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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 13, 2019)
PAGE A6, KEIZERTIMES, SEPTEMBER 13, 2019 TEENS, continued from Page 1 S DRIVE A LITTLE – SAVE A BUNCH! 3893 COMMERCIAL ST SE • SALEM MORE INFO AT NORTHERNLIGHTSTHEATREPUB.COM Lights, Comedy, Laughs! Saturday, SEPT 21, at 11:00 am MOVIE: ANGRY BIRDS 2 [ PG ] Sensory Sensitive Show ONLY $4 Special showing for kids and adults with Autism or other sensory sensitivities. OPEN CAPTION SHOWING LIVE STAND-UP COMEDY! SATURDAY, SEPT 14 PAUL GREEN and NIGEL LARSON 7 pm & 9 pm (21 & Over) Admission only $10. Reserved Seating for this show. Aladdin (PG) Wednesday, Sept 25 6 PM, TICKETS ARE $4/EACH. Special showing with captioning shown on screen with the movie. Today in History A four-day revolt at the maximum-security Attica Correctional Facility near Buffalo, NY, ends when hundreds of state police offi cers storm the complex in a hail of gunfi re. Thirty-nine people were killed in the disastrous assault, including 29 prisoners and 10 prison guards and employees held hostage since the outset of the ordeal. — September 13, 1971 Food 4 Thought “If you are good life is good.” — Roald Dahl, author of Charles and the Ch0colate Factory, James and the Giant Peach. Born Sept. 13 , 1916 The Weeks Ahead Through Sunday, September 15 Okoberfest 2019 in Mt. Angel. Featuring Alpinegarten, Biergarten, Schnitzelgarten. Free concerts, vendors, arts and crafts and of course, the Chicken Dance. For a full schedule visit oktoberfest.org. Through Sunday, September 28 Pentacle Theatre presents The Great American Trailer Park Musical. This musical comedy contains explicit language and adult themes. For showtimes and tickets visit pentacletheatre. org. Saturday, September 14 CANCELLED***Local singer Gabriel Cox will perform at Keizer Rotary Amphitheater at Keizer Rapids Park. Rescheduled for Oct. 5 at Salem Armory. Willamette Valley Genealogical Society meets at 12 Noon at the LDS Church, 4550 Lone Oak Rd SE, Salem. James H. Johnson will speak about land records. Call (503) 363-0880 for more information. Tuesday, September 17 Free admission all day at Hallie Ford Museum of Art, 700 State Street. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Keizer Fire District will present life saving awards to Dan and Linda Garcher and Tobias, a canine, at board of directors meeting at 7 p.m. at the Keizer Fire Hall, 661 Chemawa Rd. N.E. Wednesday, September 18 Repair Fair and Share from 4 - 7 p.m. at the Pringle Hall Community Center, 606 Church Street S.E. Salem. Volunteers join to fi x broken items, teach repair skills and more. Visit www.co.marion.or.us/PW/ES for more details. Thursday, September 19 The Champions for Children luncheon, a benefi t for Liberty House, noon-1 p.m., Salem Convention Center. Contact Adrienne Christian at 503-540-0288 or achristian@ LibertyHouseCenter.org. Wednesday, September 25 Free community dinner, 5 p.m., St. Edward Catholic Church, 5303 River Rd. N. Facebook.com/keizer-community-dinner. Vertigo will be at the Elsinore Theatre for $6 a person at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Friday, September 26 — Saturday, October 1 Willamette University Theatre presents Men on Boats by Jaclyn Backhaus. For more details visit willamette.edu/arts/ theatre. Saturday, September 27 Oregon Symphony, led by conductor Carlos Kalmar, presents Brahms’ Symphony No. 2, with pianist Garrick Ohlsson. The evening also includes Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25. Visit www.orsymphonysalem.org to purchase tickets and for more details. Tuesday, October 1 Free admission all day at Hallie Ford Museum of Art, 700 State Street. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, October 5 McNary High School’s class of 1979 will hold their 40-year reunion at the Keizer Civic Center. For more information, go to mcnary79.net or email the reunion committee at mcnaryclassof79@gmail.com. She maintained a straight-A GPA until her junior year. Between too many advanced courses, softball and volunteering, her schedule overwhelmed her. “I just piled everything on and then the house of cards fell,” she said. Students typically take eight classes, and keeping up with coursework can become even more stressful when students take a lot of advanced placement and dual enrollment college classes. The problem is, it’s not just academics. The pressure for students to present “well- rounded” college applications leads to pressure to pile on sports, volunteering and jobs on top of school work. And there’s often not fl exibility from teachers or other players in students’ lives. “They don’t understand that you have other things going on,” she said. These pressures had an isolating effect, McMann said. In hindsight, she wished she had prioritized what was most important to her and taken more time to spend with friends while in high school. For McMann, the outcome would’ve been the same— the admissions requirements to the school she decided fi t her needs best, University of Hawaii, aren’t nearly as rigorous as she anticipated. “I’ll be in Hawaii, living where I want to live, it’s going to be super nice. The nursing school is great,” she said. But, she added, she could’ve been admitted with a 2.0. She describes the stress she went through