Caitlin: 0:28

Warning. This episode discusses school violence, a sensitive topic that may be triggering for some listeners In the wake of recent tragedies at Annunciation Church and Catholic School in Minneapolis and Evergreen High School in Colorado. We're bringing back an episode that feels heartbreakingly relevant. If you're feeling helpless and angry right now, you're not alone. But here's what I know about the women who listen to this show you don't stay helpless for long.

Caitlin: 0:57

This episode originally from April 2023, walks you through concrete steps you can take to advocate for safer schools. We're talking effective advocacy strategies, policy changes that actually work and meaningful ways to support affected families. Your anger matters, your voice matters, and there are real things you can do with both. Let's turn your fury into action and honor these victims by fighting for the safer schools our children deserve. Let's get started. Also, events that happened in Denver. So today we have six ways that you can take action if you're feeling a little helpless after recent school violence. So this is a trigger warning now. If you can't listen to something like this, we totally understand. We just wanted to prepare you for what we're going to be talking about today. Thank you for joining us and hopefully you learned something that you can apply and take some action if you're feeling a little frustrated with what's going on in schools right now.

Jenny: 2:19

Right, and if this is your first time to listen to our show and you are looking for something upbeat, go back to episode 31. That's one of my favorites.

Caitlin: 2:30

Or really any of the other episodes we've done recently Totally digestible bites of like fun and learning and we appreciate. You know, if this is your first episode with us and you want to listen, we appreciate it, but also if you're just really feeling like it's going to be too heavy. 31 is great, but so are the others, so we encourage you to go there.

Jenny: 2:50

All right. So with me is Caitlin. She's a former teacher who now works in educational technology and sadly that's an industry where a big part of it is developing devices to keep kids and teachers safe against violence.

Caitlin: 3:06

It's true, yep, and I have to go light on this. The reason that we can do this episode and the reason that I can handle these heavy moments is because Jenny, my host, is my rainbow infused space unicorn, and she just is, and she makes me feel better, she makes me laugh, and that's that's how I can do these. So thank you for being my rainbow infused space unicorn, jenny.

Jenny: 3:36

I mean, I love this space part right. I wonder is a space unicorn like used to space so it doesn't need a helmet, or does it need a helmet? I don't know.

Caitlin: 3:47

I think that's open for interpretation. I think, however, the image comes together in your mind is totally appropriate.

Jenny: 3:53

Okay, there's a space suit. Well, just because this episode is serious and it's tackling a topic that, unfortunately, we feel the need to address a second time, I do think that there's still humor and great things in our lives. So, before we tackle something super heavy, let's spend some time catching up and talk about what's happening in our world.

Caitlin: 4:17

Totally.

Jenny: 4:18

Let me tell you right now what I'm obsessed with. Do it People who Google things on Facebook. Okay, I don't know if you remember, but like um text from last night or my life is average. You know, those types of conglomerations of lots of funny things, right.

Caitlin: 4:41

Um right now.

Jenny: 4:42

I am loving the questions that people have put on Facebook, thinking that it's Google. Okay, someone in our neighborhood group actually put up is a one I actually saw in real life. This is real. Is dallas worth visiting? Oh no, it's like what. What do you like to do? How far away are you? Right do you know, Like these are all pieces of information we need to know Is Dallas worth visiting? I mean, if you're a Cowboys fan, probably.

Caitlin: 5:18

Also, this person is in your neighborhood. Facebook group In my neighborhood, yes, so like they're two and a half hours away from Dallas, Two hours away from Dallas, Like oh goodness, Okay, Like what goodness Okay, Like what is happening right now.

Jenny: 5:34

Okay. And then we've seen people like is it going to rain today? What's the high? Like you don't need to put that in Facebook, but my favorite so far I've seen this one. It was in a group. In fact, the person who posted it in the group I know personally. Oh no, I'm looking for recommendations for the best mobile hibachi catering company that comes to you.

Caitlin: 6:08

Mobile hibachi.

Jenny: 6:10

Like Benihana at your house yeah okay, how many of those places even exist in our city and how would you know which one is best?

