Mental health is an issue plaguing college campuses across the country. In this episode, I am highlighting a group of students from a Social Practice in the Arts course who are creating a socially engaged art project in the hopes of tackling the lack of mental health resources at SLU.

I myself am a part of this class, and it was incredible opportunity to watch 15 people work together on one project to try and make a difference in the SLU community. But it didn’t come without it’s hardships. Just hearing the words 15-person group project makes me cringe.

If you want to participate in MentaliTEA, join us outside of the West Pine entrance of Pius Library between the hours of 9-11 a.m. or 7-9 p.m. on Tuesday May 7, 2019 to grab a mug with some tea and chat about mental health.

Pause for Opinion is hosted and produced by Fiona Clair with music by Genna Hilbing. A special thanks to the Saint Louis University Communication Department, the University News Editorial Board, and all the members of the Social Practice in the Arts class.

This is the last episode of this iteration of Pause for Opinion, so I want to take a second to thank all of you who have stopped to listen. This project has brought so much understanding, knowledge, and light into my senior year, and I’m so happy I got to share that with you. If you’re new to the podcast, I encourage you to give the other episodes a listen. And if you’ve been with me since episode one, bless you.

Thanks for listening

Hello again!

As an initial warning, I would like to say that this is a topic that I am very close to, and I therefore cannot talk about it without bias. I still however think that talking about student media is important. If anything, it could make you a better media consumer to understand where your campus news is coming from.

For more information about the controversial editorial, the UNews newsroom move, or the financial situation of the UNews do not hesitate to reach out at opinion@unewsonline.com.

If you are interested in joining the UNews as a writer or an editor contact Emma Carmody at eic@unewsonline.com.

Pause for Opinion is hosted and produced by Fiona Clair with music by Genna Hilbing. A special thanks to the University News Editorial Board and the Saint Louis University Communication Department. Follow us on Twitter @pauseforopinion for episode announcements and updates.

Thanks for listening

It’s hard to be religious in this world. Faith is such a beautiful thing, but all the escalating violence, retaliation and hate that have spread over the last few months (and years) centered around religious belief has really made me stop and think about my own spirituality and privilege.

I don’t think that being religious would be the first thing that anyone close to me would identify me by, but for a large portion of my life, it was a core part of my personal identity. I was raised Catholic, and I have no remorse for my upbringing in the faith. Sure, I didn’t like going to church as a kid because I thought it was boring, but my dad would just tell me and my siblings to picture the priest as Spongebob and pretend we were just watching two episodes of TV.

It wasn’t until I was in the seventh grade that I considered myself a religious person. I lost my aunt that year after her nine-year battle with breast cancer, and turning to God was something that helped. Praying every night helped. Going to church every weekend helped. So I ran with it.

My first 13 years of Catholic education didn’t come with much of a choice, but I made the conscious decision to attend a Catholic university for college. In fact, one of the main reasons I chose SLU was because it was a Catholic school. I thought that college would be a time when I truly deepened my faith. A time when I proved that not every young adult rebels against their religion when they go to college. And for the first two or so years, I think I may have done that.

Going to 9 p.m. mass at College Church was exciting, so I went pretty much every week without fail. Taking upper-level theology courses where I got to expand my ideas about religion, faith and God were exciting. Having late-night “deep talks” with friends about the existence of God among other existential crises were exciting. It felt like I was thinking the things that book and movie characters thought in college, and I loved it.

But somewhere along the way I realized that maybe, it was possible, that the religion I’d been practicing all these years wasn’t really Catholicism at all. Ok, I know that sounds crazy. I’d done all my Catholic sacraments, and went to Catholic mass weekly and attended Catholic schools my entire life, of course I was practicing Catholicism. But was I?