in high school as a “learning experience.” She made it through all right, she said, but she’s seen people in her life–her own family–with similar ambitions pushed over the edge. McMann’s brother, Ben, died by suicide at the beginning of her senior year. No one knows exactly what led to Ben’s death—his parents and his sister say he didn’t tell anyone close to him he was suicidal prior to acting on it— but his family says Ben was stressed by the new workload of his freshman year of high school. His death, followed by the death of another Sprague student a few weeks later last September, resulted in a reckoning at the school. Other youth echo the same message: kids are pushed to their limits and expected to constantly achieve, and then top their achievements. But failure happens and, when it does, our academic system doesn’t give students the space to get back up and fi gure it out. Ben and Lauren’s parents, Carol and Kyle McMann, said they’ve witnessed this broader culture of pushing kids to the limit. Carol sees society as teaching kids life is an uphill climb, when really it’s more complicated than that. “I think we need to teach them that life’s a roller coaster,” 3893 COMMERCIAL ST SE THIS WEEK’S MOVIE TIMES Gozilla (PG-13) Sat 2:25, Sun 2:30 Angry Brids Movie 2 (PG) Fri 1:55, 4:40, Sat 12:30, 4:50, Sun 12:00, 1:55 Yesterday (PG-13) Fri 5:50, 8:40, Sat 6:40, Sun 3:50 Aladdin (PG) Fri 1:20, 3:45, 6:15, Sat 11:40, 2:05, 4:30 Sun 12:30, 3:00, 5:35 Rocketman (R) Fri 2:20, Sat 3:50, Sun 7:15 John Wick: Chapter 3 (R) Fri 8:05, Sat 6:10, Sun 6:05, 8:05 Secret Life of Pets 2 (PG) Fri 4:00 Sat 11:55 Sun 12:50 Men in Black: Intn’l (PG-13) Fri 6:40, Sat 1:40, 8:35, Sun 5:00 FOR ALL SHOWTIMES GO TO NORTHERNLIGHTSTHEATREPUB.COM Maze by Jonathan Graf of Keizer EXISTENTIAL STRESS Emily Bogan, an incoming junior at McNary High School, plans on going back to school shopping. On her list: a bulletproof backpack. She reads the headlines about school shootings, and they scare her. And there’s an added element of fear, she said, because McNary is under construction this year, and many classrooms have been moved to temporary portables on the campus. “It’s just stressful to go to school, because … we’ll be out in portables and most of the time they don’t lock portables,” she said. “You just open the door and you’re in class, which could be catastrophic if something happened.” In addition to the mass shootings that make national headlines, she referenced a few weeks of unusually violent headlines coming out of Salem. It makes her wonder: “What is this world coming to?” Young people are growing up in an unstable political moment. Mass shootings dominate the news cycle, rates of hate crimes are increasing, climate change experts have a 10-year countdown on the Earth’s habitable lifespan. Clinicians say kids are paying attention. And it’s impacting their mental health. School-based mental health professionals have noticed this shift. Students used to come in with more individual problems, but now raise questions like, “What are the adults doing with my world?” in response to violence and political turmoil. The impact can be even greater on students of color, particularly Latino students. The El Paso shooting, which killed 22 people in a Walmart in early August, has been called a hate crime based on racist statements made by looking back in the KT 5 YEARS AGO Gate between MHS and Sandy is closed The Kitchen (R) Fri 8:55, Sat 9:10, Sun 8:30 maze Carol said. “You’re going to have your ups, you’re going to have your downs. And that’s life. That’s okay.” She added: “You can plan things, but that’s not how life goes.” Academics are framed as ascendant—students are expected to improve performance throughout an academic career, volunteer, show they are “well-rounded” individuals, so they can continue the ascent into a prestigious school and then, from there, onto a high-fl ying career. The picture painted for kids depicts a continuous march upward, paved with their blood, sweat and tears. But that’s not healthy or sustainable, especially when paired with stressors that are even further outside of kids’ control. A new, simple approach is being utilized to cut down on incidents with McNary High School students causing issues on Sandy Drive. In response to complaints, city staff put up a gate that can be closed. 10 YEARS AGO Police going to the dogs Keizer’s newest police dog has been on the street since May. Now, the department is looking to add a third. 15 YEARS AGO KFD sends team to Florida to help with recovery Surviving a Mental Health Crisis As more young people struggle with mental health, it becomes even more crucial for bystanders to understand how to support them. Listen non-judgmentally Acknowledge that what the person is feeling is real, and be empathetic and accepting Ask about even though suicidal thoughts you may not If you think there is a chance to agree. intervene, ask the person directly if they are thinking of killing themselves. If they say “no,” ask again. Someone might be able to shrug off the fi rst inquiry, it’s harder the Ask about plans second time. If they say, “yes,” ask if they have decided how, when and if they’ve gotten the things they need to pull it off. The more answers they have, the closer they are to an attempt. Encourage Do