Monday, March 26, 2007

Murder Hits Close to Home

You may have seen the story of Chiara Levin, a beautiful and accomplished young woman who was murdered in Boston over the weekend. She was the daughter of a colleague. I have known her for years. She appears to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, and not the intended target of the shooter.

This is a tragedy for the family, and has cast a pall over our little town.

My only larger concern is that it is the kind of story that some of the cable reporters might get obsessive over. If they play it as "beautiful white girl killed by black gangbangers," the Nancy Grace-type ghouls will latch on to it. I already disliked that kind of reporting in cases where I didn't know the people. The thought they they might hound my friends out of pretended concern is angering.

Not as gruntled as usual today.

Hug your young people.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry to hear this story, and can understand the grief on your campus.
Peace,
Sister Edith

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Our family, formerly residents of East Main Street in Danville, have been crushed to see yet another young, productive and hopeful life ended so senselessly and horribly by gang violence in the United States. Chiara was our neighbor, child of our neighbors. A more lovely family you could never know. Although we are far away now, living in Europe for five years, we still tune in periodically to the Advocate online. By some sad coincidence, I read the front page news this past Sunday, after not having done for months. It was stunning, in the worst possible way, to see what had befallen the Levin Family. I have prayed and cried and prayed some more. It is so far impossible to find this credible, let alone comprehensible. Love to all of you in Danville who know the Levins; especially family, friends and loved ones who are at the centre of this terrible catastrophe.