Caitlin: 6:21

yeah, this is weird. Also, are we sure that they're not just like asking the neighborhood group for like a recommendation? I mean, I guess that's what Nextdoor is for right, but like this is so so niche.

Jenny: 6:33

Odd Like yeah, mobile hibachi catering company. I imagine that if you Google that with the word Austin, you're only going to get one or two results, right?

Caitlin: 6:45

If that right or all the results are going to be like, come to Benihana and then, on top of that, the best mobile Apache Right. Yeah, I think if they exist, they, by default, would be the best Pretty much Like the fact that they haven't gone out of business would imply that they are the best.

Jenny: 7:05

Yes, so shout out to the person who asked that I know you and I care about you. But that is really funny, okay.

Caitlin: 7:14

Yeah, that's strange. Okay, well, I'm going to throw in my current obsession. It's going to sound a little bit sad, but it's really not. We you and I are both pretty open about mental health struggles that we've had in the past, and I've recently started a round of antidepressants. And my first attempt at this uh, you know this I I had an allergic reaction to and broke out into hives every day for two weeks.

Caitlin: 7:43

It was horrible and I'd only taken the pills for like four days. So, like after I stopped taking them, and now I have hives Right and I can't stop scratching because they are the itchiest hives. And I didn't know that I was allergic to them. I didn't know that. I kept swearing up and down there's mosquitoes in this house, Like what's good, and no, no, no, like no one else was getting bitten, and I had these giant welts on my. Yeah, it was horrible, but we've. I stopped taking them and I switched to something different and I am titrating onto them now. I am clearly noticing a difference in how I'm feeling after being on them for three or four weeks.

Jenny: 8:29

That's awesome. I'm so happy for you for three or four weeks.

Caitlin: 8:32

That's awesome. I'm so happy for you. Yeah, it's just, it's something that has been a struggle for me for a while and I'm just very glad to finally be taking the right steps in the right direction towards making myself feel more like myself again. So that's a really great thing. And if you ever want to talk about it, if you're a listener and you just feel like you know you want to be, you want us to talk more openly about this stuff, we're happy to do it. But you know, DM us or whatever, but I'm happy to share what's going on with me.

Jenny: 9:02

So please, name a pill and I've probably tried it.

Caitlin: 9:06

Right. I saw a meme the other day. It was like how it started, started and it was like kids playing that mancala game where you like move the beans around the board right, and then it's how it's going now, or how it's how it's ended or whatever, and it's like an adult putting pills into one of those pill sorters for the week, which made me laugh out loud because that is one of my and I have so many pills in that thing that I use. I have a week-long thing. It has my AM pills and my PM pills and it's just like I've taken so many different things and I'm happy to talk about them, but I'm just really glad to be feeling better now that I'm on an antidepressant that seems to be helping me out.

Jenny: 9:50

That's awesome. Feeling better now that I'm on an antidepressant that seems to be helping me out that's awesome. I'm so happy for you as someone who just got off something that was highly addictive and moving towards something that doesn't make me wake up in the middle of the night if I forget to take it. It's great when you find the right thing for you Totally. But what's great for you might not be great for me, and so we have to keep that in mind. You know, give yourself grace If your friend is on something that's making them feel really great and it didn't work for you, that's okay. Everybody's brain chemistry is different. Totally All right. So here comes the best part of the show for me, the gem of the week. This is the part where you can either laugh alongside me or at me. It doesn't matter. But today's gem is not even so much funny as it is like, yes, I love it.

Jenny: 10:41

I woke up in the middle of the night earlier this week and it was not the. Wake up in the middle of the night and be like oh, I'm totally'm, I'm totally rested. Oh wait, I can still go back to sleep. That's amazing. No, it's the. It can't be time to get up yet why am I awake? And I look at the clock and it says 2 31. I say, okay, I got about three and a half hours before I have to actually be awake. Maybe I could drift back to sleep. Put on a podcast, do something to help me fall asleep. Maybe I could drift back to sleep. Put on a podcast, do something to help me fall asleep. And then I take a drink of the glass of water on my bedside table and see the one it's only 1231.

