As quiet as it is in our lovely little town of Pine Mountain, GA, we have once again been touched by a national tragedy. Jamie Bishop, son of Sci-fi novelist Michael and wife Geri Bishop,was one of the victims of the Virginia Tech gunman, Cho Seung-Hui, a 23-year-old undergraduate senior majoring in English.
Fox News says this about Jamie:
Bishop, 35, wore his hair long, rode his bike to campus and worked alongside his wife in the foreign languages department at Virginia Tech, according to the Los Angeles Times. He was known for his gentle manner and generosity toward students.
"I don't think he was the type of person who had an enemy," Troy Paddock, a close friend whose wife also teaches in the German program, told the Times. "He was a very friendly person. He was a nice and helpful person."
The Georgia native was an avid hiker, movie and Atlanta Braves fan, and was said to be very popular with students.
"He was very outgoing, a very personable individual," Richard Shryock, the chair of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, told the Times. "He was someone who took teaching very seriously and was a good colleague to be with."
The media vultures have descended upon Pine Mountain, harrassing the locals for any little scrap of info they can unearth. Scavengers. Part of me understands they are just doing their jobs, but part of me absolutely abhors the intrusion.
I have kids the same age as some of those victims. My God. What a world.
