Yes, the Ever-lasting contrast. Since existence has known, the 'fight' between good & evil has continued. Obviously, this fight can never end. Good things turn bad, bad things become good. My fav. contrasting symbol, because it is so true & means so much – the battle between good & bad never ends… Here we ponder on the tragedy of Dylan Klebold.
According to Sue it wasn’t as playful and humorous of a photo as Devon described it. But yes, it’s too bad she didn’t release this photo to show how unkempt and distanced her son appeared less than one month from the massacre. 😦
Robyn Anderson thought Dylan was going to Arizona because he liked the desert; Devon Adams because it was his ticket out of Colorado. “He had the best time ever,” Devon says of his visit to Arizona. He invoked his trademark humor and had pictures of himself hugging a cactus. “He was getting on with his life,” Devon says. “Past high school. Past all that stuff. I mean, graduation was in what? A month?”
Vs. Sue’s account in “A Mother’s Reckoning”
Our tour was successful, and by the end Dylan had made up his mind: he wanted to go to the University of Arizona. We could skip the other school on our itinerary and head for home. We stopped for gas and asked Dylan to pose next to a saguaro more than three times his height. He looks remote and unkempt in the photo, developed after his death, standing with his arms uncomfortably out from his sides; to me, now, they look poised over invisible guns.
Just goes to show that personal perspective is everything…
I think Rebby talked a lot of shit trying to boost his coolio bad boy rep. I mean, maybe both boys dabbled a bit experimentally with pot in 1997 and after they got released early from the Diversion program and discharged in Feb ‘99 but in between all of that time, both boys were under the intense scrutiny and restrictions imposed as part of the Diversion Program. The two were regularly tested for any sort of drug use. If they’d been caught with weed in their system there would’ve been consequences under the program’s rules for not staying clean/sober and demonstrating they were not staying on the straight and narrow. I doubt they would’ve been given early release from the Diversion Program too. Early termination from Diversion is rare, awarded to only 5 percent of participants. So, given that, you’d have to assume that basically after January 30, 1999 when they got arrested for the van theft and their inception into the Diversion program in mid March, the boys were not smoking any weed for the rest of the year into Feb of ‘99. It’s possible that the two could’ve snuck some weed on the weekend and then followed up with a drink concoction a friend gave them that would void and purge traces of the THC chemicals from their system before they tested again – but, it’d be a risky thing to do so throughout the entire year in which they were on probation. I really don’t see Eric, most especially, taking that risk and having the chemicals somehow still show up in a urine tests. Being strongly reprimanded by his parents plus the potential set back in the Diversion Program would ruin all the brownie points he’d been awarded for doing well in the program and there he’d be, back at Square One.
Furthermore, look at Eric smoking cigarettes – he’s not really smoking is he? He’s faking the act of smoking. He doesn’t breath in the smoke filled nicotine and chemicals that a true smoker does, as with Dylan. Why did Eric not inhale? Because in some odd way, a part of him felt that shit was bad for his lungs and didn’t want to get addicted. It’s a good bet he pretty much felt the same way about weed with the additional fact that he didn’t want to lose too much control in getting high. Eric was a control freak sort of personality and he had a rather tight leash on himself at all times. Hell, he wouldn’t ever be caught dancing because to paraphrase ‘look at how stupid people look’. The same goes for the idea that he’d get wasted and lose control of his emotions or faculties. Letting go was a terrifying thing for Eric because then he might risk looking and sounding foolish in front of others. For Dylan, it was the opposite: I think he enjoyed taking a toke and getting high occasionally because for him, it felt good to let go, to lose all his social inhibitions and to obtain the ‘feel good’ Dopamine hit that weed could provide. But again, for both boys, only in that small window of their teenage lives could they have gotten high dabbling with weed on the occasional weekend – and that would’ve been in ‘97 when they were still in the experimenting ‘let’s try this shit’ phase and then after Feb ‘99 until their deaths. Anything in between that time would’ve been pretty much off limits with the restrictions of the Diversion Program.
It’s possible that they might’ve heard an early release of some of the title tracks and lyrics before the actual album went live on 4/20. On the other hand, probably likely not. Perhaps just the title of the album “Adios” alone was enough for Eric to feel as though it was prophetic foreshadowing and that’s all he knew. But I mean, if they only they had seen some of those lyrics. wowza.
Not really because they were declared destroyed by Jeffco in Jan 2015. That is their official stance now so quibbling about law is a moot point since there is nothing to release since according to Jefferson County, the Basement Tapes no longer exist. Yes, it’s possible they’re mincing words and that only the physical tapes were destroyed after recorded digital copies were distributed to the FBI for their possession. In any event, the public record says that the tapes were destroyed. So, any thing we think they might’ve done to preserve the tapes elsewhere – with the FBI or whatever, is just our conjecture. It’s not based in fact; it’s only our conspiracy theory assumption.
Hmm, I think egotistical and pompous with a sense of entitlement fits better. 🙂 Every time the school wanted to mete out consequences for Dylan’s slip ups, Tom’s general reaction was to be shocked and appalled at their decision then trying to strong arm the school into lightening the punishment as if he had the authority to override their decision. I think this gave his son the impression that the authorities decisions were over reactionary and so Dylan too, would minimize his own mistakes because his own father seemed to not trust the authorities judgement either.
You can imagine the power struggle between Sue and Tom in recent years as Sue wanted to speak out and fully explore mental health in connection to the atrocity her son did before committing suicide while Tom obstinately dug his heels and refused to delve deeper and share this journey of exploration together. He even referred to Sue’s Suicide Prevention group of friends condescendingly as the ‘The Adams Family’.
