Tragedy in Connecticut

On December 17, 2012 there was a shooting in Newtown Connecticut at Sandy Hook Elementary School. 

27 people lost their lives.  20 children, 6 adults, and the shooters mother (along with the shooter himself) were killed.

I will not be putting the shooters name in this post in a personal boycott of a media driven society that turns criminals and killers into celebrities.  I don't want to give the glory of recognition to someone who is capable of causing so much pain.

Instead, I will be honoring the children and courageous teachers who lost their lives.

Charlotte Bacon, age 6

Daniel Barden, age 7

Olivia Engel, age 6

Josephine Gay, age 7

Ana M Marquez-Green, age 6

Dylan Hockley, age 6

Madeleine F. Hsu, age 6

Catherine V. Hubbard, age 6

Chase Kowalski, age 7

Jesse Lewis, age 6

James Mattioli, age 6

Grace McDonnell, age 7

Emilie Parker, age 6

Jack Pinto, age 6

Noah Pozner, age 6

Caroline Previdi, age 6

Jessica Rekos, age 6

Avielle Richman, age 6

Benjamin Wheeler, age 6

Allison N. Wyatt, age 6

Rachel Davino, age 29

Dawn Hochsprung, age 47

Anne Marie Murphy, age 52

Lauren Russeau, age 29

Mary Sherlach, age 56

Victoria Solo, age 27

When this tragedy struck, not only this nation but countries around the world were brought to their knees.  The loss in Connecticut was felt by every mother, father, brother, sister, husband, wife, daughter, and son in the world.

Immediately, people wanted someone to blame.  The gun law debate became a war on social networking sites.  A few people brought to the surface that it is not only guns, but mental health care that should be regulated (something I agree with).

How many times does this have to happen?  How many students have to lose their lives?  How long must we live in fear?  School is supposed to be a place of learning, of safety.  Not a place of fear.  

Please keep the families who lost loved ones in this tragedy in your thoughts, hearts, and prayers.

Peace, Love, Music<3   

Wild Fires

The past few days, there have been many wild fires that are burning out of control all around the state.  People in several different counties were forced to evacuate their homes as the fires intensified.  The fires are suspected to caused by arson, as multiple witnesses said they saw vehicles throwing pieces of burning news paper out of car and truck windows before speeding away.

Here are a few photo's from various news stations of the fires (i do not take credit for these):

The aftermath of one area

Even the areas that were not in the fire's path were affected as smoke covered the sky and ash fell like rain across the state.  All day Saturday, the sky put off an eerie copper glow as if a filter hand been placed over the sun.  As evening approached, the clouds of smoke became more visible and began to eat the sun, which had turned into an electric red ball.  Before the ash fall got bad, I ran out and took a few pictures of the sky where I live (not directly effected by the fires)

The white and grey "clouds" were actually a mixture of smoke and ash.

Later last night, we were watching television when we heard things blowing violently outside and hail hitting our house.  When we looked out the windows, we could smell smoke very strongly.  The lights began to flicker on and off and we ran to our front door to see what was going on.  When we looked out, we saw something bright orange flash a block from us.  Fearing it might be another fire, we jumped in our car (I had to wear a mask due to the fast falling ash and my asthma) to see if it was indeed a fire.  Luckily, it was just a street light flashing as electricity flickered on and off.  During our drive, we saw that the storm had flipped our dumpster, and thrown many of our neighbors dumpster into the street, and someones basketball hoop toppled over.  A street over, people were picking up branches that had been ripped from their trees.

The bright side of this storm is it seems to have helped the firemen put out some of the fires, although there are still a few burning today.

Please keep the victims of this tragedy in your hearts, as the coming days will not be easy.

Peace, Love, Music<3