Glimmer Of Hope

Glimmer Of Hope

YA nonfiction
"On February 14, 2018, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in
Parkman, Florida, was the scene of one of the worst mass shootings in
American history, in which seventeen students and teachers were killed
and seventeen more were injured.
At 2:21, the shooter entered building 1200, known to students as
the freshman building. The shooting lasted six minutes. He was
apprehended a few hours later."
Something remarkable distinguished this school shooting from
previous ones. A group of students decided that the thoughts and
prayers of legislators were not enough if unaccompanied by actions
that would greatly reduce the dangers of mass public shootings. (The
back of the book lists ten such reforms.) At a time when they were
grieving lost friends, they started a movement to apply pressure to
elected officials. It included a nearly one million person march in
Washington DC with hundreds of solidarity marches around the world
including our student led march in Orono, Maine.
In Glimmer Of Hope: How Tragedy Sparked A Movement a number of
the student organizers share their experiences, taking turns painting
a picture of life from the day of the tragedy to the march and
beyond. Some narratives describe the anger and frustration of dealing
with lawmakers. Jacklyn Corin tells us:
"I had walked into the day with immense hope in my heart, but I
soon realized that people only had sympathy for us--they weren't
willing to do anything to prevent the next shooting.
There was a common thread in every meeting we took--avoiding a
real conversation about guns. It was incredibly disheartening to
recognize the pull that lobby groups truly have, specifically the
National Rifle Association."
Some describe the euphoria of the march. Emma Gonzalez shares:
"I loved watching all of the, like, people I had grown so close
to in this time period get up there on that stage and speak the way
they did. It was incredible..."
One of the most poignant chapters was the one in which students
describe their first day back at school just two weeks after the
shooting.
"David Hogg: It's like, the best way I can describe it is imagine
getting in a plane crash and then having to get on that same plane
every day without fixing the problem that caused the plane to crash in
the first place, and just having to expect, like, 'Yeah, it's not
gonna happen.' And learn. You can't. I couldn't."
The narratives and photographs are heartbreaking and inspiring
at the same time. All of us need to read the book and work together
on achieving the ten reforms. Glimmer Of Hope is a must acquire for
libraries.
On a purrrsonal note, today I was in Orono walking to the thrift shop
and library when a friend told me she loved my opinion piece on Poor
People's Campaign. It was in today's Bangor Daily News!!! I printed
off copies at the library. I am in for sure celebration mode! Even
though I'm eating much more responsibly in general Tobago and I will
be enjoying an ice cream party tonight. (Jules)
Ice cream celebrations are always in good taste. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to the Bangor Daily news for publishing
another of my pieces.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway



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