For me, religion was about finding comfort when I felt lost, and anxious, and scared. It was talking to God at night to rehash the day and think about the other people in my life who needed help. Once I started journaling my second semester in college, I actually found I had no use for nightly prayers, so that practice was out. Going to church was still a comfort, but it was more about the routine. When I was at mass, I mostly just people watched, thought about my week and zoned out. The stuff happening on the altar was so ingrained in my mind from years of the same mass over and over again that it became a little meaningless. As life became more hectic, I just stopped going as much, so there went that practice too.

More than the loss of those practices that I believed tied me to my religion, I started to realize that, actually, I didn’t believe everything the Catholic church was preaching. It’s been a rough time to be a Catholic, there’s no doubt about that, but really what the Catholic church lacks more than anything is a willingness to change. Despite having a really awesome pope right now who is setting us down a slightly better path—shout out to you Papa Frank—a lot of Catholicism is stuck in the past. I also—through the religion classes that SLU required me to take—found that I’m not even sure I believe in God, or at least the God that Catholicism paints.

So now I’m an agnostic, semi-practicing Catholic who has created her own version of a 2000-year-old religion as a coping strategy for crippling anxiety and depression (not aided by a stressful and busy college life). When I do go to church, which still happens relatively often, I like to find small ways to be rebellious. For example, when the whole church recites the Nicene Creed there are two lines that directly contradict my own beliefs: “For us men and our salvation” and “I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic church.”

In place of the first, I simply erase the word “men,” because it flows better and acknowledges that women exist in the Catholic church (something else they’re not too great at doing). It’s a little petty, but it’s also 2019.

The second is a newer addition to the rebellion, but one that has really helped me deepen my understanding of my own beliefs. The line in question recites the four marks of the church, and I believe in all but one, literally one. I didn’t used to think about it, but as someone who has developed a deep passion for social justice in her formative years, I simply cannot say with confidence that Catholicism is the one, correct religion. How the hell would I know that?

This rebellion is not sticking it to the church. I’m not making a difference. And yet, these small acts, in addition to my innate curiosity to learn about different religions, have helped me come to the conclusion that in reality I’m not a religious person, but rather a spiritual one (that’s allowed, I checked with the big (non-gendered) guy upstairs).

The funny thing is, looking back even when I thought I was in the peak of my “I’m religious” phase, this was true. I gave a speech at a religious retreat in high school about discovering God in my life and a direct quote from that speech reads “I do think it’s important to believe in Something…[Faith] is an ideal, a place, a person, a feeling, a smile. My faith in God is merely a sum of the people in my life whom I love.”

A lot of that has to do with me being the World’s Biggest Theatre Geek who likes to allude to “Les Mis,” but faith for me has always been more about love than any of that other stuff we do. Without love, it really would just be a weird cult (well, more of a weird cult than it already is).

Who knows, maybe if I lived in a different century I wouldn’t have lost my faith, but for now this is what I believe. I don’t regret the 17 years of Catholic education I’ve experienced because it challenged me to think for myself, to be curious and to love. Maybe you don’t care about religion, or maybe you’re super passionate about your own. Wherever you fall on the spectrums of religion, faith or spirituality, know that you’re not the only one who’s confused, or skeptical or questioning.

The beautiful thing about faith is that it is subjective. It can be what you need it to be, when you need it to be. That doesn’t mean that it’s a joke or you shouldn’t take it seriously, it just means it was created by humans. Oh that reminds me, “God, please let me get a job after graduation. Amen.”

Graduation is quickly approaching, which means the end of nearly a lifelong student career for many seniors. If you aren’t already getting emotional about this great monumental moment, I thought I’d put together a list of trends from all our years of schooling so we can laugh and grumble about our fading youth.

