美国国家公共电台 NPR Parkland Family Reflects On A Year Of Anguish And Activism

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

This Thursday, February 14, marks one year since the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. Seventeen people were killed that day. A few weeks after the shooting, NPR's Melissa Block profiled the family of one of the Parkland victims. Her name was Carmen Schentrup. She was a senior. Now Melissa visits the family again to talk about their year of grief, anger and activism.

MELISSA BLOCK, BYLINE¹: The days now go something like this.

(SOUNDBITE OF ZIPPER² CLOSING)

PHILIP SCHENTRUP: All right. Let's go.

BLOCK: Dad Philip Schentrup heads to the office. On his backpack, there's a small blue pin, a tribute made by a friend. It shows Carmen's smiling face and a message.

P SCHENTRUP: Be the change. Carmen Schentrup.

BLOCK: Do you like having that on there?

P SCHENTRUP: Absolutely. And I don't think it's ever coming off.

BLOCK: A few miles away...

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Come in, April. Sit wherever you want.

BLOCK: ...Mom April Schentrup seeks comfort at a grief support group.

APRIL SCHENTRUP: That feeling, like, other people have moved on and it's hard for us to get there.

BLOCK: And back at home...

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Welcome. We're excited to have you joining us today.

BLOCK: Fourteen-year-old Evelyn, Carmen's younger sister, logs in for an orientation³ session with her new online high school.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Plan your term meaning. Find your rhythm and adjust as needed, and then thrive.

BLOCK: Several months ago, the Schentrup family moved across the country, trading the palm trees of southern Florida for snowy mountain views outside Seattle. They moved mostly for Philip's job. He works for a tech company based here. But there's more to it. Evelyn, who shares her older sister's soulful eyes and glossy⁴ dark hair, tells me even though she really didn't want to move, hated leaving her Parkland friends behind, her parents needed a fresh start.

EVELYN: I think it was just hard for them being, like, around so many reminders⁵ of her.

BLOCK: Just needed to be away?

EVELYN: Yeah. They need to be away from all the problems and the stress behind everything.

BLOCK: But when Evelyn started at her new high school in Washington, she had a couple of panic attacks. That's why she's doing online classes.

EVELYN: I guess it was just too much change for me. I just started crying out of nowhere. And so I went to the bathroom to, like, wipe off my tears, you know, fix my makeup⁶, like a teenager would do. And then I couldn't stop crying. It was just, like, a river of tears down my face. Called my mom, and then...

A SCHENTRUP: And she called me, just saying, I can't breathe. I can't. I just can't be here.

BLOCK: April, the mom, can imagine what that feels like. She says at times staying in Parkland felt suffocating⁷. The implicit⁸ pressure to be "Parkland Strong," for one thing.

A SCHENTRUP: So you put on this facade⁹ that you're OK, you're strong, you're going to get through this. You're a fighter. And some days, you know, it's true. You do feel like that. And other days, it's a lot harder.

BLOCK: And what made the hard days even worse was learning about all the things that went wrong leading up to the shooting. The warnings to the FBI tip line about specific threats the shooter had made. Tips that fell through the cracks. The long chain of security failures at the school and the flawed response by law enforcement once the shooting started. The more the Schentrups learned, the angrier they got.

P SCHENTRUP: Lots of people knew this person was troubled. The only thing he could've done more to signal his intent was to buy a billboard¹⁰ on 95 and put a billboard up there. Because he was telling people all the time that he wanted to go do bad things.

BLOCK: And so the Schentrups have turned to activism. They're part of the advocacy group Stand With Parkland, started by the victims' families. They're pushing for changes nationwide - tougher school safety measures, better mental health screening and tighter gun laws.

P SCHENTRUP: There's a lot of people who just want to argue the extremes - gun was the issue or mental health was the issue. It isn't an either or. It's a all of the above. And so we are going to keep advocating for the reasonable middle ground that most Americans can agree on to go get things done. If we choose to wait, there will just be more parents like us.

