Stem tide of gun violence

My name is Ceila Rodriguez, and I am part of Advocacy Corps with the organization Friends Committee On National Legislation (FCNL) that is based out of Washington, D.C.

My work heavily involves lobbying and bringing awareness on the importance of gun violence prevention. As a special education teacher, gun violence speaks to my heart.

A teacher’s role should be to help educate and shape the minds of her students. Yet, many teachers like myself now fear the possibility of one day having to protect their students from gun violence. We are talking about innocent children.

In the scope of students that I work with, most are nonverbal and would not be able to comprehend how to keep themselves safe in case of a horrible tragedy.

Gun violence in the United States is so common that it rarely makes the news. As a nation, we have seemingly accepted that ordinary activities — going to a house of worship, a nightclub, a school — carry the risk of violent death. The gun violence epidemic is both a public health crisis and a troubling reflection on our country’s spiritual state.

As we seek policy solutions, we must also look critically at the culture that enables so many people to kill each other with guns. I ask you to consider taking a deep dive in the increase of gun violence within our own community and how together we can take the appropriate steps to decrease it.

Ceila Rodriguez / Medford

Learning from Bob Ross

A couple of years ago, I wished to give my son a Bob Ross T-shirt. Bob Ross is a kindly artist whose TV shows are therapeutic and always a joy to watch.

He “is” still an artist, because he lives on forever through those calm, gentle painting sessions, encouraging fledgling painters and everyone with his soft-spoken wisdoms.

Well, I looked everywhere and just couldn’t believe no one carries Bob Ross T-shirts in their stores! You know, someone in the Rogue Valley could open a Bob Ross Store right now and make a fortune!

Someone with some extra money might consider having a booth full of Bob Ross items set up in Lithia Park for our 4th of July celebrations! I promise you, a couple hundred T-shirts would just about sell out! All art stores should have some of his T-shirts available! 

That’s right, I looked for them everywhere. Ultimately, I had to give a friend some cash so she could nicely use her credit card to buy a Bob Ross T-shirt online for me to give to my son. He loves that T-shirt!

Patti Morey / Ashland