Today CAN brings you "Community Conversations through the Arts: Artistic Response After the Virginia Tech Tragedy" by Shannon Turner. Turner was a graduate student in the arts and public dialogue when the shooting rampage broke out at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007. She joined a disparate group of Blacksburg residents who formed HERE: Honoring Experiences, Reflections, and Expressions. They wanted to create a healing artistic response to the shattering events. Turner takes the reader through a year in Blacksburg, as HERE presents many community arts events that memorialize and examine the tragedy, culminating in "Community Conversations through the Arts," a creative showcase intended to give local, amateur performers an opportunity to perform on Blacksburg's Lyric Theatre stage on the first anniversary of the shootings. She also interrogates HERE's process and its criteria for the success of the project. Shannon Turner is a member of CAN's advisory board. [LINK]