17 kids hurt, 17 people missing, 17 lives lost, 1 gun.

It was such a long time ago now that so many people have forgotten, but I never will, I can’t. I remember my mom telling me that there was a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglass (MSD) but it didn’t completely register in my head until I was sitting in a Pasquales with my friends, watching the tv screen as a list of names started popping up: Gina Montalto, Jaime Guttenberg, Nicholas Dworet… the list goes on and on. I didn’t know any of the people who died, but I knew people who did and looking at the agony on their faces, I knew that the world had to change.

Guns have become an increasing issue within the US and although the fight against them has gained much support, almost no one with power has done anything to make a change. So the question arises, why haven’t they? 

“Guns aren’t the problem,” said Pete Sessions, “sick people are.”

 I hear this and I think, “Blame a person, it’s fair they did it, but why on earth allow others who are just as sick in the head the same access?” The US is the world’s leading country in mass shootings being responsible for 73% of mass shootings across the world. Now within the country, guns have become the leading cause of death with the article Children and teens are more likely to die by guns than anything else stating that, “Firearms accounted for nearly 19% of childhood deaths (ages 1-18) in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wonder database. Nearly 3,600 children died in gun-related incidents that year (2020).” 

The MSD shooting, which would go on to be one of the top 10 deadliest mass shootings within the US, resulted in the death of 17 people and injuries in 17 others. After this tragedy, people began to start protests which grew into the March for Our Lives which was established in 2018.

I believe that it’s important to recognize the impact that gun violence has had on millions of kids living within the US. Guns don’t help us in any way so what is the point in keeping them around? People may argue that we have the right to bear arms, we shouldn’t have our guns taken away from us, okay well then don’t. Switzerland has one of the lowest gun-related crime rates within the world and they do own their own guns, the difference is they have laws which put the people’s safety first. “Not only are you supposed to be criminal record-free in order to get a gun, but you must also be deemed unlikely to cause harm to other Swiss,”states the article Why Gun Ownership in Switzerland is Not the Same in the US.

People are scared of what lives around their corners, but the government hasn’t shown any interest in our fears. Why do we have to suffer the consequences of a government unable to put its people first? Guns need to be outlawed or at least limited I mean, what use is the idea of an American dream if we’re too dead to live it out.

Success and stardom, are the two really as alike as we may think? Though many people enter the industry with dreams of becoming the next Steven Speilberg or Audrey Hepburn, very few truly reach that level of fame. So, the question arises, is it truly fame and fortune which defines someone’s success or is it something else entirely?

  “If you’re just in it for the money… I don’t think success is linked to money,” said award-winning screenwriter Neil Landau. “I think success is linked to freedom. And, you know, your idea of success changes to be healthy, happy, loved, appreciated, inspired.”

Neil Landau is an active screenwriter who is set to become the new Director of Screenwriting at the new MFA Film & Television Program at the University of Georgia. Thanks to the success of his movie Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead, Landau broke into the industry at a young age and has gone on to work with many well known film companies even becoming the executive writing consultant at Sony as well as Columbia Pictures. Being a part of the industry for such a long time has helped shape his perspective on success, evolving from a need to be recognized to a satisfaction in knowing he can share his story as well as help others do the same.

“Right now, like my main emphasis is to mentor younger writers and new writers because I feel like I’ve had my opportunities,” said Landau. “And it’s not like, I don’t still write and have a lot of projects, but I’m very content, paying it forward, and mentoring and helping other people.”

For Landau, the idea of success is linked to the mentality you have when looking towards your future and he hopes to help his students embrace this idea as well. “What are you willing to do to make it,” is the biggest question any person within the industry must answer and it’s important to recognize that not everyone is willing to go the lengths others will.

“I did not have enough of a drive to give up everything and just pursue,” said Suzanne Dunn when asked about her success within the industry.

Dunn had always dreamed of going on Broadway and getting awarded an Oscar, but after a while her dream changed and she just hoped to live a life which would allow her to do what she loved. Being an actor, she knew that it would be difficult to find stardom with it being such a competitive industry however, success was a different story.

“I think as we get older, the idea of stardom, because you know, the realities of the business is it doesn’t look kindly upon older people,” said Dunn. “Since then, success has become more about, am I still working? Can I make a living at this? Am I being seen? Is it fulfilling?”

