Teacher Speaks Out 20 Years Later

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Ugh, it's Buzzfeed, but this article does have a lot of interesting information. This article really debates a lot of the statements Sue made in her book.

This is very interesting...

I’ve always gotten the vibe that sue and Tom were a bit more cerebral with Dylan. I’m not saying it wouldn’t have happened if Dylan got a hug more often of course but I don’t think there was anyone that was really up to hearing about Dylan’s emotions

She doesn’t discount the fact that she did write on the paper that Dylan was a good writer and story teller and didn’t like the language.

Hardly surprising if the Klebolds are the avoidant type.

This exact article was posted on Cullen’s Facebook last night.

The Klebolds (my opinion, several accounts from people who knew them at the time, and from Dylan’s friends) seem like they were good parents. I don’t think they would have just swept this “under the rug” (that sounds more like Eric’s folks), but Sue, in particular, seems like an unattached person. Not distant, but instead not very emotional.

I’m pretty sure somewhere- even in Comprehending Columbine and Cullen’s Columbine- that it’s discussed that Sue had her own bout of mental illness in the form of depression when she was in college. There is also, of course, anxiety she speaks of after the tragedy in her memoir.

I believe that Kelly's recollection is the more accurate.
She went out of her way to talk to Dylan about, talk to his counselor about, contact his parents about it. It doesn't make a lot of sense that she wouldn't tell them the content of the story when she felt so strongly that it was inappropriate.
I can only assume, like most parents who aren't thinking that their son is about to commit mass murder, that the Klebold's believed that it was "just a story" like Dylan claimed.

thelmar wrote:

I believe that Kelly's recollection is the more accurate.
She went out of her way to talk to Dylan about, talk to his counselor about, contact his parents about it. It doesn't make a lot of sense that she wouldn't tell them the content of the story when she felt so strongly that it was inappropriate.
I can only assume, like most parents who aren't thinking that their son is about to commit mass murder, that the Klebold's believed that it was "just a story" like Dylan claimed.

I have to agree with you on this one. Of course, most parent would think while it is violent that it's "just a story" their teen boy wrote after watching too many movies or playing too many games.

It surprises me though because I never heard Sue mention the fact that the character is clearly a stand in for Dylan. She was focusing more on the person witnessing the murder but the person doing the killing was Dylan.

I always wondered what Eric thought of when they read the story out loud. Some people think that it might’ve been a warning to Eric and that maybe the scrawny little kid was a stand-in for Eric. I think Eric probably loved it because he loved the fact that that’s pretty much what they were going to do. And we know Eric loved real life foreshadowing

I think it's just Krabbe who thinks the story is something like a "warning to Eric".  Hard to believe that. Then again, it's right to say it is "clearly" a stand in for Dylan (except for "strongly built") and foreshadowing the massacre, which might mean it would be unlikely if Eric didn't appear in the story. Then again again, it might be like Eric's writings about wanting to kill a little freshman.

It's possible Dylan secretly hated Eric, and even more possible he used him, but I can't help but doubt that's Eric in the story.  Even if it were, it seems more likely it's Dylan 'basing' characters off of people he knows rather than actually referencing them. Not much to go on from the story. A prep who is short and a "cocky power hungry prick" is all there is, unless "Go ahead man! Shoot me!!! I want you to shoot me!! Heheh you won’t!! Goddam pussy ...” sounds like Eric.