A Letter To My Fellow Connecticut Residents
Dear Connecticut,
This has been an extremely difficult weekend. The tragedy of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown has broken my heart. I know your hearts are all broken as well. We are a small state. Our town rivalries go back decades and even centuries. No one is more than around 90 minutes away from anyone else here.
Growing up, you learn quickly the major highways that connect us all together. You learn the names of the towns from the green exit signs. You learn that your community is tight-knit. You learn that this is a bucolic area with many idyllic towns. You feel safe. You feel like nothing terrible could ever happen in this state.
Friday shattered that.
Friday blew us all apart…but in the moments after we all learned the horrible truth, we came together. The only way a small state can. We immediately gathered among friends and families. We held vigils with complete strangers who became our family, united by the same grief.
We are Connecticut. We are more than what happened on Friday. We are an amazing community. We are strong. We are resilient. We are open arms for each other to grieve in. We are hope. We are brave. We are the best of humanity.
We will never forget.
We will remember December 14th, 2012 for the right reasons. We will carry in our hearts forever the names of those lost. We will be more than sensational headlines. We will not be known by the shooter’s name. We will be different.
We are already organizing 5K runs, charitable organizations, spreading the stories of the victims far and wide. We are rallying a nation behind our faith and community. We are having the difficult conversations that so many others think should wait. We know we cannot wait to have these discussions anymore. We know these 20 children, these educators, the mother of a troubled son should not, can not, will not die in vain.
I ask all of you to speak up. Speak out. Stand up and be heard. Shout the names from every corner and outpost in the world.
Let us never forget.
Charlotte Bacon, 6
Daniel Barden, 7
Olivia Engel, 6
Josephine Gay, 7
Ana Marquez-Greene, 6
Dylan Hockley, 6
Madeleine Hsu, 6
Catherine Hubbard, 6
Chase Kowalski, 7
Jesse Lewis, 6
James Mattioli, 6
Grace McDonnell, 7
Emilie Parker, 6
Jack Pinto, 6
Noah Pozner, 6
Caroline Previdi, 6
Jessica Rekos, 6
Avielle Richman, 6
Benjamin Wheeler, 6
Allison N. Wyatt, 6
Rachel Davino, 29, Teacher
Dawn Hochsprung, 47, School principal
Nancy Lanza, 52, Mother of gunman
Anne Marie Murphy, 52, Teacher
Lauren Rousseau, 30, Teacher
Mary Sherlach, 56, School psychologist
Victoria Soto, 27, Teacher
Naked 
beautiful.