A little background, for those of you who may not have been following the story:
On October 2 of this year, Charles Carl Roberts IV stormed an Amish schoolhouse in West Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, forced the boys out and took 10 girls hostage. Police believe he intended to molest them and possibly torture them as well (according to the Trenchcoat Chronicles), but was prevented by the prompt arrival of the police. Roberts is believed to have been motivated by a long-simmering resentment against healthy girl children, stemming from the death of his own daughter as a newborn. He also claimed in multiple suicide notes that he felt crushing guilt for having molested family members decades ago, although nothing has turned up to substantiate that particular claim.
At one point, an Amish man said he learned, Roberts ordered the girls to do something and the older girls told the younger ones in Pennsylvania Dutch: “Duh ’s net! Duh ’s net!” (“Don’t do it! Don’t do it!”)
There was fear in the schoolhouse, but also a protectiveness, with the older girls looking out for the little ones, said the Amish man, who asked not to be named.
But there was something else going on in the schoolhouse that day, too, he said.
“The same fate, the same higher power, was at that site that was at Flight 93,” the Amish man said, referring to the plane that went down in Shanksville on Sept. 11. “That same power was at Columbine, too.”
Roberts shot all 10 girls before killing himself. Five of the girls died almost immediately, five others were seriously wounded.
Over a million dollars has been raised to help the families of the children involved, and the hospitals who treated the wounded and dying have waived their fees, although for many of the families there will be ongoing medical expenses that will continue to be a burden. Part of the money has already paid to have the schoolhouse razed to the ground (Thursday); it will be replaced by a new building, in a different location, and the site will be turned back into pasture.
As reported at the time, the Amish community requested that the public forgive the shooter and support his widow and children as victims of this same tragedy. While Roberts‘ grave has been vandalized, there have been no reports of reprisals against his family, and the Amish have set aside a portion of the donations to assist the Roberts family.
This is their statement, via Trenchcoat Chronicles:
From the Roberts family:
To our Amish friends, neighbors, and local community:Our family wants each of you to know that we are overwhelmed by the forgiveness, grace, and mercy that you’ve extended to us. Your love for our family has helped to provide the healing we so desperately need. The prayers, flowers, cards, and gifts you’ve given have touched our hearts in a way no words can describe. Your compassion has reached beyond our family, beyond our community, and is changing our world, and for this we sincerely thank you.
Please know that our hearts have been broken by all that has happened. We are filled with sorrow for all of our Amish neighbors whom we have loved and continue to love. We know that there are many hard days ahead for all the families who lost loved ones, and so we will continue to put our hope and trust in God of all comfort, as we all seek to rebuild our lives.
Welcome to my world. Well, actually the mountains get in the way most of the time, but I’ve seen the Northern Lights two or three times here in Vancouver, and they can be seen throughout most of BC when the sunspots align just right and all the polar bears are facing north north-west, so the light reflects off their silvery backs.
This video is timelapse photography from Fugly.com, and it’s kind of a shame, as one of the things I adore about the Aurora Borealis is the magnificently unhurried way the curtains of light wave in the sky. Also, this is all-green, and the purples and reds and indigos I know and love are sadly missed. My parents used to wake me up when I was little (and lived in Winnipeg) to watch the Northern Lights, and the self-evident magic of it, the middle of the nightishness of it, and the fact that it was considered important enough to wake us up for always associated it in my mind with Christmas. I didn’t even read The Father Christmas Letters till much later, but they explain plenty.
Pretty sweet, eh?
It’s just not Halloween if you don’t freak a few wusses out. In fact, the little kiddies might feel a tad ripped off and bored (not that these are not their default emotions nowadays) if you don’t come up with something especially spooktacular for the big night.
My personal best was the time I went as Munch‘s painting The Scream (this was before it got stolen, so I was at no risk of being carted off mid-trick-or-treat by Interpol). It must be admitted that I didn’t, in fact, go anywhere, I just stayed home and handed out candy, but still, my costume did not go unnoticed.
For one thing, I know how to make an entrance. When the doorbell rang, I hid behind the door and dragged it open a crack. Then I crawled my surgical-gloved fingers over the edge and slowly drew it open, revealing my misshapen head (it was a MASK, smartass) and black-robed, slightly beefier than emaciated, but what can you do eh? body, clad in the abaya that my mother had brought back from Saudi.
I was a menacing figure.
So, no change there.
One wee Superman‘s knees gave out completely at the sight of me. If he hadn’t been holding his parents’ hands on both sides, he’d have hit the floor. As it was, he swung limply for a moment before skittering, crablike, away as I silently brandished KitKats, Goobers and Nerds.
Half the time the rugrats wouldn’t come near me and I ended up throwing it at them.
Anyway, I promised you a how-to lesson on making the coolest jack o’lantern ever. And I shall deliver, with the help of Ray, from Villafane Studios, which I found via Fark. God forbid I should teach you how to carve punkins like mine; they always look like the guy in the head-on collision who didn’t make it, and who had to be identified through DNA. So give thanks, here are your instructions for creating a far cooler, far gruesomier, jack o’lantern than I could ever make for you.
If you have yet to try and carve a pumpkin in a 3-D manner you need to. Its fun and everybody enjoys a cool pumpkin. Unfortunately they begin to rot less than a week after carving so be sure to take plenty of pictures. You can experiment with ways of preserving them but I find nothing works better than a nice photo. Some chefs that I have carved for put lemon juice on the faces to help slow down the natural molding process that will occur.
raincoaster 