well, that's done

I feel meeting-lagged again. This was a long, long day.

There was a fun talk at the beginning that was essentially about protecting your voice (I mean, physically - it was a couple people from the Vocal Music department). They had some cool anatomical descriptions and even video of someone's vocal folds (they are not called vocal "cords" any more, they were quick to inform us) that was taken, I guess, using some kind of endoscope. (A lot of people thought it was gross, but because there was no blood and they were healthy, I found it kind of interesting). It turns out I already do a lot of the "best practice" things - my talk of "running out of words" and not wanting to talk for a while after class? They suggest resting your voice for at least 10 minutes after 90 minutes of speaking. Also, apparently I know how to breathe properly and to project.

This afternoon, we had what is called CRASE training. This stands for Citizen Response to Active Shooter Event and is apparently one of those mandated things. I guess what we did was the lowest-level kind, essentially videos plus instruction from a police officer.

The worst part for me - well, there were two worst parts - at one point they played a recording (without prior warning, that was part of the training) of gunshots and I jumped about a foot out of my chair. And they played a video of a re-enactment of part of the Columbine shooting - it was "grainy" and black-and-white, like security-cam footage. It was upsetting, all the more because apparently the shooters taunted and stalked their victims before actually killing them. And it was very chaotic, but as the police officer pointed out - that was essentially the first one and no one had thought about it happening, so no one had any plan.

They also played a video of a talk from a young woman who survived the Virginia Tech shooting. She survived because she played dead after being shot (in a non-life-threatening place, I guess). But they don't recommend that unless there's nothing else you can do. The standard recommendation now boils down to: Avoid, Deny, and Defend. Avoid is basically "If you can get out safely, get out." The idea of sheltering in place is not recommended if you can get out. (The problem is: how do you know there are not more shooters stationed, say, in the parking lot outside the building?)

Deny is denying entry. Lock the doors. Barricade. In some cases this would be comparatively easy - I have some classrooms I teach in where there's a prep room attached that would be possible to block off in a hurry. Make it hard for the bad guy to get in. The police officer pointed out that often 3-5 minutes is all it takes for the cops to get there. (On my campus, we have "magic keys" we can hit on the computer, and that silently summons campus police)

Defend is the last resort - throw something at the person. Try to take them down. The police officer demonstrated how three people stationed by a door someone was about to come in could definitely slow them down. (The unspoken thing: some people will probably die or be seriously injured, and presumably the "defenders" would be the most likely ones.) He also pointed out that though we can't have official "weapons," there are a lot of things that could work - for example, if you "just happened" to have your kid's softball bat in your office (provided that's where you were when the problem happened). I have some pieces of field equipment that would work: a bulk density sampler is pretty danged heavy and could knock someone over if you swung it right.

I don't know. I think the idea was "you're not totally helpless" but I also hate that I have to give brainspace to this. Though I kind of already do; I figured out "what would you do ifs" for each of the rooms where I teach after Virginia Tech happened. (My office, if I could get the door shut, that would help a lot).

They did also remind us that IF anything happened, and we survived, when the cops show up, expect to have to "assume the position" (hands up, palms open, get down on the ground) and maybe even be handcuffed until they figure out you're not a bad guy. I get that they have to do that, but I can see it being additionally traumatizing to a person.....


***
I also found out last night that someone I knew *very* slightly from Ravelry (she was in a couple of groups I belonged to) died suddenly. It's strange and sad and maybe one of the slight downsides of these kind of far-flung Internet "friendships" - you don't quite know how or what to feel when someone you knew, communicated with, but never met in person dies. (She leaves behind a 12 year old daughter, I hope there's someone to help the girl.)


So yeah. Not been a great couple of days. More meetings tomorrow and Friday....