These are all questions Dunn answered after rejoining the industry in her mid 50s. Persevering through every situation is what allowed Dunn to enter and make a living when  so many others could not. While she used to focus on her acting career, she has spent most of her time in recent years directing productions with her most recent work being an onstage production of Grease the Musical. While some may not view this as success, she strongly believes that she has managed to retain a balance which allowed her the happiness of a family while also the joy of the theater and that’s all she really needed.

So, stardom and success, are they really the same? I’d like to think not.

Three words is all it takes to start an introduction, but the answer is much more complex than just that. Laura Gonzalez, that’s my name and almost everyone calls me that, save for the few friends and family who call me Lala. Most people here have one thing in common, they live in Georgia however me and a few others are the exception to this rule.

Born in Coral Springs, Florida, I have spent my whole life down in the “Sunshine State” spending weekends at the beach and holidays at Disney or Universal. Despite my homes nickname and my love for laying on a towel along the coast with a book in hand, I tend to be compared to a paper sheet with a complexion so pale I feel like Edward Cullen when standing in the sun. But even though summer has just begun, time has begun to pass as senior year approaches and failed attempts to tan fall away. So how will I spend my last summer? How will I let it define me? That has yet to be seen.Back home I have been attending Coral Springs Charter School since 6th grade seeing how the school contains both middle and high school. After years within the same school, I’ve come to learn that change never stops with new and old friends leaving as well as new and old dreams arriving, but one thing that has remained constant in my life is literature. When I say literature it sounds fancy and broad but in reality I’m a person who thrives when reading a heart- wrenching romance or an action-packed adventure. Because of my interest in reading, I grew to want to write fiction. Telling the stories that I lived out in my head and writing out the dreams I had harbored allowed me to live out my fantasies through the characters that lived in the pages of my notebooks, but this wasn’t something I was able to learn about in school so I turned to the next best thing, journalism.

Going into journalism my freshman year of high school I thought I had signed up for newspaper but to my surprise, I somehow ended up in a yearbook classroom full of people who looked just as lost. I had made up my mind, I was going to ask to be transferred out, but then the teacher started talking and all thoughts of leaving left my mind. Mrs Harwell was loud, confident and VERY straightforward and when she looked at me she said, “If you don’t want to be here leave because I’m not going to put up with your bulls**t,” and with that I knew I was in this for the long run.

Now going into my senior year I’m glad I decided to see it through because without Mrs. Harwell and the editorial staff, high school would’ve really sucked. Freshman year I became an assistant underclassmen editor and by sophomore year managing my own group of kids as an editor. Junior year I did good enough that she let me be senior editor — I mean who ever heard of a junior being senior Editor — I was sure someone was going to come at me for it, but I knew I could do it so I saw it through. Next year I’m going in as editor-in-chief of my school yearbook and I know that all my effort throughout all these years was worth it. I get to call the shots, I get to have the final say. I get to prove to that freshman girl that we were worth the bulls**t.

But as much as I love yearbook, my true high school achievement lay within our literary magazine, which I have been editor-in-chief of since sophomore year. Freshman year no one seemed to care about it but I knew it was something I couldn’t look past, something I couldn’t let die out when our editor-in-chief left for college. Learning the ropes freshman year I picked up additional skills in my sophomore year practicing design in my free time. That year, I won the award for Best of the Best Literary Magazine spread at the FSPA states competition. I couldn’t believe it, I mean I was the first yearbook kid under Mrs. Harwell to ever win a Best of the Best at states. Who would’ve thought? The next year I went on to win that category once again. Journalism is more than just writing about someones story, it’s capturing the essence of it, whether that’s in a lit mag spread or a feature story.

Not everyone can say that they know what they want to be when they “grow up” and quite honestly neither can I, but I think I have an idea. My dream is to live life to the fullest: to read every book I find interesting, travel to every place I have on my list, take every risk that makes me feel like the world might just end if I see it through. I want to be able to travel and be free, not held in place by the weight of expectations or societal acceptances. Yep, my dream is to live in the Lala land I’m made up in my head (maybe now you’ll understand the nickname).

Life is meant to be enjoyed. To quote a show I did not quite love but did enjoy, “You Americans live to work. Here… here we work to live.” Thank you “Emily in Paris.” I think this is pretty true but I want to be the living exception, I want to break that rule. I may not seem that brave or extroverted, but in my mind there’s nothing that can stop me. No fear, no doubts, nothing. It may only take three words to start and introduction but it takes just two to respond. Laura Gonzalez. Two words that’s all they are, but those two words identify me.