Two celebrity suicides shocked the world in the first week of June 2018. Kate Spade, New York fashion designer and sister-in-law of actor David Spade, was found hung by a scarf in the closet of her Manhattan apartment on June 5, and Anthony Bourdain, celebrity chef, food critic and global travel guide, was found unresponsive in his Strasbourg, France hotel room, an apparent suicide, on June 8.
Pets are people, too, and the passing of our dearly loved furry companions can leave as much of a hole in our hearts and lives as that of any loved one. My sweet grandkitten Samhain was put to sleep on April 19th, sparking an investigation into the inner workings of the cosmos as regards our feline friends.
On Tuesday, 17 April 2018, former First Lady Barbara Bush passed away peacefully at home at the age of 92, with her husband of 73 years at her side. A few days previously, Mrs. Bush, whose heart had been failing for years, refused further medical treatment and opted for comfort care.
April 4, 2018 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the death of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, assassinated by James Earl Ray in Memphis, Tennessee. The much-lauded civil rights leader, whose impact on legal racial equality in the US cannot be overstated, had spent the better part of his adult life fighting for freedoms which White Americans took for granted, but which were habitually denied to Blacks.
On Valentine’s Day, 14 February 2018, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz shot and killed 17 people at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, wounding 14 others. A former student, Cruz began his rampage at 2:21 PM, after taking an Uber to the school.
Here we go again. No disrespect, but how many of these do we need to experience before we make some substantive changes in this country regarding gun access?
