‘Parkland Speaks’: Survivors write book
Survivors of last year’s deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida, share essays, poems and photos in an emotion-filled book released Tuesday.
“Parkland Speaks: Survivors from Marjory Stoneman Douglas Share Their Stories” was written by 43 students and teachers from the sprawling, suburban school 25 miles northwest of Fort Lauderdale.
The paperback book includes eyewitness accounts, letters, speeches and journal entries stemming from the carnage of Feb. 14 that left 17 people dead.
Daniela Ortiz-Machado wrote in her poem “In the Life of a Flower” that “a flower lives just as surely as it dies” and that “on Valentine’s Day, it should be love. ... On our Valentine’s Day, desks were littered with carnations. ... If every petal was a wish, a smile, a dream, a teardrop, a life, then 17 of those petals would have fallen to the floor.”
Sarah Lerner, who teaches English and journalism at the school, edited the 192-page book. On the day of the attack, she heard gunshots and locked herself and 15 students in a classroom until a SWAT team ushered them out.
Lerner wrote that the book “sheds light on what we went through, and what we will continue to go through for the rest of our lives. We are positive, passionate, proud. We are #MSDStrong.”
Former student Nikolas Cruz, then
19, allegedly entered the school armed with a semiautomatic assault weapon, smoke grenades and a mask and fired more than 100 shots before the gun apparently jammed.
Cruz walked out of the building amid the chaos and was taken into custody in a nearby neighborhood a short time after the shooting. A grand jury indicted him on 17 counts of firstdegree murder that could result in the death penalty. He also is charged with
17 counts of attempted murder.