Caitlin: 11:20

It was so great, that is the best. That is the best. I will often just lie there and I'm like I know, I know my alarm's going to go off in 10 minutes. I just know it, I just know it, I just know it. And then I actually, and I, so I don't look at the clock right, and then I roll over and I'm like, oh my god, I have an hour and a half and it's so great, that is the best feeling like 12, 31, 12, 31, all right, I can get, I can get for an hour now this is not a problem, right, amazing, oh, I love it.

Caitlin: 11:55

That's the best feeling. I'm so glad that happened to you. It's like finding a 20 in your pocket.

Caitlin: 12:16

It's so good. Oh, I love that. Oh, my goodness, okay, okay, well, we are officially turning into old people, and by we I mean myself and and maybe my husband too, I don't know but all of a sudden, um Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune have re-entered my life. So it's like we'll be like at home in the evening and then like there's nothing on tv and and like somehow wheel of fortune ends up on the television and I don't know how. But it's been really like kind of fun to just kind of go back in time a little bit and also pat say jack, how do you still look exactly the same, like I don't understand this.

Jenny: 12:51

There is a picture of him in someone's attic. I'm sure this is a dorian gray thing. It's him and john stamos there's like right, and paul rudd like what are you doing? Yeah, paul.

Caitlin: 13:05

He's aging in reverse. That's a different situation, right? Exactly he's. I don't know what he's doing, but something, something good, because he's, he looks amazing anyway.

Caitlin: 13:13

Um, so there will be times when rise and I are just like telling answers to the tv, as you do when you're watching wheel of fortune. Everyone does that, and we're watching, we look at sam and his mind is just completely blown. Like every time we get it right, he's like Whoa, how did you know? And it like I feel so smart and also, at the same time, it's so good. I feel so smart. I don't understand why I can guess the wheel of fortune clues before my first grader. But also it feels really good when you guess it before the person on the television, right, like that's when you're like I am a genius, but then also, along with Wheel of Fortune, is now Jeopardy in our lives again, right. So, and if you really want to feel smart, get a Jeopardy clue right before someone buzzes in like you'll feel like a genius, okay, so that's harder for me.

Caitlin: 14:11

I don't usually do as well. So the other night I'm in bed with Sam trying to, like you know, we're, we're doing the bedtime thing and calming each other down and all of a sudden he just starts singing and you know he sings a lot Like this is a thing in our house. He will just randomly burst into song, which is amazing. It's like living in a musical. And he'll the other day he's like and I'm like what are you doing? And he just goes where is that song from? Like, oh my gosh. So he's singing the jeopardy theme song that's hilarious in bed as he's trying to fall asleep, okay so when I was a little girl, I was teaching myself to play the piano.

Jenny: 14:55

And what is the tune that everyone learns to play? Heart and Soul, right? No one actually has heard this song in forever. They mostly just hear it on the piano.

Caitlin: 15:03

Or if they're watching big.

Jenny: 15:04

Or if they're watching big right, the Jeopardy theme song has the same chord progression. So if you are sitting at the piano and playing Heart and Soul as a duet and you happen to have the top side, you should switch to the Jeopardy theme song and blow your partner's mind. My dad taught me that there's quite a few songs that use that same chord regression, but Jeopardy is one of them.

Caitlin: 15:31

That's hysterical, yep, oh my, could you imagine like you're just like here, let's play together, and then you just kind of like trip someone?

Jenny: 15:38

out. Oh, I did it all the time.

Caitlin: 15:41

Yeah, that's really funny. I love it. I love it. And then maybe your child will burst into song while you are playing it, who knows? Oh goodness, okay, all right, are we ready to move into some real talk? We got some heavy stuff to talk about, I think. So, yeah, let's do it Again.

