Of Blogs and Truths and Other Things

When I read my messages this morning, someone had sent me an entertaining suggestion for the best route to the truth. They are of the opinion that the UNCG police department either doesn't have the guns I wrote about yesterday and/or that it is not so out of the ordinary if they do since we are post-Columbine, post-VA Tech. In either case, they suggested that my blog post wasn't accurate and that I had been lax because:

"You could have asked the department to get the (updated) facts. "

While I am deeply appreciative of their efforts to get me the facts, something I am always trying to have a handle on, they have hit on exactly the problem. Asking questions here does not get you answers. I have spent years asking questions and the difficult is that I NEVER get answers. There are so many incidences where simple facts could smooth out any number of apparently gordian knots and yet, information is guarded as if it is a dangerous commodity, not to be trusted in the hands of the little people. 

The person who wrote was a graduate of UNCG and, I have to admit, an excellent writer. They quote (from a source I could not identify) that the six weapons in question were M-16 rifles that were given to them for free as part of the Law Enforcement Support Services and that they don't have them anymore:

"The 'found that the surplus weapons did not meet' their 'needs because of their overall length and began phasing them out for more suitable ones. Those six weapons were transferred to another North Carolina law enforcement agency and are no longer in' their 'possession.'"

If that is a statement made by someone on the UNCG police to a concerned citizen, then they are certainly not using the same spokesperson as the rest of the university, because even the simplest question gets a resounding 'no comment' slapped on it here. 

However, I'm still confused because the rebuttal states that the weapons were free whereas the documents obtained by the Marshall Project show a cost of just under $3,000. 

I am glad to hear they don't have them any more...if that's actually the case. I don't know a lot about guns and the response references M-16 rifles while the information from the pentagon references a 5.56 millimeter rifle - those might be exactly the same thing for all I know since the M-16 shoots 5.56 mm ammunition and holds 30 rounds as in the pentagon description. 

The UNCG police department has administration and it has staff, just like any other organization. At its helm has been a chief perfectly willing to arrest UNCG employees for failing to be as sneaky as those they worked for. I don't think a little extra inspection of their other decisions and processes is unwarranted.

And for those of you still hung up on my failure to be a journalist, your corrections and information are always welcome, but remember: this is a blog. 

Feel free to start your own.

The Carolinian & The Owl

I spent just over four hours talking with Emily Bruzzo and Spencer Schneier. It was worth every minute.

They didn’t just ask me easy questions either.

I wore a hat and we sat in a coffee shop, just because Deep Throat was willing to meet in a parking garage doesn’t mean that I need to be so uncomfortable. They have promised me, and I believe them, that they will never reveal my identity. In fact, since they did not seem to be able to discern it, it is even more certain it would not be revealed.

They have treated the story with respect and I believe they gave Brady the best opportunity possible in which to express herself. Her message was no different than it has ever been: it’s not her fault, the faculty are irrationally difficult, times are tough.

Athena and her Owl

I do get the impression that she truly believes that is the case. I guess I find that slightly more disturbing than just assuming she was crafty. She may live in a reality where UNCG is idiosyncratic and all of this is confusing. Or maybe she’s “soul blind” it’s hard to tell, but it hardly matters since she has left. Maybe I’ll enroll in one of her classes when she rejoins the faculty.

To distill four hours of conversation down to a one page newspaper article and still capture both the essence and depth of the interview is no mean feat and I tip my hat to both Bruzzo (who endured the lengthy interview with the chancellor as well) and Schneier.

One question they did ask me but that didn’t really fit with the article is something that actually has come up twice since then and so it seemed fitting to answer it myself. Why the owl? What does it mean?

The owl is an ancient and contemporary symbol of wisdom (think Winnie the Pooh and The Sword in the Stone) and clear sight. The owl does not have her vision obscured by darkness and is able to distinguish the features of her surrounding even on the murkiest of nights. Particularly appropriate to UNCG is the close association of the owl with the Greek goddess Athena, whose Roman counterpart Minerva serves as a prominent symbol for the core of UNCG.

In ancient Roman folklore, the owl could be seen as a harbinger of death. If Sophie’s owl symbolizes death, it is only the death of a culture of bullying and of the obfuscation to which this administration has dedicated itself with the piety of ancient worshipers; however, given the paucity of ancient Romans reading this blog, I rely on the more popular understanding of the owl as a symbol of wisdom.

Finally, of course, the owl asks a very important question: “Who?” And its persistence reminds us that just because it is not easy to find the answers, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep asking the questions.