Anyone who has experienced gun violence knows that there is a ‘before’ and ‘after’ to the tragedy.
Before Dec. 13, you might have been aware of where the doors were in your classrooms, but never thought you’d have to build barricades against them. Before, the library was a place for studying, not for hiding and getting panicked texts from friends and family. Before, campus safety alerts might have been emails you skimmed, not ones you obsessively checked for law enforcement updates.
I’ve been living in the ‘after’ since I was 15…