BLOCK: Their kids are involved, too. Last summer, their son Robert, who's in college, joined Evelyn on the "Road To Change" bus tour, registering new voters and talking about gun violence prevention. The Schentrups are settling into a new city, meeting new people. But April finds that the simplest questions can be the hardest to answer, like, how many kids do you have? How old are they?

A SCHENTRUP: You know? You could say, Carmen's forever 16. But just when I said it, it didn't sound right. I think I even tried, I have one in college and, you know, one here with me and my other one is in heaven. But again, it just doesn't feel right. So I don't know. Still trying. I feel like if I don't mention her, it's just wrong, though.

BLOCK: And there's this - the troubling sense their sharp individual loss has been swallowed up, overtaken by the post-Parkland movement. April finds when she tells people where they moved from...

A SCHENTRUP: They'll say, Parkland, Fla., where - "March For Our Lives," or, the Parkland activists¹²? And I say, yup. That's Parkland, Fla. But I wonder, do they know the people that died? Do they know their names? And although I'm very thankful for "March For Our Lives" 'cause they spoke¹³ when we couldn't speak and I admire them, you know, what they've done - but I also want to make sure that Carmen's not forgotten, that the people that we lost are not forgotten.

BLOCK: This Thursday, one year after the shooting, the Schentrups will be at home, their new home, outside Seattle. Carmen's ashes are there in a metal urn¹¹. It's blue, her favorite color. The family has no special plans that day, just staying close.

P SCHENTRUP: Bunker down, getting through the day.

A SCHENTRUP: It'll never be Valentine's Day for us, I think. Every day, I cry. So I'm sure it'll involve that. And hugging Evelyn a little bit harder. But February 14, we're just going to be together.

(SOUNDBITE OF FREDERICO ALBANESE'S "SILENT FALL")

BLOCK: Melissa Block, NPR News.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 zipper   

n.拉链；v.拉上拉链

参考例句：

• The zipper is red.这条拉链是红色的。
• The zipper is a wonderful invention.拉链是个了不起的发明。

3 orientation   

n.方向，目标；熟悉，适应，情况介绍

参考例句：

• Children need some orientation when they go to school.小孩子上学时需要适应。
• The traveller found his orientation with the aid of a good map.旅行者借助一幅好地图得知自己的方向。

4 glossy   

adj.平滑的；有光泽的

参考例句：

• I like these glossy spots.我喜欢这些闪闪发光的花点。
• She had glossy black hair.她长着乌黑发亮的头发。

5 reminders   

n.令人回忆起…的东西( reminder的名词复数 )；提醒…的东西；（告知该做某事的）通知单；提示信

参考例句：

• The film evokes chilling reminders of the war. 这部电影使人们回忆起战争的可怕场景。
• The strike has delayed the mailing of tax reminders. 罢工耽搁了催税单的投寄。

6 makeup   

n.组织；性格；化装品

参考例句：

• Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。
• Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗？

7 suffocating   

a.使人窒息的

参考例句：

• After a few weeks with her parents, she felt she was suffocating.和父母呆了几个星期后，她感到自己毫无自由。
• That's better. I was suffocating in that cell of a room.这样好些了，我刚才在那个小房间里快闷死了。

8 implicit   

a.暗示的，含蓄的，不明晰的，绝对的

参考例句：

• A soldier must give implicit obedience to his officers. 士兵必须绝对服从他的长官。
• Her silence gave implicit consent. 她的沉默表示默许。

9 facade   

n.(建筑物的)正面，临街正面；外表

参考例句：

• The entrance facade consists of a large full height glass door.入口正面有一大型全高度玻璃门。
• If you look carefully,you can see through Bob's facade.如果你仔细观察，你就能看穿鲍勃的外表。

10 billboard   

n.布告板，揭示栏，广告牌

参考例句：

• He ploughed his energies into his father's billboard business.他把精力投入到父亲的广告牌业务中。
• Billboard spreads will be simpler and more eye-catching.广告牌广告会比较简单且更引人注目。

11 urn   

n.（有座脚的）瓮；坟墓；骨灰瓮

参考例句：

• The urn was unearthed entire.这只瓮出土完整无缺。
• She put the big hot coffee urn on the table and plugged it in.她将大咖啡壶放在桌子上,接上电源。

12 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。