I told  Ian that the back and forth, past to present, was confusing to me in his Lena story.  Now, I'm thinking I've done the same thing in my own story.  I would be interested to know if it was confusing to anybody.  cathleen

I loved the tone of this, especially at the end...a sort of wistful nostalgia.

I did not understand how this fit in or what it had to do with the David story:
Do you think I felt hollow in the stomach when three months later there was a mass killing on an American campus following the story plot line almost identically. Had we been forewarned?

Also the David story is just dropped and I didn't understand what the characters were talking about with respect to him. Maybe there are just allusions to things I know nothing about.
cathleen

Goodbye Lena parts 3 and 4 are the same.

I remember when I read this for the Competition that I found this part confusing,  It's like I'm listening to the conversation and trying to figure out who is who.

Maybe just one too many "that days:"
that day. Even today I wonder if I could've saved 27 lives that day if I had taken a different route.

That day
Cathleen

I liked the newspaper jargon here.

Interesting that a newspaper could run an editorial opposing the ad that paid for the newspaper in the first place.  Lots of nice irony.
Cathleen

I think it's the back and forth of the present and memories than can be a little confusing here.

Sometimes the repetition of the same word is exactly right, and sometimes it just feels awkward.  At least to me:  Example
 I had never dreamt that I would need their care. Now I found myself in their care.

Cathleen

I remember wanting to vote for this story and the only thing that stopped me was a lack of polish in a couple of areas that made it more of a challenge to read.

Nevertheless, a story in the early stages of writing that gives a wonderful profile.

This is wonderful writing:
I rifled through my memories

I felt there was one too many crashes in the opening paragraph.

Loved the alliteration in this:
waddled in walking a walker.

More "No, we can't."

I hate the politics of Negativity.  "No, we can't" instead of "Yes, we can."
Cathleen

This time it's time to dump the Tea Party into the B oston harbor. Cathleen