Caitlin: 16:05

As we mentioned at the top of the show, we're talking about ways to take action if you're feeling upset about recent school violence. We have some really practical tips. I'm going to really quickly give a shout out to a few of the places where I got this information. There's a Teen Vogue article about five ways to take action after a school shooting. Sandy Hook Promise, everytown Support Fund, protect Our Schools, make Our Schools Safe and March for Our Lives are all places where I got these resources, and we're going to link all of these in the description today, and then they'll also be in the description on our website, so all of this will be available to you if you'd like to learn a little bit more and get some details, but we've got some good details here that will be helpful.

Jenny: 16:49

Thank you. I just want to say that hashtag blank strong or hashtag pray for blank, it's just not a solution. Okay, I understand that, like we've kind of developed a formula to respond to these types of events that like, oh, you put a picture up and you hashtag it blank strong and then, like, you've fixed it, but I really think that's just part of the problem. Activism takes actual action and sometimes that's going to feel uncomfortable or controversial On my own. I decided to do some research about prevention and what you can do outside of change gun regulations, because I know that this is a hotbed issue and for some it's extremely emotional and I want to be able to answer the individuals who are very pro second amendment and do not want to see changes in gun regulations. That's not necessarily how I believe, but I understand that that can kind of end the conversation a lot.

Jenny: 18:00

So I did some research. What I found was, truly, if you are not in favor of changing our gun regulations right now, you have to put your money towards mental health care. It needs to be in both schools in the form of paying more counselors. Not just paying counselors more money, but paying for more of them in each school, switching to a four-day school week so students have more time for reflection and working on themselves, or youth programs in schools. And then mental health in the community helplines, parenting support groups so that parents who are noticing about their children can come forward without embarrassment. And it needs to be more than just suicide prevention. They need more support. I know that you put together a list of different ways to take action. I just had to start with answering what I feel is the opposition and just saying that if gun control is going to be a showstopper for you, you have got to help prevent the mental health side of this.

Caitlin: 19:09

I agree, and there are plenty of people who are responsible gun owners, who are not okay with what's happening. I agree. I'm with you in that. That's not necessarily like I'm more in favor of stricter gun control laws, but also I understand that there are a lot of responsible gun owners. I know several, that there are a lot of responsible gun owners, I know several, and I'm not interested in doing things that completely polarize the entire country.

Caitlin: 19:39

I just feel like this is something that we should be able to come together on, and so if you're not interested in stricter gun control then completely agree that mental health is the way to support what's going on here, the way to support what's going on here. So I've got six ways that you can take action. The first one is to contact your local legislators. You can make your voice heard by talking to your local lawmakers directly. Everytown, which is a gun safety advocacy group, again linked in the description for today, offers an easy method to contact your state senator. It's basically like find your state and click and then you do that. That's amazing.

Caitlin: 20:21

Ulobbycom. Exactly. Ulobbycom includes a feature where you can find the contact numbers for your local representative is really easily. Don't just contact them once. Contact them again, and again and again. I highly recommend considering to make a phone call as opposed to an email or handwriting some sort of communication, In addition to any emails that you send. Emails have filters and it is very possible that someone in your local legislator's office is filtering out those emails so that they're not a priority and they don't get seen. So, yes, it's in writing that you've sent that and that's a great thing, but also making additional contact, contacting additional ways, is important.

Jenny: 21:15

Right Double it up.

Caitlin: 21:16

Right, when I've contacted legislators, I send an email and then I basically read the email verbatim in a phone call and I also add in a little piece of spite into the call and I do, and I do, and I say things like if you don't do take action on this, regardless of who's running up against you, I will throw every spare dollar I have towards your opponent.

Jenny: 21:39

Wow.

Caitlin: 21:41

Um, it's a little bit again. It's a little bit spiteful, um, but I do follow through on that. So if I don't see action happening, I, you know I do do that. So the other thing is um, tiktok is a great resource for this, but, um, there are plenty of others. You can learn about how much money is connected between the NRA and certain politicians. You can find that information out. It's public information.

Jenny: 22:06

Yeah, it has to be. That's the drama that's going down right now is that there has been some unpublicized amounts and that's not legal.

