I am so saddened reading all these comments about how loved she was. I didn't know who she was until today, but it's just so heartbreaking that she isn't here to see and understand how loved she really was. I'm not articulating this very well. I just wish she could see this outpouring of love and respect - but I guess if knowing you are loved is enough to keep you alive, many people would never kill themselves. Suicide is such a tragedy.
Jenna, in your experience, was depression a common occurrance in the modelling industry? I'm curious to know if perhaps her career contributed indirectly to her suicide. To be a bit more clear, I mean to say, are there any people looking out for the welfare of these girls or are they totally on their own?
Fame, beauty, acclaim, attention. It's all so many kids want these days, above everything else. This is a tragedy, but I hope it will at least show that those things can't buy happiness, and that suicide and depression can touch anyone.
whynotshesaid promoted this comment
Edited by hortense at 11/19/09 3:56 PM Jenna approved this comment
eugenia.williamson was starred
eugenia.williamson was unstarred
@Sputnik_Sweetheart: Yeah, I did...so, so sad. I was already crying at work because of stupid little things, now I feel horrible for being so emotional over something so petty.
Sadly, this is very common in Tokyo. When I was there we were on a train platform waiting for a long time before I finally asked my Japanese friends what was going on. They said that someone had committed suicide. I had the same feelings as Anna. I imagined all the people waiting for the track to clear, the diverted routes and buses filling. Thousands of lives affected, even if it's a minor inconvenience to divert their route. I couldn't help but think of the ripple effect. It happens so often that as I looked around me, I realized how annoyed everyone was. It was hard to watch people being so callous, and yet I could almost understand it. I'll always remember that moment, feeling completely conflicted and thinking about things I never would have if that person didn't take their life in such a public way. #paloaltotrainsuicides
@sybilstryk: It's common enough in Japan that the family of the suicide victim will be charged for the clean-up and ancillary costs. They hope it will be a deterrent to other people who consider jumping in front of a train. #paloaltotrainsuicides
"Do the economics of Palo Alto, a high-income community that stands in stark separation to its lower-income, higher-crime neighbor East Palo Alto, contribute to this pressure?"
I don't think it does. Bridgend in Wales experienced the same teen suicide phenomenon, and it's as far from Palo Alto as you could imagine: [www.vanityfair.com]
And I grew up in a town where there was a teen suicide rash, in my sister's age range. It was terrifying, and even after the initial burst of suicides, it keeps echoing. It's a decade later, and her friends have died at a rate that's astounding compared to my friends from the same school. They also stick together a lot more than we did, and many of them found partners and got married in their early 20s while my friends are mostly single. I don't know what that might have to do with the suicide thing, but I know the suicides remain a central part of their lives.
This really hits home for me. Friday was the 10th anniversary of my biggest failed suicide attempt (I tried three times when I was 15). I was going to say that parents need to talk to their kids, but my parents did talk to me. In fact, my mom finally convinced me to go to therapy only about a week before I tried to overdose on medication provided by said therapist. So basically, I don't have any answers, but I really hope for the best for these kids. #paloaltotrainsuicides
I'm from Palo Alto. I graduated from Palo Alto High School 4 months ago. I spent four year of my life with the train tracks. I crossed over them everyday, several times a day. I was also there when the suicides occured. I saw the mourners, the flowers by the tracks.
My freshman year the kid who sat next to me in English class was found sitting on the tracks. He transferred schools afterwards.
This is MY TOWN. These are MY PEERS.
And there is something wrong in Palo Alto. There is something seriously wrong.
We are across the street from Stanford University. We are EXPECTED to attend Ivy Leagues and Cal and UCLA. Anything else is looked down upon. The adults in our town are wealthy, and successful. It's hard to put into words the feeling and pressures that being in PA puts upon you.
After every suicide there are town forums on teen stress and depression, but no one attends. Because we're too busy with our extracurricular. And our parents don't attend because they're too busy at their jobs, or because "their kid doesn't have problems".
Stress doesn't even BEGIN to be enough of a word to cover what these high schools do to people. I had three anxiety attacks my senior year alone, and I was incredibly lucky. I would have friends who would just start crying because of what they were expected to do, from their parents, their peers and themselves.
