Dear Newtown, Connecticut
This open letter in response to the tragic school shooting was penned by Hellertown native Emily Doll, a doctoral student at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. It was first published on her Facebook page on Friday.
Dear Newtown, Connecticut, I don’t know you. I’ve never been to your town, I don’t know your friends and families and streets and memories. Like most people, I didn’t know you existed until today, and now my ears keep echoing with your name and your cries; now I close my eyes and picture your woods; now I think of you every time I inhale, exhale, breathe. I don’t know you, but my heart shattered for you today in a way I can’t comprehend yet. I don’t have answers for you, only shared questions; I don’t have reasons for you, only resonating whys. I’m not there, I’m not with you, I’m not part of you tonight, but from 317 miles away, know that I am grieving with you. I don’t have the intellect to understand what happened today. I don’t have …

Martha Cox Popichak
10:40 am on Monday, December 17, 2012
If people need to write about their thoughts following this horrific incident, I think that is fair. It is hard to find the lines that separate because of the longstanding issues. When our president spoke last night in Newtown, he said that we must make changes to honor the memory of these victims. It is a discussion and debate that is LONG overdue. The letter from Emily Doll was eloquent and …   more ›