Let Me Hold Your Pain

On collecting the stories of mass shooting survivors

Illustration by Lizzy O’Donnell

On Thursday, May 10, 2018 I sent an email to Melinda, asking if she’d be interested in contributing her story to a book I was co-editing about survivors in the aftermath of school shootings. I wanted to learn more about her experience during the Umpqua Community College (UCC) shooting in Roseburg, Oregon, which left nine people dead on…