2001:

• People were listening to “Drops of Jupiter,” “Bootylicious” and “Fallin’”   
• “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” “Shrek” and “Monsters Inc.” hit the theaters
• “Fairly Odd Parents” premiered on Nickelodeon 
• Britney and Justin wore all denim to the AMA’s
• The first iPod was released
• The first juicy tracksuit was made for Madonna

2002:

• People were listening to “A Thousand Miles,” “Dilemma” and Avril Lavigne’s debut album
• “Lilo and Stitch,” “Spiderman” and “The Bourne Identity” hit the theaters
• Kelly Clarkson won season one of “American Idol”
• Sanyo SCP-5300 was the first phone with built-in camera
• People were wearing Crocs and Heelys 

2003:

• People were listening to “Lose Yourself,” “In Da Club,” “Crazy in Love” and “Hey Ya!” 
• “Finding Nemo,” “Holes” and “Love Actually” hit the theaters
• “The Lizzie McGuire Movie” and “The Cheetah Girls” premiered 
• Tyra introduced the world to “America’s Next Top Model”
• Trucker hats, low rise jeans, yoga pants, cargo pants and shorts, light-wash bootcut jeans and tube tops were all the latest fashion
• Crazy Frog was created
• Myspace was founded

2004:

• “This Love” made Maroon 5 big, and American Idiot was released
• “Anchorman,” “Napoleon Dynamite” and “Mean Girls” gained cult followings
• Rachel got off the plane, and “Friends” ended
• “Drake and Josh” premiered on Nickelodeon
• Ashlee Simpson lip-synced on SNL
• thefacebook.com went live at Harvard
• Livestrong bracelets kickstarted the wearing rubber bands to show support for causes trend

2005:

• People were listening to “Don’t Cha,” “Gold Digger,” “My Humps” and “Sugar, We’re Going Down”
• “Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” Batman Begins” and Madagascar” hit the theaters
• “The Office,” “How I Met Your Mother” and “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody” premiered
• YouTube was founded
• Guitar Hero hit the shelves 
• Carrie Underwood won season four of “American Idol”
• Ties with regular clothes, Ugg boots, shrugs and tennis visors were all the latest fashion
• “Twilight” hit the shelves 
• Webkinz and Club Penguin kept us busy online

2006:

• People were listening to “SexyBack,” “Chasing Cars” and “S.O.S.”
• “Little Miss Sunshine,” “Cars” and “Borat” hit the theaters
• “Hannah Montana,” “30 Rock,” “Dexter” and “Ugly Betty” premiered 
• “High School Musical” premiered on Disney Channel 
• Facebook became available for anyone 13+
• Twitter launched 
• Steve Irwin died
• Blu-ray players, the Nintendo DS and the Nintendo Wii were invented 

2007:

• People were listening to “Crank That (Soulja Boy) [and learning the dance],” “Umbrella,” “Apologize” and “Beautiful Girls”
• “Juno,” “Ratatouille,” “Bee Movie” and “SuperBad” hit the theaters
• “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” premiered
• Netflix announced their streaming service
• Britney shaved her head
• Beyoncé released the B-Phone with Samsung 
• Ripstiks were invented 

2008:

• People were listening to “I am…Sasha Fierce” [and dancing to “Single Ladies”], “I Kissed a Girl,” “Burnin’ Up” and “Viva la Vida”
• “Iron Man,” “WALL-E,” “Twilight,” “ Step Brothers” and “Slumdog Millionaire” hit the theaters
• Heath Ledger died after the premiere of “The Dark Night”
• “The Hunger Games” hit the shelves
• Leggings became pants
• Wayfarer glasses and shutter shades hid everyone’s eyes
• Obama became the first African American president of the United States

2009:

• People were listening to Lady Gaga’s new album “The Fame,” “Boom Boom Pow,” “FireFlies” and “Party in the U.S.A.”
• “Avatar,” “The Hangover,” “Up” and “The Blind Side” hit the theaters
• Tiana became the first black Disney princess in “The Princess and the Frog”
• “Glee,” “Modern Family” and “Jersey Shore”
• Kanye dissed Taylor at the VMAs
• Miley Cyrus pole-danced at the Teen Choice Awards
• Pepe the frog made his way across MySpace

2010:

• People were listening to “Airplanes,” “Forget You,” “Just the Way You Are” and “California Gurls” 
• “Inception,” “Toy Story 3,” “How to Train Your Dragon” and “True Grit” hit the theaters
• “The Walking Dead” premiered satisfying everyone’s zombie craze
• The Angry Birds app launched
• Dabbing started
• Dubstep came to the U.S. 
• Silly Bandz were life
• Nike elite socks and pink yoga pants were all the fashion

2011:

• People were listening to “Rolling in the Deep,” “Superbass,” “Country Girls (Shake it for Me)” and “Love on Top”
• “The Help,” “Captain America: The First Avenger,” “Bridesmaids” and “Midnight in Paris” hit the theaters
• “Game of Thrones” premiered 
• “Fifty Shades of Grey” hit the shelves 
• The Harry Potter series met its end with “Deathly Hallows Part 2”
• The Oprah Winfrey Show ended
• People started planking and twerking everywhere for no reason
• Will and Kate got married
• The world met Siri
• Snapchat launched

2012:

• People were listening to “Radioactive,” “Call Me Maybe,” “Gangnam Style” [horrendous dance included], “Ho Hey” and “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”
• “The Avengers,” “Lincoln,” “The Hunger Games,” “Brave” and “Wreck-It Ralph” hit the theaters 
• Tebowing was a thing
• Instagram launched
• Memes and GIFs exploded on the internet 
• The world was supposed to end 

2013:

• People were listening to “Blurred Lines,” “Wrecking Ball,” “Royals” and “Story of My Life”
• “12 Years a Slave,” “The Great Gatsby,” “Frozen” and “The Wolf of Wall Street” hit the theaters
• People were crazy about the Harlem shake and nae naeing
• Vine launched 
• Athleisure took to the streets 
• “Orange is the New Black” premiered, kicking off Netflix’s original content 
• Blockbuster closed

2014:

• People were listening to “Fancy,” “Habits (Stay High),” “Uptown Funk,” “Thinking Out Loud” and “Blank Space”
• “Boyhood,” “The Lego Movie,” “Unbroken,” “The Fault in Our Stars” and “Big Hero Six” hit the theaters
• The Ice Bucket Challenge, Alex from Target and selfie sticks swept the nation
• Bae and turnt up unironically pierced our vocabularies 
• Man buns graced our fine country
• Amazon Alexa launched

2015:

• People were listening to “Hello,” “What Do You Mean,” “Trap Queen” and “The Hills”
• “Inside Out,” “The Martian,” “The Revenant,” “The Force Awakens,” “Room” and “Trainwreck” hit the theaters
• “Empire”  and “The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” premiered
• 1989 brought us new Taylor music and a new celeb girl squad
• “Girl on the Train” hit the shelves 
• Hamilton premiered on Broadway with glowing reviews that swept across the world
• Misty Copeland became the first African American female named principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre 
• Jon Snow died
• Caitlyn Jenner introduced herself
• Netflix and chill became a thing
• One Direction broke up
• The blue and black/white and gold dress infuriated the internet

2016:

• People were listening to “Closer,” “Hotline Bling,” “Can’t Stop the Feeling,” “Formation” and “Cheap Thrills” 
• “La La Land,” “Moonlight,” “Moana” and “Hidden Figures” hit the theaters
• “Stranger Things” and “This is Us” premiered
• “Full House” and “Gilmore Girls” got revivals
• People were doing the mannequin challenge and flipping water bottles to go viral
• Pokémon Go distracted us all
• Lemonade broke the internet
• Leo got his Oscar
• #oscarssowhite happened
• Bradgelina broke up
• Avocado toast broke Instagram 

2017:

• People were listening to “HUMBLE,” “Sign of the Times,” “Perfect” and “Green Light”
• “Get Out,” “Coco,” “Wonder Woman,” “Lady Bird” and “Shape of Water” hit the theaters
• Taylor Swift broke her hiatus to drop “Reputation”
• “The Handmaid’s Tale” premiered
• #metoo resurged
• Women’s marches took to the streets across the nation
• There was unicorn everything
• “Fake news” made life hard for everyone

2018:

• People were listening to “This Is America,” “Girls Like You,” “God’s Plan,” “Havana” and “High Hopes”
• “Black Panther,” “A Star is Born,” “Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse,” “Incredibles 2,” “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Crazy Rich Asians” hit the theaters
• “Queer Eye” got its fabulous revival
• The #inmyfeelings challenge went viral
• Harry and Meghan got married 
• Liam and Miley got married in secret

This is just a quick update from our period discussion a few months ago. There was so much to cover in that episode, and I don’t think we got to touch on the mental side of things as much as I would have liked to.

