This book gives several in depth stories of the lives of adolescents and the events that led them to their downfall.
I have read two stories so far. The first story tells about a boy named Justin who had been picked on (Sean, this is up your alley) since he began attending school. He had trouble making friends at school, and when he did have friends, he mostly associated with what would be stereotyped as "the outcasts". In high school, Justin got very involved with Dungeons and Dragons (Keelin mentioned in class how video games / role playing games are almost a modern version of this). Justin eventually started having more difficulties in high school, but in English class, he was passionate about his acting role as Julius Caesar. His parents worked a lot (his dad commuted from Manhattan) so often he would be alone with his sister for most of the day and had to cook his own dinner. On Valentines day, many students in his class received carnations from friends. Justin did not receive one. Later that evening he went out to play with a friend in the neighborhood and never came back. His parents and neighbors went looking for him and found him hanging from a tree.
I particularly was interested in Justin's story because the details it gave about the way the school handled the situation. Many students heard on the radio that Justin had died last night. Many did not believe it, and others couldn't care and it almost didn't phase them. The school went into crisis mode, and made counseling available to EVERY student who needed it, seeing them one at a time. Each counselor (the superintendent sent over two additional ones) spoke to every class about Justin's death and answer questions.
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I wonder about what my own high school did after the suicide of three students in one month (mid February - early March 2006). After my friend Nate's death, the school should have gone into crisis mode. He was a dropout of the high school, but many students knew him and his group of friends. In fact, one of my friends was, may I say his best friend since elementary school.I've talked about how mentally unstable I was during this time period. Each February 9th is strange for me. Almost everyone other person I have know that died was old or sick, or it wasn't much of a surprise that they would pass.
*There was an instance when I was 16. I was getting ready for school and heard a helicopter outside my window. Living a mile from the DC border, this usually did not phase me, but something was off about this time. It was particularly close to our house, at one point I started to think the cops were after me..
I went downstairs ready to walk to the bus stop, and my mom was crying. "Tre and his mother died.. They were stabbed in their sleep by a woman who was living with them."
What.... the... fuck... I'm starting to tear up as I recall this sunny spring day getting ready for school.
Tre was a boy in my neighborhood. He was adopted by an older woman. We knew them, what we thought was pretty well. My brother and Tre went to elementary and middle school together. At this time, my brother was 11 and I believe so was Tre. Tre was always a little bit off, but we thought that was just how his energetic personality. After his death, my brother had mentioned something about Tre saying he was hit or abused by his mother's roommate. At this point, we should address looking for warning signs, and often many are more visible by students because most of their time is spent at school.
When my sister and I got to the bus stop, many of the kids there didn't know about what happened. So we told them. There were comments about Tre and his behavior and I just remember being really upset and yelling about how it didn't matter how he acted, but that he was dead, killed by someone who lived with him.
I thought it was important to include this satellite photo from GoogleMaps just to show exactly how close this was to my parent's house in Silver Spring, MD.
for further reading:http://www.gazette.net/gazette_archive/2004/200415/silverspring/news/210510-1.html
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