Creative Writing

A friend sent me this text, which he had received as an e-mail message.

I’m a reporter for the Chronicle of Higher Education and I’m working on a story about the shootings at Virginia Tech. Seung Cho, the gunman, was an English major with a concentration in creative writing. A one-act play that he wrote has become public and I was hoping to get your opinion of it (I’ve included a link below). I was wondering a couple of things, including:

—Is the writing particularly disturbing? Or is it the sort of thing you’ve read before from undergraduates?

—What would you do if a student handed in a piece of work like this?

—Do you often get students who turn in violent work? How should professors respond in such cases? Obviously writing violent stories doesn’t mean you’re a violent person, but are there warning signs?

Any other thoughts would be helpful.…Here’s the link to the play:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0417071vtech1.html