Editor,
I am writing now because my words have become the only outlet for my grief. Tuesday night, skimming through the banality of the Internet, I suddenly found a headline describing the murders of Professor Hector Torres and UNM graduate student Stefania Gray.
My first thoughts were of disbelief, my next were sadness, then anger, then mourning. Two people who dedicated their lives to thought and devoted themselves to the profession of education are now gone. Murdered. Taken. My words are insufficient to the task of memorial, but I wanted to write this letter in hopes that other students who are grieving for our friends and teachers would know that they are not alone. I have never lost someone I knew to such a brutal, despicable act as this.
Hector wrote my graduate school recommendations. He taught me the power of deconstruction. He was the reason I have a publication to my name. Genial and brilliant, he was an amazing educator and a friend to all who knew him. He is missed.
Alex Curtas
UNM alumnus
