May 4
Though many folks revel in the fourth of May's rechristening as the May the Fourth be With You Day , complete with Star Wars costumes and movie marathons, for me it will always resonate with the shootings at Kent State University, 45 years ago in 1970. In 1991, I was a returning student at Kent State University, studying music. Being a history buff, I was curious about the shootings twenty years before, and it turned out I walked past the site of the shootings every day on my way from the house I was living in off-campus to the School of Music. I thought it sad that the spots where young people needlessly died had cars parked on them with engine oil leaking on them (since I graduated, the spots where they died have been blocked off to cars). The view of the parking lot from where the National Guard opened fire. The sculpture on the left still has a bullet hole. I regularly attended the annual commemorations, usually dry affairs of speakers saying "Never again,"