Comments on: Historiann exclusive: Our Holiday Murder

By: Drew

Drew — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 13:51:48 +0000

As “Josh” suggests, counseling may also be required for those both inside and outside IU who simply don’t care. It’s interesting to pause at the subtleties of homophobia worked out in scraps and pieces of comments.

By: Josh

Josh — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 01:46:53 +0000

The prose of this piece is too bathetic and murky for me to be sure, but the final clause, ending with “justice has already been delivered to Belton,” seems to suggest that everyone outside of IU wants to see gay people die. If “Lance” believes that to be true, I would suggest counseling.

By: Historiann

Historiann — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:32:00 +0000

Lance, thanks for the update. The comments over there are a microcosm of what you write about here: how everyone starts spinning their own narrative about “what really happened” based not on the facts, but on what they think they “know.” (Example: someone wonders why he was just an Assistant Prof. at age 53, another commenter wonders why an “intelligent gay man” might make a pass at a man with a girlfriend, etc.) Everybody tells the story they want to hear to themselves.

As to the thread itself: it’s less hateful than most of the comments threads over there on gender/sexuality/race issues. (But that ain’t saying much, and the day is young, right?)

By: Lance

Lance — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 17:26:06 +0000

There is a new story up at Inside Higher Ed on this subject, and the comments there are – as usual – varied.

http://www.insidehighered.com/views/mclemee/mclemee272

By: Comrade PhysioProf

Comrade PhysioProf — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 13:40:33 +0000

Absolutely horrible. Words fail.

By: truffula

truffula — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 06:31:51 +0000

Late to the story, it’s been a long day with shockingly young undergraduates. I am struck by the intimacy and the heartbreak, for all involved, of the scene. Thanks to Lance and Historiann for giving the story some room to breathe.

By: Lance

Lance — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 21:11:24 +0000

I should thank Historiann, too. She was very kind to encourage this, but then we expect that from her.

By: Historiann

Historiann — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 18:25:20 +0000

Thanks, Shane and Roxie.

I liked Lance’s description of how in a small town (or company town, as all college towns are), everyone has a connection either to the victim, or the perp, or to both, and how everyone thinks they’ve got a piece of the story. Having once lived in a college town, I can well understand how everyone wants to participate in writing the narrative and assessing its meaning(s).

By: Roxie

Roxie — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:55:41 +0000

Heartbreaking. Moose got her undergrad degree in English and journalism at IU and worked for both the student paper and the local rag, then called the Herald-Telephone, so she knew well the complex, shifting relations between town and gown in tiny Bloomington.

Nuance will come later, one hopes. It’s probably not attainable in the immediate aftermath of such a tragedy.

Thanks for an important post.

By: Shane in Utah

Shane in Utah — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:24:18 +0000

Damn. I didn’t know Belton, but I went to grad school at IU. This is terrible.