…Maybe I am just way too immersed in rhetoric right now.
Today there was a "don’t hate" rally on campus. I watched for about a half hour as people read poetry and gave short speeches. After I left, I heard the construction workers on campus–who are literally fenced into their construction zones and away from the students–sort of jokingly refer to the "gay rally." I said, "Yeah, there have been several attacks on campus. Scary stuff." They were surprised to be overheard, I think, and said, "Do they know who’s doing it?" I said, "Nope," and kept walking to the bus. Not the construction workers necessarily, but the rally itself has left me feeling bad. The president of the university, someone who seems quite popular, went up to talk during the portion when they asked for any comments from the audience. He was about the third person from the audience to talk, and they refused to let him speak. I felt bad about that. They said they weren’t letting administration say anything. Now, I can understand that they wanted the emphasis to be on the students, but I am not comfortable with promoting this kind of silence. I wanted to know what he had to say. He canceled a business trip to be there, after all. He has done more in this past week to address the problem, whereas most universities have careful cover ups, WSU has been very open. I think these are all good moves. I also think it is best to advocate for peace and love than to advocate anti-hate or anti-war. I think a peace and love rally would have felt better. Like I said, the tone felt angry (opposed to loving and supportive), and I was worried that someone was going to shoot up the place. I mean, I just wanted to get out of there. Of course, for the past three years, I lived in a more urban setting where shootings and the threat of shootings was more real than it probably is here.
 seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008322433_apwawsugays1stldwritethru.html