Normally, I post the cartoon and then I offer the commentary. Today I’m doing it the other way around, and I want to explain why. On Thursday, Officer Deriek W. Crouse was shot and killed at Virginia Tech. I was horrified to hear this news. His death, at the time of this writing, appears to have been completely senseless, and it’s made even more tragic in light of the fact that Officer Crouse was married with five children. I’m having a hard time understanding how something like this could have happened at a campus I remember as being peaceful and laid back during my college days so many years ago.
The cartoon below was originally on December 8th, 1990. The very next day, I would go to a party and kiss my future husband for the first time. It was one of the best times of my life. It was about a week before the start of exams, and during that week, the VTCC instituted 23-hour quiet time. There was no talking in the hallways, no music, no horsing around, just 23 straight hours of studying. Until 6PM, that is.
From 6PM until 7PM, the hallways in Rasche and Brodie were a riot. We pulled out water guns and shaving cream pies, we blasted our stereos until the glass in the dorm windows started to shake. We threw water balloons and ate pizza, sometimes doing both activities at once. Then at 7PM we would return to our desks and get back to studying as hard as we could.
When I pulled this cartoon out of the pile last week, I clapped my hands with glee. I couldn’t wait to post this. Now, it seems so sad to look at. My heart goes out to Officer Crouse’s family. I cannot begin to say how heartsick I am over this man’s death. My thoughts are with his family.
