Phendrana Drifts

When I learned of the discovery of five bodies in Calgary, in the quiet and relatively affluent neighbourhood of Dalhousie yesterday, I couldn't deny the story hit me. Two small children were among the victims and it happened not only in my former hometown, but blocks away from where I used to live and study. The eerieness of the family being my age and seemingly similar in terms of place in life just made it hit home.

Fast forward to today. Actually - no, wait. Rewind to Tuesday night. I got an e-mail from a freelance writer wanting to do a story on the student movement in Alberta. I was all too happy to accommodate the writer and suggested a 10:00 time on Thursday to do the interview, sending the reply about an hour after I received the e-mail. As those who know me know, I am pretty excited when it comes to this topic, and love describing the student movement in historical terms. Indeed, my biggest fear was staying within the "no more than 15 minutes of your time" pseudo-limit the journalist's e-mail suggested.

Yesterday, reading of the murder - something which seems apparent now was a murder-suicide by the father, Joshua Lull, still for reasons unknown - I was moved. It bothered me. I read the CBC story online about a friend of the Lulls seeing their home on TV and then rushing to call them and make sure they were alright - and then realizing the horrible truth - it stuck with me up to the time I went to bed.

This morning I went to work, clipped through my e-mails, talked about the day with my colleagues, and got ready for my interview. 10:00 came and went, and finally at 10:15 I called the journalist but her voice mail was full. I wrote a quick note to her via e-mail suggesting I was available most of the day but tomorrow really was bad (I'm a witness in a drunk driving trial tomorrow).

Later that afternoon someone in the office remarked that everyone on Facebook who went to SAIT was missing Amber - variations on a theme that could only mean a death had touched that campus. As he was relaying this I was catching up on the murder story on the Globe and Mail - sure enough SAIT newspaper editor Amber Bowerman was the fifth victim. My friend David Jones, the SAITSA president, was quoted as saying "We found out it was her and our organization was taken aback. We've sent a lot of our staff home today. We're telling them go be with your family - go be with your loved ones. We're in shock. We're upset. We're deeply saddened and we're just trying to cope with it the best we can." That reverberated around the office for a moment.

Then a chill went through my spine as my brain put the rest of the story together. I went to my inbox to read Amber Bowerman's e-mail to me from Tuesday night. I wish we had done the interview. I wish she hadn't been murdered.

Labels: news

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