Intratec TEC-DC9 (9-mm semi-automatic handgun) attached to a strap slung over his shoulder, Savage 311-D 12-gauge double-barrel shotgun (barrel sawed down to approximately 23 inches, initially half-hidden in Dylan’s cargos).
Dylan favored his TEC 9 handgun while in the library shooting 21 rounds as oppose to his double-barreled sawed off shot gun at only 6 rounds.
Can you please be just a tad more specific about such instances? 😏 Welcome to Tumblr in which nothing is sacred. I’ve had my own contributions used by others as well. So? *shrugs* I prefer to see this as a sharing community. Let’s not be bitter people. None of us own any photos or links all we do is edit and put our own spin on things and reblog others stuff (which was likely reblogged from someone else in the first place). People have used edits I’ve put together and posted them in their own posts without knowing who originally made that edit. I do believe I am rather consistent with giving credit to tweaks of photos (which, btw, don’t originate from any of us in the first place) as well as link sources, artwork, fiction, poetry, etc. It’s possible I’ve occasionally overlooked doing so but hey, we all have. Please do not waste my time coming here anon with such petty accusations when you have no supporting evidence to back up your claims.
Saturday Night Classics Movie night with Dyl (and Sue)
“But I still cannot reconcile the kid cracking up with me over Alec Guinness in Kind Hearts and Coronets with the boy I saw on the Basement Tapes, a boy who had already started making plans to slaughter innocent classmates.”
– A Mother’s Reckoning by Sue Klebold, Chapter 17 – Pathway to Violence (listen to Sue narrate the excerpt in the audio clip above.)
This 1949 classic stars Alec Guinness (Mr. Obi Wan Kenobi himself) in a Tour de Force performance of eight acting parts including one female character, as well as actors Dennis Hobson, Valerie Price and Joan Greenwood. This movie is considered a English black comedy.
With a rather interesting and ironic premise…
A distant poor relative of the Duke of D’Ascoyne plots to inherit the title by murdering the eight other heirs who stand ahead of him in the line of succession. The character goes after his snobbish, aristocratic relatives methodically like a serial killer crossing each one off his list with the firm belief that they are the source of all his suffering and that ‘revenge is a dish best served cold’. Reminded me a bit of Dylan’s contempt for the white hat jocks and their entitlement. Hmm, wonder if Sue ever thinks about stuff like that in retrospect? ;).
Apparently, the Klebolds were voracious classic movie watchers, engaging in plenty of family movie nights with their kids and discussing movies after watching them. And, frankly, I adore the thought of this. ❤ I like the idea that Dylan, and Byron, were given the opportunity to be exposed to older, slower paced films that were considered top notch back in the day, as this one was in the late ‘40s – now considered dated cheesy though amusing for Alec Guinness’ gimmicky multi-role performance or old classics like Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (another mention in her book) that mostly withstands the years as being a well crafted movie classic. Dylan had the opportunity of being exposed to a wide variety of movies based on his parent’s enthusiasm of both great and terrible movies and a love of corn ball oldies too. So, you could say that Dylan was a bit more well rounded than his peers being more familiar with a whole gamut of film genres and old movie actors besides the the current nineties trends of fast paced, quick edited violent flicks like Res Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Natural Born Killers.
Watch the Kind Hearts trailer as well as scene excerpt posted above. The movie is British English stuffy with stilted, formal dialog and plenty of corniness including those melodramatic romantic kissing scenes. Is it any wonder Dyl was cracking up over this flick with his mom? What a hoot to have watched this trying to imagine what might have made this teenage dude snort in laughter, look at his mom and roll his eyes while she laughs in response and says “but that’s how movies were back in the day, Dyl.” 😉 I’m sure he also snickered over the “eeny meeney miny moe” scene which included a derogatory term that he and Eric used quite often in school.
Since there are a few bits in Sue’s book peppered with movie references, I thought I would make “Saturday Movie Night with Dyl and Sue” a regular thing.
So, sit back, grab your popcorn and enjoy a Saturnday night corny, black comedy, murder and intrigue dose of Kind Hearts and Coronets – Klebold style. 🙂
SK: “The Diane Sawyer interview was my first public interview, so it was difficult for me. But I think it turned out to be a very effective way to begin a dialogue about the tragedy in the context of mental health and suicidality. So, you know, I feel that people are asking me a broader array of questions now, which is nice. So, yeah, I’m feeling pretty good about it.”
SK: “You know, actually, I’m not surprised. I believe, very much, that we — “we” meaning our culture, our society at this time – were ready to hear this message. I felt so strongly that it was the right time to do this.”
Reach out to someone and talk to them. Though you feel compelled to shoulder this alone, don’t isolate yourself. Don’t spend all the time alone in your room on your computer all day long living inside your head. Your mind and thoughts in your free time will make it worse. Get out of the house, go for walks out in nature, write in your journal, talk to The Boys or journal to them. PM me. 😚 PM your friends. If you don’t feel you have any close friends, reach out to someone who you feel you might be able to trust. Someone who can be your personal sounding board through this hard time. Help somone that you know is also having a hard time. It can make you feel good to help others. 💞 Breathe. Take each day as it comes. This too shall pass. ❤️
The boys both wore the trench coats to school because it was a cool look that other outcast or non jock peers started engaging in during their sophomore/junior year. Dylan wore his trench far more than Eric. Eric was not as comfortable in his skin in the trench. Whereas Dylan wore it more like a uniform, a suit of armor to protect him from those that might harass and attack him. It just so happens that the trench coats doubled easily for not only that Hit Man aesthetic chic but also for the sheer practically: their weapons could easily be concealed in their deep pockets for the massacre attack.
The Everlasting Contrast 