BY ADELLE LaBRECQUE
Staff Writer, UAS Whalesong
Tue 12/1/2015, 12:40 a.m.
I can’t believe I’m actually saying this, but today marks the second suicide within one semester. I don’t even know what to do with all of this, right now … I’m writing you to let you know two things:
1. I want to apologize in advance if I leave class a few times to leave for the restroom. It is likely to happen, and I will do my best to not disrupt others while they are working.
2. Today in class I will be very withdrawn, and likely cannot handle being paired with “non-gentle” classmates, if possible… [I] hope that’s not too much trouble for what you have planned… I’m truly sorry for burdening you with such rough news… I seriously wish I was dreaming right now.
The above quote was retrieved from an email I sent to a professor last year, after learning about the second loss of a loved one to suicide within the space of one semester. I’m not even sure if there was an email for the first time. I couldn’t find one. That first month everything was a complete blur, in all aspects of the word. I was a mess every day. I hardly slept. I sobbed into the chests of complete strangers inside bathroom stalls of loud bars, brushed my hair only when it became too terrible to be seen at work, and consumed enough alcohol within that first weekend to inspire thirty-five days of straight sobriety – not even a single drop, and I’m a bartender. Vaguely put: 2015 was one of the most heartbreaking years of my life, thus far, and looking back, I could not be more grateful for the support I received from loved ones within and outside of Alaska. Continue reading “Continuing the Conversation on Suicide”
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