Kent State Visit

It is a very rare and surreal thing when you get to visit a place that you have done so much research about.

For those of you who have read this blog since, say March or April, know that for about two and a half months, I ate, slept, and breathed Kent State, May 4,1970, and the shootings there. Kent State is currently the top college on my list, and Dad and I took a trip there today for Academic Discovery day. The first thing we did was take the campus tour. Typically, you're supposed to download the self-guided stuff for an iPod, but I would like to think that I did a darn good job narrating the tour. At least around the quad, commons, and Blanket Hill. It was incredibly surreal, just knowing what had happened there, in great detail. I walked across the quad where the riot took place, went to the Victory Bell where Allison Krause stuck the flower in the guardsman's gun barrel and said "Flowers are better than bullets", and I saw the Pagoda where the guardsmen stood and fired at the students. It was incredibly cool, but at the same time, rather sentimental.

We walked everywhere looking for the above memorial, which I was dying to see. The rocks on top of the memorial, for those of you not brushed up on your Jewish traditions, are a symbol of respect for the dead. At least 2 of the students killed were Jewish (I'm not sure about the other 2). When we were walking, I also saw poles around squares of blacktop. I didn't realize until I got home that those were marking the spots where Sandra Scheuer, Jeffrey Miller, and William Schroeder had been shot and killed (Allison Krause died in the ambulance afterwards). Amazingly surreal.

Of course, as cool as that was (definitely the high point of my day), the rest of the day was pretty awesome, too. We checked out the residence halls, and the Fashion School (where I would be going, for Fashion Merchandising). We checked out the bookstore and I got a studly new zip-up hoodie. It was nice to be able to spend time with my dad for the day, too.

I'm ridiculously exhausted right now, and have a long night and day ahead of me. Tonight, I have to help Dawn paint her bathroom and tomorrow, Mistie and I are going to COSI. More pictures definitely to follow.