What is a school (adjacent) shooting like in a country with sensible gun control?
The post I never expected to write, on Canada and school violence + Hershey Cake recipe + my guest post + Workshop Invitation
At 12:34 on Wednesday, my eldest son sent me the following text:
”In case [my school] has sent you any messages, I’m perfectly fine.”
I responded, “???? What has happened?”
I thought perhaps he had hurt himself or made a teacher cry with his sarcasm or broken his instrument or something.
“Someone entered the school with a BB gun. Someone got shot a few times in the leg, but not anything worse. There was a 30 minute lockdown.”
Now, I hope you understand in the midst of these things that no one knows anything. We are all dependent on 2nd and 3rd hand rumours. This was the best information he had when he texted.
The update on the rumours, as I’ve heard by the writing of this:
At least 2 and perhaps more boys were fighting at a local mall. They took it back to the local high school, but were technically not on school property. One of them, who is in grade 9 at this school, fired a pellet gun and 2 children were hit: one grazed in the head, the other hit at least twice in the leg.
Police arrested at least one boy and are investigating.
My son’s school, and two schools nearby, were locked down for 55 minutes.
When lockdown happened, my eldest had completed his music test and was in a practice room. A dozen classmates joined him there for lockdown. It was very dark. Everyone could sit down, but they didn’t have much room for their legs and some were holding their instruments. My son assured the classmate next to him that they were unlikely to be in danger since they didn’t hear gunfire or screaming. They joked that the bandmate with the strongest and heaviest instrument – a trombone – could hit anyone who tried to force their way into the room.
The students had 3 locked doors between the shooter and themselves. About 20 minutes into lockdown, the child who was shot in the leg texted someone in the room and described what had happened - that some guy was shooting a BB gun in the vicinity of the school and he had been hit in the leg at least twice but was ok.
A few hours later the school sent a message about “the incident” that basically said nothing beyond “police are investigating”, which no doubt was a legal requirement.
When I was a girl and Ronald Reagan was president, we had nuclear war drills. We tucked our heads and ducked under our desks. For some reason these were much more terrifying than the tornado drills where we ducked down in the halls – maybe because as Texans, we all knew they could be deadly but they were common. We’d all seen tornadoes.
I remember, when I was seven, going home after the first nuclear drill and crying to my father. He said, “I wouldn’t worry about it. Ft. Worth is a primary strike city. If there is a nuclear strike, we’ll all die. And that will be better.”
It was a strange way to comfort me, but somehow, it worked – probably because it came from my Daddy.
No child should be subject to violence at school. The fact that we’ve raised an entire generation where school and community shootings are so common we must terrorize our kids, even our very young children, to prepare them for violence, is unacceptable.
This doesn’t happen here in Canada. Canadian parents are blessed to send their children to school without fear.
But Canadian schools prepare anyway. Our children have the same lockdown drills as their US counterparts.
I’ve resented this. First, because I think the way they are conducted can cause lasting trauma for some sensitive children. Second, because I think the procedures do not align with the latest research on how school shootings proceed and the best practices to survive them. Third, because I think the pathology of deadly school shootings, the valourization of guns and the refusal to accept responsibility for putting guns in the hands of children and young adults with developing brains, is uniquely American.
It can happen here.
But it doesn’t.
This was an entirely different case. Like something out of Guys & Dolls more then a school shooting.
A pellet gun.
A pellet gun.
The Texan in my is like FFS? Who brings a pellet gun to school? It’s not like you can do anything with it.
The Canadian in me knows this is what reasonable gun control looks like: a child with a nearly harmless weapon.
His parents didn’t buy him an AR-15 for his birthday.
That’s illegal here.
That’s the difference.
It’s the guns.
Whew! Need a mental break? Here’s some fall photos of my garden and neighbourhood:
Hershey cake is what I bake when I need some comforting. It’s an old family recipe, from the back of a Hershey bar when they were 8¢. It’s a classic southern buttermilk pound cake with 1/2 pound of chocolate melted into it. Today I used Callebaut (the good chocolate, as my eldest said) but any chocolate will do.
I like it so much, I requested it for my wedding cake. We married at my parents’ house, in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. My mother spent ages perfecting the recipe for 8500 ft./2590m (if you want the high altitude recipe, DM me and I’ll send it to you). For those of us at normal altitude, here’s the recipe I use now:
Hershey Cake
Celia Cain, modified from a version by Rita Mae Cain. Originally from the back of a Hershey bar, ca. 1930s.
Ingredients:
8 regular Hershey bars or 1⁄2 pound/225 gms of chocolate, melted
1 cup butter (1⁄2 lb/225 gms)
1 cup brown sugar
1⁄4 cup agave syrup (OR another cup of brown sugar)
5 eggs, brought to room temperature or warmed to room temperature in a bowl of warm tap water
1⁄4 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour, sifted
1 cup buttermilk OR 3⁄4 cup plain natural yogurt (no stabilizers) + 1⁄4 cup milk
1⁄2 tsp baking soda
Instructions:
Preheat over to 325F/163C.
Spray a bundt pan thoroughly with cooking spray. Turn outside down over the sink to drain any extra.
Cut or break chocolate into small pieces. Melt chocolate in microwave in 30 second intervals. Stir until smooth. Set aside, off heat, to cool slightly.
Cream butter. Add sugar and agave syrup and continue to cream.
Add 5 eggs, one at a time, beating well.
Add 1⁄4 tsp salt and 2 tsp. vanilla
Add baking soda to buttermilk or yogurt/milk combination.
Add and blend alternately: 3 cups flour, sifted and 1 cup buttermilk/soda mixture. If using a stand mixer, be careful not to overmix.
By hand, best using a rubber spatula, blend in the melted chocolate.
Scrape into prepared bundt pan. Lightly tap pan on counter to burst air bubbles.
Bake 40 minutes to 1 hour, until toothpick or knife inserted in centre emerges clean or with just a few crumbs.
Cool 10 minutes. Carefully remove from bundt pan.
Serve warm or room temperature, depending on preference.
Are you interested in running a community or coaching practice through Substack – like Intellect & Intuition? I conducted research with coaches in practices from different fields and wrote a guest post on my findings for
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Forgiveness is the cornerstone of peace, both for yourself and for society at large. You’ll learn how to forgive and release, while remaining committed to justice and reconciliation.
You’ll leave this workshop knowing:
Why you resist forgiveness or releasing old grievances.
We live in a world where we are surrounded by injustice. Sometimes it feels like forgiveness is giving in to those we know to be wrong and letting them “get away” with bad behaviou r.
Why it is essential to forgive and release regardless.
Why do we forgive? Who is it for? How will it affect us in our daily lives? What are the consequences of not forgiving?
What forgiveness actually means in this context.
Religions and cultures have differing perspectives on forgiveness. In this workshop, we’re addressing energetic forgiveness and release.
How to listen to your inner wisdom.
Listen to your inner voice, disregard the influence of others, and step into your power.
How to reach a place of emotional neutrality.
When we are passionate about overcoming injustice, this can seem impossible and counter-productive. How does emotional neutrality benefit you, your causes, and your community?
How to find compassion and love for others.
How do your find compassion and love for people lacking in both? What happens when you do? How can it transform the situation and your lives?
BONUS: Ho’oponopono, cultural appropriation, and over-simplification.
My perspective as an Indigenous Studies scholar on the widespread use of Ho’oponopono as an easy way to feel better.
This workshop is included with your Intellect & Intuition paid subscription. I do these workshops in good faith that people won’t sign up for the link and then unsubscribe. I’m here to build a community of people on a healing journey who will come together to grow.