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New York, 1:43 AM
Sun Nov 22
23 posts in the last 24 hours
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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.
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11/02/09
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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