takes time.
When talk it takes time.
Paradise takes time to find...
When you find it...
Time,
Your time will stop.
Danielle
Wednesday 1 October 2008
Tuesday 30 September 2008
PARADISE LOST ~ A BRIEF SUMMARY
A bit of an overview what Milton´s poem is about...
. © 1999 . New Arts Library . All rights reserved
A bit of an overview what Milton´s poem is about...
some definitions of Paradise as found on dictionary.com
par·a·dise [par-uh-dahys, -dahyz]
–noun
1. heaven, as the final abode of the righteous.
2. an intermediate place for the departed souls of the righteous awaiting resurrection.
3. (often initial capital letter) Eden (def. 1).
4. a place of extreme beauty, delight, or happiness.
5. a state of supreme happiness; bliss.
6. Architecture. a. parvis.
b. an enclosure beside a church, as an atrium or cloister.
7. (initial capital letter, italics) Italian, Pa·ra·di·so [pah-rah-dee-zaw] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation. the third and concluding part of Dante's Divine Comedy, depicting heaven, through which he is guided by Beatrice. Compare inferno (def. 3), purgatory (def. 2).
[Origin: bef. 1000; ME, OE paradīs < LL paradīsus < Gk parádeisos park, pleasure-grounds < Iranian; cf. Avestan pairi-daéza enclosure]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
par·a·dise [par-uh-dahys, -dahyz]
–noun
1. heaven, as the final abode of the righteous.
2. an intermediate place for the departed souls of the righteous awaiting resurrection.
3. (often initial capital letter) Eden (def. 1).
4. a place of extreme beauty, delight, or happiness.
5. a state of supreme happiness; bliss.
6. Architecture. a. parvis.
b. an enclosure beside a church, as an atrium or cloister.
7. (initial capital letter, italics) Italian, Pa·ra·di·so [pah-rah-dee-zaw] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation. the third and concluding part of Dante's Divine Comedy, depicting heaven, through which he is guided by Beatrice. Compare inferno (def. 3), purgatory (def. 2).
[Origin: bef. 1000; ME, OE paradīs < LL paradīsus < Gk parádeisos park, pleasure-grounds < Iranian; cf. Avestan pairi-daéza enclosure]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
PARADISE, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Jeffrey Miller briefed reporters Monday on the shooting at an Amish school. Highlights from his briefing...
Monday 29 September 2008
Week 1: Research tasks
Conduct some individual research into one of the following.
Films we might want to see:
Michael Moore - Bowling for Columbine
Gus Van Sant - Elephant
Peter Weir - Witness
Please add to the list if possible. Thanks.
- Paradise (BBC Article)
- The Amish community
- Gun crime in US schools
Films we might want to see:
Michael Moore - Bowling for Columbine
Gus Van Sant - Elephant
Peter Weir - Witness
Please add to the list if possible. Thanks.
Stimulus
Fatal shooting at US Amish school
 |   |
Scene of shootingsThe gunman entered the class and ordered all the boys and some adults to leave. He then tied up the girls and began shooting them in the head.
Police named the killer as 32-year-old truck driver Charles Carl Roberts IV. He is not Amish himself.
The attack is the third shooting at a US school in the past week.
In the latest shooting, the gunman was said to be heavily armed and seemed prepared for a long siege.
He lined up the girls in front of the blackboard, tying their feet using wire or plastic cuffs.
"It appears that when he began shooting these victims, the victims were shot execution style in the head," said Pennsylvania police commissioner Col Jeffrey Miller.
The attack happened at a one-room school for Amish children aged six to 13 in the village of Paradise near Nickel Mines in Lancaster County.
The Amish are the Anabaptist Christian descendants of German settlers who reject many types of modern technology in their effort to lead a life true to holy scriptures.
They restrict the use of cars, telephones and television to varying degrees.
Col Jeffrey B Miller said the gunman entered Georgetown School in the morning, armed with an automatic handgun and shotgun.
He told the boys to leave, along with a pregnant woman and three women who had young infants with them.
He then tied up the girls and barricaded the doors with large pieces of wood.
Police arrived at the scene at about 1045 (1445 GMT) and set up a cordon around the school, Col Miller said.
The officers tried hailing the gunman on their car loudspeakers, but were unable to make contact, he said.
The Associated Press news agency quotes Col Miller as saying a person who visited the school passed on a warning from the gunman that he would open fire unless the police withdrew.
As the message was going through shots fired in rapid succession were heard, Col Miller said.
Police stormed the building, breaking the windows to enter. But by the time they got there three girls and the gunman were dead. A fourth girl later died in hospital.
Seven people were found injured, at least three of whom were shot in the head.
'Normal behaviour'
Roberts was a local milk tanker driver who often picked up milk from Amish farms in the area.
A father of three, he had worked his night shift as usual on Sunday night, finishing at 0300 on Monday.
FACTS ABOUT THE AMISH Anabaptist Christian denomination Communities in the US and Canada Many communities reject links to outside world Most Amish shun modern technology including electricity and cars Plain clothing - no buttons allowed in some communities Speak English and a German dialect called Pennsylvania Dutch
His wife said he had seemed perfectly normal as he walked his children to the school bus at 0845, as he did every day.
However, when his wife returned to the family home around mid-morning she discovered suicide notes that he had written to each of his children.
The police said there were indications that he was motivated by an incident that happened some 20 years ago.
It is not thought that Roberts had anything against the Amish community but chose the school because it was close by and had young girls.
In a separate incident, two Las Vegas schools, one high school and one elementary school, were temporarily locked down while police hunted for a teenager spotted carrying a gun on the high school campus.
These latest incidents come at the end of a week of gun-related violence in US schools.
Last Wednesday a 16-year-old girl died when an armed man, who also killed himself, took six students hostage at a Colorado high school.
And on Friday, a head teacher at a high school in Wisconsin was killed when he confronted an armed 15-year-old student as he entered the school.
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