There are weeks I want to read and write about music, and weeks that I couldn’t care less about who is going on tour or what new albums are being released. Like many of you, I was deeply upset hearing the news of another school shooting, along with the subsequent expected finger-pointing and politicization. We are a divided nation with a serious gun fetish, led predominantly by older white men of wealth and power who are committed to using fear and manipulation to maintain a status quo that not only allows murder but encourages extreme violence by virtue of doing nothing to stop it. While I don’t know if the voices of the young survivors will rise loud enough to make a difference, even if it’s simply a series of incremental hollow victories it is encouraging.

I should note that I wasn’t able to reach Bob to ask if he minded if I used his lyrics. They were originally published in 1973 by Ram’s Horn Music, and have likely been transferred to another company over the years. Written as a lullaby to his baby son Jakob, and covered by dozens of musicians, Time magazine nevertheless called it one of his ten worst songs. I respectfully disagree.

Seventeen people were confirmed dead as the United States endured another horrifying school shooting at the hands of a teenage gunman armed with an AR-15 assault rifle. After initial reports of a shooter, officers surrounded the campus, directing the evacuation of hundreds of students from the scene, while other teens hid inside closets and under desks to stay safe. Students later told reporters that they at first thought alarms in the school were a fire drill, until they heard gunshots in the hallways. (The Guardian)

May God bless and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you

The heavily armed man arrived at the school in an Uber at 2:19 p.m., shortly before dismissal time. According to authorities he shot people in the hallways and inside five classrooms on the first and second floors. He eventually discarded the rifle, a vest, and ammunition in a stairwell, and blended in with fleeing students to get away. After leaving the school, he walked to a Walmart and bought a drink at a Subway, according to authorities. At 3:41 p.m., he was arrested by the police as he walked down a residential street in Coral Springs, just a few miles from the school. (The New York Times)

May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay
Forever young

The suspect in the school shooting was a member of the school’s rifle team and represented it in marksmanship competitions. The 19-year-old was described as “very good shot” by members of the Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The JROTC, which receives funding from the NRA gun lobby, used air rifles special-made for target shooting, typically on indoor ranges at targets the size of a coin. Former cadets say they were surprised the awkward teen they remember from a couple years ago now stands accused of slaughtering students and staff. But, in retrospect, there were signs of trouble. The executive officer of the JROTC battalion said Cruz spoke about guns and knives incessantly and liked to wear military-style clothing to school. He was also said to have bragged about shooting animals for fun. (The Telegraph)

Forever young
Forever young
May you stay
Forever young

After each massacre, survivors and witnesses have echoed the words “no more” — yet mass shootings have continued to plague the U.S. In fact, shootings only have continued to increase over the past few years. The shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is the third deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history to take place within the past five months. It’s also the 25th fatal shooting at a U.S. elementary, middle or high school since — and including — Columbine in 1999. (Fox News)

May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you

The teenagers of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland have emerged as passionate advocates for reform, speaking openly of their anger in the hope of forcing a reckoning on guns. But in certain right-wing corners of the web the students are being portrayed not as grief-ridden survivors but as pawns and conspiracists intent on exploiting a tragedy to undermine the nation’s laws. Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist behind the site Infowars, suggested that the mass shooting was a “false flag” orchestrated by anti-gun groups. Rush Limbaugh, on his radio program, said of the student activists on Monday: “Everything they’re doing is right out of the Democrat Party’s various playbooks. It has the same enemies: the N.R.A. and guns.” (New York Times)

May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
And may you stay
Forever young

The survivors of the shooting are fighting for change and vowing “never again.” They’ve also been unrestrained, and at times brutally direct, in calling out hypocrisy and challenging their critics. They’ve fought back, often on social media, and doubled down on their message: make the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School — their high school — the last. Students have called out the NRA and the politicians who accept funding from the group. On Twitter, Sarah Chawick wrote “We should change the names of AR-15s to ‘Marco Rubio’ because they are so easy to buy.” (Vox)

Forever young
Forever young
May you stay
Forever young

Gabe Glassman: “I’m a sophomore at Douglas. At the time of the shooting, I had to hide in a closet for an hour and 20 minutes and get evacuated by a SWAT team. This is my life now. If I’m not at home, I’m in grief counseling, speaking at a rally or visiting memorials in the park. Then I go on social media to check my posts about gun control.”

Douglas High School senior Ariana Ortega is part of the activism, too — and she can’t believe how fast everything has changed. “Two weeks ago, we were all going prom dress shopping, sending each other pictures. All of those things seem so insignificant now.” Now, Ariana says, “We have many group chats, where we have students speaking about legislative stuff, emotions, plans, everything.” (NPR)

May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift

Children have periodically played leading roles in social and political movements. With #NeverAgain, some of the students who survived the shooting this month in Parkland have organized effective social media campaigns in favor of greater gun control. So far the American public is paying attention. Children are effective messengers because they are difficult to convincingly attack. It’s easier to forgive their excesses and their mistakes, and they are not constrained by having full-time jobs. The very fact that children are doing something attracts news coverage. If even a child sees the need to speak out, we all should be listening; they of course have the greatest stake in America’s future. (Bloomberg View)

May your heart always be joyful
May your song always be sung
And may you stay
Forever young

A slew of companies are ending their ties to the National Rifle Association in the wake of the massacre at a Florida high school that left 17 dead earlier this month. United, Delta, Enterprise Holdings, First National Bank of Omaha, Symantec and MetLife were among the first to call it quits after a #BoycottNRA hashtag started to pick up steam online last week. The gun rights group’s chief executive Wayne LaPierre openly criticized gun-control advocates and the media for its coverage of the shooting. “They don’t care about our schoolchildren. They want to make all of us less free.” (Fox Business)

Forever young
Forever young
May you stay
Forever young

Dick’s Sporting Goods, one of the largest sports retailers in the U.S., has announced it is immediately ending its sales of military-style semi-automatic rifles and is requiring all customers to be older than 21 to buy a firearm at its stores. Additionally, the company no longer will sell high-capacity magazines.

CEO Ed Stack announced the decision on ABC’s Good Morning America on Wednesday, the same day that survivors of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are returning to class. Stack said the 19-year-old gunman allegedly behind that massacre, which claimed 17 lives and wounded many more in Parkland, Fla., had purchased a firearm from the retailer last November. While that the weapon — a shotgun — was not used in the shooting, the CEO said the revelation deeply affected him and his colleagues at Dick’s.(NPR)

Last week the Stoneman Douglas High School drama club performed “Shine,” a song they wrote in the wake of the shooting at their school. May they remain forever young. #NeverAgain