I feel so sad for the twelve victims of the Aurora, Colorado movie theater shooting. I feel so sad for their families. Dozens more were injured in this horiffic crime perpetrated by a 24-year-old madman.

And I feel so angry. A dark room where people sit together in the great communal rite of movie watching is no place to worry about being gunned down. It is like having to fear that you will be murdered while you are dreaming.

Watching a film is, in a way, a sacred and shared cultural experience. I think of it as a neutural zone where you can trust that people will not act in inappropriate ways. To fear that someone might decide to shoot moviegoers is just so hideous and random.

I am angry because I had to tell my 15-year-old daughter about this violence because it was on the car radio. She was planning to attend The Dark Night Rises this weekend. She’s been watching The Dark Knight (with Heath Ledger as The Joker) in preparation.

I am angry because there are people in America, who are capable of this kind of random violence.

I am angry because we don’t have better gun control laws.

I am angry because something so pleasurable has been tainted by violence. Once again.