Caitlin: 22:17

Right. So all of that. When you contact your local legislators, you can say things like I know that you get this much money from the NRA. I know that's why you're not making changes. It is more impactful when you provide a detail like that. So that's one thing you can do is contact them and give them all that information and let them know that you're not happy Because technically remember they are supposed to work for you. I know it feels like that. They don't. I understand that completely, but they do so, keeping that in mind, another thing you can do item two you can help the victims and their families financially or by any other means that they request.

Caitlin: 22:57

After school shootings. There are often fundraisers online to help victims and their families. We saw this with Rob Elementary in Uvalde. There was a whole fund put together by a local bank in town there and people were contributing left and right. We've seen it in other ways. So if there is a GoFundMe or something that got set up, you can definitely support in that way if you feel like contributing in that manner, and it's something that you can do If you feel like contributing in that manner and it's something that you can do, and remember that the victims are not just those who were killed, right, right.

Jenny: 23:33

That, to me, is part of this debate. That's really, really challenging is also the victim is the 14 yearold boy who watched this happen in his school 100%. Or the four-year-old who's afraid to go to kindergarten next year, like all of these things. All of these people. They're all affected by something like this.

Caitlin: 24:00

Their families, the families of the victims, but also the families of the children who are now terrified to go to school. I recently saw a picture of a bunch of students on a bus crying up against the windows, like that is. That was one of the moments that I started crying. I've cried a lot about these school shootings and each one feels closer and closer and closer about these school shootings and each one feels closer and closer and closer. And you know this. I do have a personal connection to a recent school shooting that really kind of tore me up, and the pictures that I'm seeing are just absolutely devastating. And there are more victims than just the people who, unfortunately, are tragically taken from us and their families. This affects entire communities, and also just teachers all over the place are really feeling affected by all of this. So that's just something to think about.

Caitlin: 24:54

The third thing you can do is learn more about gun violence. You can educate yourself about what gun violence in general actually is, what it looks like and how it goes beyond just the mass shooting context. I think we think about that a lot in terms of people, but there are other definitions that need to be aware of. So think about how gun violence affects women. According to Everytown, when a gun is present in a domestic violence setting which is something that we know disproportionately affects women a woman is five more times likely to be killed in that situation.

Caitlin: 25:32

Gun violence affects I know it's huge. Gun violence affects people of color disproportionately. We know that, in particular, black teens have been calling for gun reform for years and years. You can know the signs of potential gun violence. Sandy Hook Promise has evidence-based programs to teach people to know the signs and that's one of their campaigns is Know the Signs and how take actions to prevent potential problems. That's a lot to learn, but even taking on one of those things will help you take action. There's too much that will make you upset to not start taking action right.

Jenny: 26:21

But also, learning in itself is an action, and learning for learning sake, that's doing something.

Caitlin: 26:29

Absolutely true, you can. A fourth thing you can do is advocate for policy change. This is something that you and I typically don't discuss this sort of thing on this show, but if you feel so moved, you can do things to things to make change. One of them the first one, the most important one is register to vote. If you're not registered, and if you are registered and you're not using that power, you need to start using it.

Caitlin: 27:00

Typically, local elections get ignored. Don't ignore local elections, because those are the ones that really impact you directly and immediately. People pay more attention in nationwide elections or statewide elections, but your local ones matter just as much. If you're upset by what is happening with the school board, go to the local election and make change there. If you're upset with what's happening with your city taxes, you need to vote in your local elections. If you're upset with what's happening with your city taxes, you need to vote in your local elections. If you're upset about what's happening in the police realm in your city, you need to vote in local elections. So you need to make sure you're registered to vote and you need to actually take action when it's time to vote.

Jenny: 27:41

Yeah, you do. Like you said, that's not just connected to safety or school violence concerns. That's in general, knowing what's going on in your neighborhood.

Caitlin: 27:52

Right, absolutely so. Other policy changes you can advocate for. You can advocate for stopping assault weapon sales. You can advocate for background checks on gun sales. You can advocate for mandatory policies on safe gun storage. One thing that I've recently learned is that you can advocate for extreme risk protection orders. I did not know this was a thing.

