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I don’t know how to describe it, but I feel like in my middle school years in the mid 90s, there were so many like, suicidal things? aimed to us teenagers? Every issue of Seventeen there for a while, there was always an article about depression, or suicide, articles about girls who attempted, or families of girls who had killed themselves, or stories about girls who cut themselves. It was like they were warning us, that this might happen to you.
It also felt as though it was cool to not care? That it was “in” to be depressed. Our music was sad.
I guess I wasn’t the only one who felt that way? The above article was about eight girls in New Milford, Connecticut all attempted some sort of suicidal gesture in a five-day period in the early Summer of 1995. There was even a town hall setting meeting at the local high school to discuss it:
A hospital spokeswoman, Gretchen O’Shea-Reynolds, said after tonight’s meeting that officials had not been able to confirm that there had been any suicide pact. Instead, officials talked about the “contagiousness” of suicidal feelings among the girls.
In the high school auditorium, more than 100 parents heard advice on identifying signs of suicidal feelings, and a plea by doctors and school officials to take a larger part in their teen-agers’ lives.
“What’s going on in New Milford is not unique to New Milford,” said Dr. Simon Sobo, chief of psychiatry at New Milford Hospital. “Too many children feel that life is cheap, that they’re not going anywhere.” 2
The epidemic was even more series in the Sheridan, Arkansas area five years earlier:
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I mean, a kid killed himself in front of his class, and this was pre Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy” video, so it couldn’t be a copycat. (“Jeremy” happened in 1991, when a boy, Jeremy Wade Delle killed himself in front of his English class. 3) :
Among his teenage peers in Sheridan, Ark., Tommy Smith was a rueful clown. The 17-year-old was known to wear sunglasses and a black trench coat to class and jokingly referred to himself as “Norman Bates” or “Freddy Krueger.” Rhonda Damron, 16, appreciated Tommy’s “weird” ways, and the two had been friends since sixth grade, although they never dated. “He was different,” says Rhonda. “He didn’t believe in trying to be Mr. Popularity.” Still, Rhonda sensed from their twice-weekly phone talks that Tommy’s mordant style was a mask for his insecurity. So when he told her on the phone the night of April 29 that he was going to kill himself, she made him promise to come to school the next day, certain that his threat would prove empty.
Sure enough, after parking his Maverick in the parking lot, Tommy showed up at his American history class wearing a black T-shirt. Teacher Rick Ward was lecturing his class of 24 kids about the Great Depression when Tommy asked if he could speak. Then, says Rhonda, “he got up in front of the class and told them he had two things to say. One was that he loved me.” The other thing, he said, reaching into his blue jeans and pulling out a .22 pistol, ” ‘is this.’ ” “No, Tommy, no,” pleaded the teacher, edging closer. Then Tommy put the muzzle between his eyes and pulled the trigger. 5
In another incident from 1995, two girls cut class one February day in Victorville, California, walked to a ravine, put on a fresh coat of lipstick, and shot each other:
Annette and classmate Jenifer Powell left campus and walked to a trash-littered ravine several blocks away. There, sometime before 1:30 on that rainy afternoon, the girls applied fresh layers of lipstick—then each raised a loaded handgun to her temple and fired. Project Mushroom, as they called their death pact, was complete. 6.
[…]
The mother who found the bodies returned to the spot Thursday afternoon. Giving her name only as Cyndy, she bent in prayer next to her motorcycle and crossed herself.“It wasn’t a pretty sight,” she said. The impact of the high-caliber gun used by Jenifer had “blown away half of the side of her face,” Cyndy said. “If they’d had a clue as to what they would look like, they never would have done it,” she said. Turning to [student] Ralph Vincent, still seated beside the white crosses, she said, “the reason I described it is because I want you kids to know, OK? It was awful. I live just over there. If you need to talk to somebody, you come see me."7.
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1. Rosenberg, Debra, and John Leland, “’Generation Depressed’” Newsweek, July 10, 1995. 62.
2. Judson, George, “Town Tries to Comprehend Suicide Attempts of 8 Girls,” New York Times, June 29, 1995. https://www.nytimes.com/1995/06/29/nyregion/town-tries-to-comprehend-suicide-attempts-of-8-girls.html
3. Wenger, Danile, “Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy” and the Intractable Cultural Script of School Shooters,” New Yorker, February 25, 2016. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/pearl-jams-jeremy-and-the-intractable-cultural-script-of-school-shooters
4. “Suicides of Four Teen-Agers Stun School in Small Arkansas Town,” New York Times, May 2, 1990. https://www.nytimes.com/1990/05/02/us/suicides-of-four-teen-agers-stun-school-in-small-arkansas-town.html
5. “Lost Too Soon,” People, May 21, 1990. https://people.com/archive/lost-too-soon-vol-33-no-20/
6. Arias, Ron, “The Lost Daughters”, People, September 18, 1995. https://people.com/archive/the-lost-daughters-vol-44-no-12/
7. “Girls’ Suicides Leave Anger, Pain in Desert Community / Teenagers’ friends, kin ask why,” SFGate, February 25, 1995. https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Girls-Suicides-Leave-Anger-Pain-in-Desert-3044616.php
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