Luckily, with Project Period up and running on SLU’s campus, it was the perfect excuse to chat with Shanaya Shah again as well as some fellow SLU menstruators who had a thing or two to say about the mental affects of PMS.

This episode of Pause for Opinion was produced by Fíona Clair, Grace Wilmot, and Avni Patel with music by Genna Hilbing. A special thanks to the Saint Louis University Communication Department, The University

News Editorial Board, and all of our lovely contributors. You can follow us on Twitter @pauseforopinion for updates and announcements.

Thanks for listening

Hello everyone! I’m very excited because this episode is quite different than all my previous ones! I was excited to try something new, and I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out, so make sure to let me know what you think.

In this episode, I’m diving into the biases around certian majors at Saint Louis Univeristy (and probably most universities in the U.S.). To help me, I interviewed my brother, Liam Clair, who is a mechanical engineering major at SLU; Tiffany Rosenzweig, who is an academic advisor who works with deciding students; and Haley Lodrigan, a freshman at SLU who recently went through the major declaration process.

Throughout the interviews, we pretty much all agreed that the likelihood of a direct career path, high salary, and career stability all loom over the decision making process.

**Learning curve alert** Sadly Haley’s interview was recorded on a mono setting by mistake (always check your settings friends!!!!), but hopefully you can still enjoy her contribution because I really think she puts to words what the process is like for freshman who are undecided.

Pause for Opinion is hosted and produced by Fiona Clair with music by Genna Hilbing. A special thanks to the University news Editorial Board, the Saint Louis Univeristy Communication Depatment, the Saint Louis University College of Arts and Sciences Advisors, and this episodes amazing guests Liam and Haley.

You can follow us on Twitter for updates and announcements @pauseforopinion.

Thanks for listening

Hi, it’s been a while! Welcome back to Pause for Opinion!

This episode I sat down with Amanda Buechele and Olive Elwell, co-presidents of Healthy is Hot. Reproductive health is an important topic on any college campus, but it is specifically important at Saint Louis University because St. Louis has one of the highest STI rates in the country.

SLU is a Jesuit university, but that doesn’t mean that reproductive health can be ignored. healthy is Hot is doing everything in their power to make sure that the conversation is started on campus.

healthyishotstl.wordpress.com/
Facebook: @healthyishot.stl
Instagram: @healthyishot.stl
Mailer sign-up
Email: healthyishotslu@gmail.com

**Learning curve alert** I used a new editing software for this episode, and the results were less than stellar. I apologize for the volume and level issues, I’m still learning! But I hope you can still enjoy the conversation!

Pause for Opinion is hosted and produced by Fíona Clair with music by Genna Hilbing. A special thanks to Healthy is Hot, The Saint Louis University Communication Department, and the University News Editorial Board.

For episode updates and announcements you can follow us on Twitter @pauseforopinion. 

Thanks for listening

The day after we recorded this episode three mass shootings made the national news. Gun violence is a plague on the American spirit that has haunted this country for far too long. It’s not just mass shootings; it’s hit-and-runs on dark street corners, it’s relatives shooting each other behind closed doors, it’s police brutality. And if we do nothing, people will continue to stuffer, fear, and die.

This episode I sat down with Haley Zink and Claire Cunningham from Ceasefire STL. I am always impressed by the efforts and achievements of my fellow SLU students, and these women have proven once again that young people are informed and powerful.

