The high school I went to and the one my brother currently attends was on lockdown yesterday. I learned too late to call home and ask if everyone was ok. In any event, it turned out he hadn’t been in school when the police descended. One of his friends had called him up and told him not to come. And I guess it’s an indication of what growing up in that neighbourhood means that even though the news articles were about parents justifiably freaking the hell out, I knew everything was going to be alright and wasn’t too concerned about calling home immediately. Maybe I shouldn’t be this cavalier about it, maybe I’m a failure as an elder sister, but the one time that I remember that school actually feeling like an unsafe space to me, I was 18 and no one had guns.