Jenny: 28:19

No, I didn't either.

Caitlin: 28:20

When someone is an adult I know this in a different context right? Like when someone is an adult like, legally an adult you can't. If you're their parent, you can't do things that might protect them from themselves, right? So like, if you know that your child needs mental health support, you can't check them into a facility because they are legally an adult and they can take care of themselves. Right, I'm putting air quotes around that take care of themselves, right? Themselves? Right, I'm putting air quotes around that take care of themselves. Right, but there are things that you can do to try and facilitate additional support in a mental health realm.

Caitlin: 28:56

This is sort of similar to that.

Caitlin: 28:57

So, in an extreme risk protection order, what's going on is basically, in most instances of gun violence, that the individual who is committing that violence showed signs that they were at risk of hurting themselves or hurting others. A lot of the times, after some sort of shooting incident, we'll hear stories from friends and family members about signs that the shooter exhibited. Right? So these red flags, um, if you know them, you can stop them, right? Um? So an extreme risk protection order it's an erpo empowers family members and law enforcement to prevent gun violence and gun related suicides by petitioning a court to temporarily separate an at-risk individual from firearms. This is a civil proceeding, it's not a criminal proceeding, and you're protecting their Second Amendment right while also protecting the people who might be impacted by the person using that firearm, so it is a thing you can do. Again, knowing the signs and then being able to take action on those signs is a big deal. So that's I didn't know that was a thing, but that is something that you can advocate for is for states to have ERPOs in place.

Jenny: 30:19

And that goes back to that piece I talked about at the beginning about offering parental support. It is not easy to recognize these things in your child or in your child's friends. We need to know that it's safe to do that.

Caitlin: 30:36

Agree. Another policy change that you can advocate for in your state is Alyssa's Law. Alyssa's Law came out of the Parkland shooting at Marjory Stillman Douglas High School. It's legislation related to the issue of law enforcement response time when a life-threatening emergency occurs. Alyssa Al-Hadif was one of the victims of the Marjory Stillman shooting. She could have survived had help gotten to her in time, and it didn't. Her mother started Make Our Schools Safe. Her name is L'Oreal Hadef and she is a big advocate of these policies that make sure that there is direct communication between educators and law enforcement. So basically, the law calls for installation of silent panic alarms that are directly linked to law enforcement, so that when there's an emergency, they are notified immediately. It's a very, very important thing to be thinking about, and I could go on a whole tangent here, but I'm not going to do that.

Jenny: 31:37

But that seems like also another change that you could make if gun reform is not something you're interested in.

Caitlin: 31:44

Exactly, you can advocate for these sorts of programs. It's unfortunate that these are needed, however right and don't hear what I'm saying.

Jenny: 31:52

Right, like I, I did this research because I wanted to be able to know what my opposition would do. Right, right, because I I as a teacher, I as a teacher am in favor of changing the story Right, and I understand that that's going to require legislation.

Caitlin: 32:12

Right, I do have information about particular technology that can be very helpful here. If you would like to know that information, please do send me a message and I will send you a link of something that I think is very powerful that you can use. I would also say another thing that you can advocate for is actual policy change in your school district. Again, local elections matter, but this is when, if you are a parent with a loud voice, this will help Learn what the safety policies are in place in your district and in your school. Ask those questions right, and when you learn what they are, if you happen to see some sort of interaction where they are not used, you need to question them. Here's what I mean.

Caitlin: 32:58

If you know your school, your child's school has a system in place where you are supposed to sign in and then sign out when you go into the school and when you leave. If you are allowed to leave or allowed to enter without signing in or out, you need to say is there a reason that I wasn't made to do X, y, z, right? You need to make sure that you question it, because there are several parents I've interacted with who get upset when they have to go into a building and sign their child out. Those safety policies are in place for a reason, okay, by violating them, there's a loophole there that can be taken advantage of and you need to question it. You need to make sure you are following all the school safety policies and when they are not used in front of you, you need to speak up.

Jenny: 33:50

Right. To me also, that means that you need to adhere to these policies.

