A Letter to My Hometown
To Whom It May Concern,
I apologize in advance. This podcast is going to hurt.
I’ve created an audio drama that will give you an intimate look behind the curtain at what my family experienced in the aftermath of the school shooting that happened in my hometown many years ago. I was 15 years old when a man with violent intentions walked into the building with a gun and a bag of explosives. That day changed everything for me.
My greatest fear in releasing this podcast is causing further damage to a community that has already suffered greatly.
I know that this podcast is going to be difficult for some people to listen to. I know that, because it’s hard for me to listen to.
Building Foreward has been painful. The content is raw, and there are many moments that are very disturbing to me. What happened up on that mountain was terrible, and retelling this story will be triggering for some of the people who were there that day. I hope that if you are one of those people, and you find that this story is not serving you, you’ll turn it off.
I hope that for some people Foreward can be a tool. It might be an opening that lets them wade into their own sadness and grieve. I’ve been told that it’s important to feel your losses deeply in order to move through them and find your way to the other side. The loss of your childhood, the loss of your sense of security, the loss that happens when a dream doesn’t work out how you expect.
There are many people from my hometown who never admitted to their struggles, myself included. That was my mistake. I led other people to believe that they were alone in their sadness. This podcast is my admission that things were hard, and they stayed hard for a long time.
For people who are ready to look their own trauma in the eye, Foreward might be a way in. There might be pieces that are relatable. Perhaps something that happened inside the walls of my mountain home happened in yours too?
I apologize in advance for any harm this podcast brings about.
I certainly also hope it can also bring about some change and a deeper sense of compassion for anyone who’s suffering.
Sincerely,
Taylor
SUBSCRIBE to hear Foreward on New Years Day.