This is my incoherent ramble. Take it for what it is, interpret how you like. I don't know where this is meant to go, but I feel like I need to say something. It's so weird to see outsiders analyze what's been happening here, and in a way I really don't want you all to be. I see it as a "This is our problem, go away" type thing. But I'm not so sure I should be. #paloaltotrainsuicides
@amuzemi: I'm so sorry about this.
I went to school in Palo Alto briefly in the early eighties when I was little, and it was one of the happiest times of my life.
I went back six or seven years ago and found the atmosphere very peculiar. Even just walking around the streets.
There was a case in Wales of an "outbreak" of teen suicide. There was no more sinister reason than shitty job and life prospects, and the same spiralling knock-on grief as here. Yes, a certain percentage of teens in any population will commit suicide, but to just call it statistical overrules what you've just spelt out, that there's something bigger wrong. #paloaltotrainsuicides
@amuzemi: That's one thing my school did pretty well: threw on the brakes and basically grief-counseled the entire school, and set up lasting counseling options for anyone who needed it, including student grief counselors. It's a mess, of course -- kids who don't want to talk, kids who knew the suicide and clam up, kids who didn't know the suicide and are shocked to the core but feel like they shouldn't be allowed to be so shocked. And then each compounding suicide creates a panic. The kids who were in the centre of the social knot can get absolutely frantic, feeling like something's closing in on them. It was horrible hearing my sister go through that, and she's a very strong personality.
I do think schools need to spring into action when the trouble starts, though. Any sort of extracurricular/optional offerings just won't do the trick. #paloaltotrainsuicides
11/20/09
Whatever was eating away at her, may she have found peace.
11/19/09
Rest in peace, Daul.
11/19/09
11/19/09
[nymag.com]
11/19/09
You're missed Daul. So very missed.
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/19/09
11/02/09
11/02/09
11/02/09
I don't think it does. Bridgend in Wales experienced the same teen suicide phenomenon, and it's as far from Palo Alto as you could imagine: [www.vanityfair.com]
And I grew up in a town where there was a teen suicide rash, in my sister's age range. It was terrifying, and even after the initial burst of suicides, it keeps echoing. It's a decade later, and her friends have died at a rate that's astounding compared to my friends from the same school. They also stick together a lot more than we did, and many of them found partners and got married in their early 20s while my friends are mostly single. I don't know what that might have to do with the suicide thing, but I know the suicides remain a central part of their lives.
11/02/09
11/02/09
My freshman year the kid who sat next to me in English class was found sitting on the tracks. He transferred schools afterwards.
This is MY TOWN. These are MY PEERS.
And there is something wrong in Palo Alto. There is something seriously wrong.
We are across the street from Stanford University. We are EXPECTED to attend Ivy Leagues and Cal and UCLA. Anything else is looked down upon. The adults in our town are wealthy, and successful. It's hard to put into words the feeling and pressures that being in PA puts upon you.
After every suicide there are town forums on teen stress and depression, but no one attends. Because we're too busy with our extracurricular. And our parents don't attend because they're too busy at their jobs, or because "their kid doesn't have problems".
Stress doesn't even BEGIN to be enough of a word to cover what these high schools do to people. I had three anxiety attacks my senior year alone, and I was incredibly lucky. I would have friends who would just start crying because of what they were expected to do, from their parents, their peers and themselves.
This is my incoherent ramble. Take it for what it is, interpret how you like. I don't know where this is meant to go, but I feel like I need to say something. It's so weird to see outsiders analyze what's been happening here, and in a way I really don't want you all to be. I see it as a "This is our problem, go away" type thing. But I'm not so sure I should be. #paloaltotrainsuicides
11/02/09
I went to school in Palo Alto briefly in the early eighties when I was little, and it was one of the happiest times of my life.
I went back six or seven years ago and found the atmosphere very peculiar. Even just walking around the streets.
There was a case in Wales of an "outbreak" of teen suicide. There was no more sinister reason than shitty job and life prospects, and the same spiralling knock-on grief as here. Yes, a certain percentage of teens in any population will commit suicide, but to just call it statistical overrules what you've just spelt out, that there's something bigger wrong. #paloaltotrainsuicides
11/02/09
I do think schools need to spring into action when the trouble starts, though. Any sort of extracurricular/optional offerings just won't do the trick. #paloaltotrainsuicides
11/02/09