Caitlin: 33:57

A hundred percent.

Jenny: 33:58

So if your school has a locking front door, don't hold it open for someone else. Nope, nope, because not only do you need to question when they're not being used properly, you need to adhere to them and not fight with them. The reason that those policies exist is because that is the school's attempt at keeping children safe.

Caitlin: 34:22

The other thing that you can do within your school district. Elisa's law is coming for many, many, many states. The Make Our Schools Safe organization is advocating for this to be a nationwide policy. It's already in effect in Florida, in New York and it's coming in Texas. It's like on the docket. So you can ask what are the policies that you have that will put you in compliance with ELISA's law at the district level, and they should know what you're talking about. It's another way to, just within your school district, ask those questions. Okay, a fifth thing you can do to take action is contribute to organizations doing the work.

Caitlin: 35:00

Now, not everyone has time to do these things that we've listed so far, right, right, but some people who are lacking in time are not lacking in cash, and I understand that you might be lacking in both. Completely get that. I have been there and I am still there, so I get it. That said, they will use every nickel and dime that you send. So I've got a bunch of organizations Again. I've already mentioned them once, but I'm going to say them again here.

Caitlin: 35:33

Every Town, protect Our Schools, sandy Hook, promise, make Our Schools Safe and March for Our Lives are all excellent organizations that are actually doing the work with these advocacy changes that we've talked about so far. There are other ways to give that don't involve cash. Many of them have hashtags or volunteer opportunities and other meaningful ways to contribute that are listed on their websites. Again, you can find those in the show description for today. And the last thing that you can do and this is one that I didn't see in a lot of places, but I did find it in one resource as I was researching for this Don't stop talking about it.

Caitlin: 36:06

I know it's sad and it's depressing and nobody wants to think about these things, but the reason that we are so numb to it is because it keeps happening and we stop talking about it. And, yes, it becomes a hot topic immediately after a school shooting, but then or after some other mass killing you know there's that concert in Vegas, like all of it becomes a huge deal in those situations. I understand that, but then a few days later, people have moved on.

Jenny: 36:40

Right, right. That's kind of where my comments about the tweeting came from. Right, like hashtag whoever strong. Yeah it's cool, but you know you tweet that out once the next day and then you don't talk about it again.

Caitlin: 36:55

This needs to be something that's front of mind, that's where, if you are going to tweet about it and you are going to use hashtags, that's where you can keep the conversation going.

Jenny: 37:04

Right. Keep tweeting about it, don't just do it once, exactly, exactly.

Caitlin: 37:13

Exactly, exactly One time you changing the color of your profile right, include a link to an advocacy route or include a link to a to a fund. Do something like that and don't stop talking about it, because and this is going to be my final thought on this but it's important that we continue to fight for this Um, not just in the immediate, you know, right after this sort of thing happens, but just keep going. We can make changes if we just keep pushing it. Your legislators they have to listen to you. They have to, because if they don't, you don't vote for them. That's how that works. So it's the only way that we're going to see any real change.

Caitlin: 37:52

Any real progress is if you continue to make your voices heard, and you need to be louder than the people who don't seem to have empathy for these sorts of situations and for the people who are left trying to pick up the pieces of their lives after this kind of thing happens. You need to be louder than them. Those are my six things. I'm going to recap them real quick here. So the first thing that you can do to advocate or to make change, to take action after this, is contact your local legislatures. You can help the victims and their families financially, you can learn more about gun violence, you can advocate for policy changes, you can contribute to organizations doing the work, and please don't stop talking about it. So my call to action for this episode is going to be check out one of the links in the show description and see if there's something that you can do right now.

Jenny: 38:48

Right and don't let politics get in the way of keeping our schools safe. Absolutely true. It doesn't matter where you land on the political spectrum. Everyone is in favor of children coming home at the end of the day.

Caitlin: 39:03

Every single person wants that.

Jenny: 39:05

Okay, make good choices.

Caitlin: 39:06

And let's work together to make schools a safe place. Bye, bye.