NEAL CONAN, host:
On Mondays, we read from your e-mails.
Our show last week on the 35th anniversary of the shootings at Kent State University brought in many memories from people on where they were on that day. From Tom Klebold, `I was at Ohio State University when the Kent State University shootings took place. That was the spring we learned to distinguish between tear gas, pepper gas and mace, continually sprayed from helicopters day and night; the spring that I heard a National Guard commander tell his ROTC contingent to chamber live rounds and aim their weapons at us; the spring that I heard relatives actually state, "They should have killed more of them"; the spring that made me decide to leave Ohio for good.'
Barbara Buchanan(ph) wasn't anywhere near Ohio in May of 1970, but it still affected her campus. `I was at the University of Wyoming when Kent State happened,' she wrote. `Wyoming was an extraordinarily conservative area and those few of us who sympathized with the anti-war student demonstrations were extremely unpopular. That afternoon, my math professor assigned my class to participate in or at least to observe the campus activities to mark the Kent State killings. All the organizers wanted to do was have the US flags on campus lowered to half-staff in mourning. The administration refused. The hundred or so students who turned out to listen to the speeches about this looked pretty pitiful. A heavily armed and shielded contingent of Laramie's police ringed the area. It was so sad that the powers that were allowed us so little expression of our horror that students had actually been killed.'
Gary Jollymore of Lake Elmo, Minnesota, was among several listeners who wanted to know if any of the National Guard troops had spoken out about their role in the shooting. After a little research, we found out that some of them have spoken about the incidents that day. A recording of one such story exists at the Kent State University Library's Department of Special Collections and Archives. The name of the man being interviewed was withheld.
(Soundbite of recording)
Unidentified Man: The dynamics, I think, were such that there were a lot of frustrations going on. As I look back at it, I was 23 perhaps then--22 or 23. (Unintelligible) very--that weekend will always stick out in my life is I was a college student. College was supposed to be fun. I was getting married that summer. I was engaged. I was in the National Guard. I was finishing up my school. Everything was getting put together for me. I had a job on the line and life was a ball. And I came here and saw what, quote, "they"--whoever they were--were doing to my campus, and I didn't like that. I wanted a campus where I could sit down and have a Pepsi at the hub and walk across campus and talk to some of my buddies or chitchat with someone who--you know, do those type of things, and I got onto a campus that had turned into guerrilla warfare, and I didn't like people that were doing those type of things.
We had people that worked in rubber factories, didn't have college educations, that maybe were a little angry about, `Hey, what the hell? This is my tax dollars. Why don't these kids go to school or go to work?' Wanted to--there's no one to blame. There's no incident to blame in my mind. I think it was the dynamics of a lot of things happening at one time. I truly, truly feel sorry for a lot of people, and I want to say I feel equally sorry for the families of those dudes that were shot and equally sorry for the Guardsmen who shot them.
CONAN: One of the men in the Ohio National Guard unit that fired on students at Kent State University 35 years ago.
Our show on the difficulties of making a living as a jazz musician also brought in a lot of e-mail. From Caroline Singh of Redding, California, `Our son, an aspiring jazz saxophonist, is off to Berklee School of Music this fall with a career as a composer and performing artist in mind,' she wrote. `He chose this school over the University of California, an Ivy League school and a few major conservatives, all of which have strong jazz studies programs, because Berklee offers a unique curriculum for preparing to work in the world of music. Right now, our 18-year-old is sure he can make a living at this, and my husband and I regret every time we've suggested that he pursue a liberal arts degree so that he'd have something to fall back on. He'll figure it out and, I hope, fall in love with someone who has health insurance.'
But listener Kevin Baylis(ph) wanted to pass on some other educational advice. `I recently attended a Q&A session by guitarist John Scofield,' he wrote. `One of the audience members was a young man trying to decide whether to go to a music school or a four-year college with a music program. Mr. Scofield suggested the young man go to the four-year school. Compared to when he started his career, he said, there are more musicians than ever, more styles of music, and fewer gigs, and he would be irresponsible to suggest otherwise.'
(Soundbite of music)
CONAN: If you have comments, questions or corrections for us, the best way to reach us is by e-mail. The address is totn@npr.org. Please tell us where you're writing from and give us some help on how to pronounce your name.
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CONAN: This is TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News. I'm Neal Conan. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.