not leave them alone if you professional, believe self-harm or harm self-help to others is imminent. Help them explore Call 9-1-1 if it’s too activities that might bolster big to handle. their mental health, from therapy to hotlines to regular exercise. The most important protective factor for a youth against a mental health crisis is feeling close to at least one adult. The number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. Investigate mental health fi rst aid Mental Health First Aid is a free, eight-hour crash course in what to do when someone you know, love, or barely know, is experiencing a mental health crisis. A full list of upcoming free classes in the area can be found at www.mentalhealthfi rstaid.org. the shooter prior to the mass killing. Juanita Aniceto is a peer support specialist at Salem Drop, a community center designed as a place for young people to connect with each other and with adults trained to help them work through their problems. “I don’t think I have had kids that haven’t struggled with some kind of mental health history,” she said. But Aniceto said in addition to the national headlines that seem indiscriminate in their targets, there’s an added layer for students from immigrant families. She said there’s several young adults who come to the Salem Drop who are concerned about their legal status or the legal status of their families. One of these students was separated from their family, she said, adding another layer of stress to adolescence. Kids are not as insulated from the world as the adults might think they are. And even when the adults try to shield kids from the world, social media keeps them immersed in the bad news. SOCI Aside AL from MEDIA a vehicle for bad news, social media also can have an isolating effect on youth. Mikki Krause, a 2018 Sprague grad, has seen her friends get stressed out while scrolling through Instagram. The constant barrage of images send a clear message: so many people are thinner, more fashionably dressed, more popular. And the negative messages aren’t just subliminal; outright cyberbullying is common as well. “A lot of people are mean behind the screen,” Krause said. The problem Krause describes is one that’s echoed among parents and clinicians. At the Salem Health-sponsored listening sessions held at all Salem-Keizer high schools during the last school year - a response to the Sprague suicide cluster – social media came up at every session. Parents and school staff frequently voiced their fears about the impact it’s having on youth. “It was consistent across all the listening sessions, to the point where we had to say at the beginning of the last few listening sessions, we know social media is something that Five members of the Keizer Fire District’s Community Emergency Response Team headed to Florida this week to help the victims of Hurricane Frances. 20 YEARS AGO City executives retreat – on their own time Government people are always getting beat up over expensive retreats. But the people in Keizer’s city government burned up their own vacation time and used the vacation home of a staff member for a recent city staff retreat. concerns you, so we’re going to talk about it briefl y and then move on,” said Leilani Slama, vice president of community engagement for Salem Health. But dealing with social media’s impact on kids is more complicated than taking away their phones, experts say. Nick Allen is a mental health clinician and researcher. He also directs University of Oregon’s Center for Digital Mental Health, which seeks to utilize technological solutions to addressing mental health. The vilifi cation of “screentime” is not productive, he said. It stems from the generation gap between adults raised before the days of social media and the kids born into it. Allen said social media and screentime should be approached like driving. We “understand there are both opportunities and risks” to driving, he said, but we teach kids how to utilize the opportunity and mitigate the risk with education and adult support. Technology and social media shouldn’t be any different, he said. He also added scapegoating social media as the sole problem in kids’ lives doesn’t deal with the root issue. Kids who struggle with feelings of isolation and inadequacy fi nd themselves struggling as much in real life as online. If the IRL need isn’t addressed, the online need won’t go away, either, he said. Despite adult concerns, kids fi nd many benefi ts to being online. Marginalized kids especially—Allen cites the example of LGBTQ+ youth— “can go online and fi nd a community of people who can understand you,” he said. Experts like Allen and the kids themselves see a missed opportunity in conversations about social media and mental health. Krause, who struggled with anxiety and depression herself, found positive spaces to talk about mental health online, but adults don’t often see the opportunity to build upon those spaces. “Social media—if we use it properly—can open up a conversation about it,” she said. “But we’re not there yet.” Come back next week to learn how Salem-Keizer Public Schools is beginning to address youth mental health concerns. sudoku Enter digits from 1-9 into the blank spaces. Every row must contain one of each digit. So must every column, as must every 3x3 square.