Ceasefire STL was born in the wake of the March for Our Lives, and they fight for an end to gun violence and police brutality in St. Louis. The organization has already accomplished so much in its short history, and they were even featured on a recent cover of Time Magazine [check out the full cover here https://bit.ly/2ArFxfV].

For more information on what Ceasefire STL is doing or how to get involved visit ceasefirestl.wixsite.com/ceasefire
Or find them on social media here:
Twitter @CeasefireSTL
Instagram @ceasefire.stl
Facebook www.facebook.com/CeasefireSTL/

Pause for Opinion is hosted and produced by Fíona Clair with music by Genna Hilbing. A special thanks to the Saint Louis University Communication Department, KSLU, Ceasefire STL, and the University News Editorial Board.

Thanks for listening

This episode I sat down with two lovely SLU students, Shanaya Shah and Molly Dippel, to talk about the injustices of menstruation. Give it a listen, and get yourself informed! **I apologize that I never directly asked the “What’s one thing you wish people knew about periods?” question, but I think the entire episode does a good job of answering that! For more information about PMDD visit: bit.ly/2IueFP4 and contact your doctor if something about your period doesn’t feel right For more information on Aunt Flow visit: www.goauntflow.com/For more information on Dignity Period visit:www.dignityperiod.org/ To get involved with Dignity Period on SLU’s campus, or for more information about the Aunt Flow initiative email shanaya.shah@slu.edu Special thanks to Genna Hilbing, KSLU, the Saint Louis University Communication Department, and the University News Editorial Board. Thanks for listening

Valentine’s Day is a day of love and cheesy Hallmark cards, but this year it is also an anniversary of violence. Our world is plagued with acts of violence that polarize communities and steal hope from an increasingly scared population, but over the last few years it seems like mass shootings have become a social norm.

Mass shootings aren’t new. Parkland wasn’t the first, and it certainly wasn’t the last. However, that terrifying attack on Feb. 14, 2018 felt different, or at least what came next did.

There was, of course, mourning, tears and fear. But there was also dialogue. People, teenagers, were talking about what happened inside the school that day. More than that, they were urging for change.

They picked up a fight that was long in the making, and they brought it to the national stage with their campaign Road to Change—some victims even went on to found the March for Our Lives movement. We didn’t just get the endless newscasts talking about the shooter, instead we saw students—who were mourning the loss of classmates and friends—challenge politicians to make reforms that would prevent this tragedy from happening again.

This uprising of hope couldn’t have happened after Columbine back in 1999, but in the last few years we have seen a new side to mass shootings. After the Orlando nightclub shooting in 2016 and the Vegas concert shooting in 2017, we saw people turn to social media as a platform for support and reform. In many ways we were building up to that point last year when high schoolers—who have been exposed to social media for practically their entire lives—took tragedy and turned it into hope.

So, here we are, one year after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School tasked with a question: What’s changed? Have we, as a country, learned from our mistakes, or do we remain blinded by our own perspectives and experiences? And most of all—as students who spend the majority of their time in school buildings—are we safe?

Riley Tovornik, Co-Photo Editor:

“I remember when I was a kid school shootings were a rarity, something I couldn’t even imagine. Now school shootings don’t faze me, and I know that isn’t how I should feel.”

Celine Reinoso, Copy Editor:

“Legislators enacted over 50 new laws that restrict access to guns, all because of the power behind activism and the youth-led movement. Over the past year, the Parkland students proved Whitney Houston right her belief that ‘children are our future.’”

Madisyn Siebert, Associate Arts Editor:

“I have now been instilled to instinctively look for the closest exit in whatever space I am, whether that is a classroom, concert, shop, etc. I need to know where they are so if something goes wrong I know immediately where to exit. This ‘instinct’ should not be something that all people need to develop.”  

Chandana Kamaraj, Arts Editor:

“Life is already difficult in itself, internally, and external forces that add another layer of negative emotion creates a lifestyle that is increasingly unbearable- and it doesn’t really get easier. The fact that children who are younger than I are facing these external forces is incredibly sad and should not exist.”

