transposable_element | Atlantic Cover Story

This story about suicide clusters in Palo Alto is not how anybody wants their school district to make the cover of The Atlantic.

Of course, I knew about the suicides -- the railroad crossing where many of the 2009-10 suicides occurred is about a mile from my house, and I drive through it or past it regularly. Last year when I started seeing guards again, I knew something had happened before I even heard about the new rash of suicides.

But reading the article is eerie.

There has been a lot of discussion of the topic around town over the last year, but I think many parents are frightened by how little we know about why this happens and how to prevent it. When the article came out we got an email from the superintendent of schools, sent out to all parents of children in the district, detailing everything that's being done to address the issue. Frankly I think we are groping in the dark. The common wisdom is that the problem has to do with stress and pressure, and I'm sure that's part of it, but what is it that tips one particular individual over that line? Nobody really knows.

Filia is only in fourth grade, so the pressures of high school are several years in the future. Of course like every parent I want to believe my child would never do something like that. And I don't believe it. But neither did the parents whose children killed themselves.

A week ago Maritus and I took Filia to a student production of "Our Town" at Gunn High School. It was an excellent production. I was extremely impressed by the depth and breadth of the cast of young actors, who did a beautiful job of interpreting the play. I read the play in high school and I think I saw a tv production years ago, and based on these, for a long time I have thought of it as rather maudlin and sentimental. But this performance had a balance and austerity that made it shine. It was only later that I thought about the special relevance of the theme of experiencing what we have while we have it; making time to look at one another.