(no subject)

[felis_ultharus]

In Memorium

Today is the 16th anniversary of the École Polytechnique Massacre here in Montréal. Sixteen years ago, Marc Lépine, who blamed feminists for his not getting into engineering school, charged into a classroom with a gun, and killed 14 women before turning the gun on himself.

I went to the school itself to do an unrelated story for The Link some years ago, and I was surprised to find that there was no on-site memorial of any kind. There's a memorial park some distance away, but nothing at the school itself. I found this strange in a city that'll erect a statue, build a monument, or put up a plaque for any event, happy or sad.

It seemed strange that the site of the massacre wasn't marked in any way, in a city so devoted to memory.

EDIT: montrealais has informed me that a plaque does exist. He's seen it. I was surprised. I looked all over the school the two days I was covering a conference.

Life

I wrote about two-thirds of my notes for my novel, and penned a poem yesterday. Where does one send a poem to be published these days?

I'm also 6 pages into the 14-18 page essay due on Thursday. I think I'm going to have to miss the Jack Layton rally tonight.

Comments

[em-fish.livejournal.com]

I was 10 when the massacre happened, and I remember that my mother's horror was palpable upon hearing the news. I come from the kind of family that discusses the news, and my mom says that when we talked it over, I asked her; "Why do men think that smart women take something away from them?"
Neither of us remember her answer.

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

We weren't the sort of family that discussed anything. I was 13 at the time, and didn't really understand what it meant until later.