Erin McClelland, Sports Editor:

“All I could think about when the shooting happened were my younger sisters. I couldn’t get over the feeling of helplessness in knowing that in the worst of situations there was nothing I could do to protect two of the people I love the most in the world, and the fact that it is something that has had to pass through my mind is devastating. Siblings shouldn’t have to fear for their brothers and sisters just because they attend school.”

Kendra Ruether, Copy Editor:

“When I look back at the aftermath of the Parkland shooting, the thing that sticks with me the most is the hope I felt and continue to feel for our generation and for future generations. If a group of teenagers, in the aftermath of a terrible tragedy, can advocate so strongly and eloquently for change (better than most experienced adults do), I think all people eager for change can and should take note and do the same.”

Riley Mack, News Editor:

“After I learned of the Parkland shooting one year ago, I was shocked and upset about what those teenagers had to deal with—I simply couldn’t imagine going through that. But those teenagers changed the way I think about mass shootings. Those teenagers couldn’t imagine it happening to them either, until it did. Now, I think about the possibility of it happening everywhere that I go, and that’s an incredibly unfortunate reality of living in America. On top of the internal and external battles that teenagers face, they have to worry for their lives. I hope that one day we will no longer have to live in fear.”

Meredyth Staunch, Editor-In-Chief:

“There is a large amount of emphasis placed on the shooter and the devastation this individual has caused—which came to my attention after I interviewed co-founder of March for Our Lives Cameron Kasky. The media often expresses the destruction without a call to action, and Kasky wanted to change the narrative. In elementary and middle school, lockdown drills were a rarity for me. Now, they have become a norm. We think that we could not possibly fall victim to school shootings, but the reality is that they have escalated. Something needs to change.”

Sophie Perry, Online Design Editor:

“Growing up in the era of a sudden increase in mass shootings all around the country, I became accustomed to the hard lock down drills and announcements on the news, broadcasting that another school was under attack. This normalcy is something that I soon came to realize is not normal. Mass shootings should not be just another headline, paired with ‘Best Valentine’s Gifts of 2018.’”

Monica Ryan, Managing Editor:

“My mother is a preschool teacher and just as victims of the Sandy Hook shooting lost their lives, when the Parkland shooting happened one year ago, I thought about a situation where my mother might have to lose her life in order to protect her students. People always worry about issues when it affects them directly. So many shootings have happened over recent years. It is hard to imagine a person that these shootings would not affect.”

Tannock Blair, Associate News Editor:

“It all just seems so hopeless. Gun violence has become so ingrained within the culture of this country that even with political intervention it just doesn’t seem as though there’s anything that can make it stop. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.”

Ryan Lefner, Associate News Editor:

“I remember the day that it happened and how surreal it felt that another mass shooting had just taken place. Living on campus, I thought about how all of my neighbors, friends and fellow students would be affected, and how so many lives would be changed forever if an event like that happened at SLU.”

Becky LiVigni, Design Editor:

“After Parkland happened last year, I interviewed a SLU psychology professor who specializes in the cognitive effects of trauma. Today, I can’t help but think of the troubles these kids are still coping with everyday. These victims and all those that have come before and after deserve our sympathy, our action, and our advocacy.”

Emma Carmody, Co-Photo Editor:

“After the Parkland shooting, there was the most hope that I think our country has had for a long time for gun reform. With the March for Our Lives and all of the attention that the Parkland students got from the media, I think a lot of Americans hoped that this would make a significant difference in gun violence and law in our country. However, here we are a year later and there are still several mass shootings in schools across the country and our politicians haven’t come to fix anything either.”

Ashlee Kothenbeutel, Illustrator:

“I never felt unsafe at my school, but looking back, there was a definite lack of security when I was in high school. You could easily slip in a back door without being noticed. Due to the shootings and the fact that I lived close to Baltimore, the school locked all the doors, hired a full time security guard, and added various high tech cameras throughout the school.”