#media-exposure

#media-exposure

Canada's worst school shooting happened on February 12 in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, a small western community of 2,000. Eight are dead. A community is in mourning. A nation paused to remember those killed, as a few days later, leaders of the five major political parties in Canada all came together to offer their collective support to the community. They, like the entire population of Tumbler Ridge, and many others across Canada, were bystanders to a senseless act of violence.

France have spent the last week and a half bunkered in their Marcoussis training base on the outskirts of Paris, where Fabien Galthie has happily allowed his players to train in numbered bibs in front of the onlooking media. That's nothing unusual for France, and although it means their team to play Ireland tomorrow night was flagged from a long way out, they are so comfortable in their own skin, Galthie is not bothered that it gave Andy Farrell a head start on his planning.

When terrible events such as yesterday's attack occur, we often race to find out as much as possible about what happened. We do so by trawling social media and news sites. This is a natural way of making sense of events, and reflects a human urge to know what is occurring around us in order to keep us safe. Sometimes it's a more prurient interest, like the way we slow down to look at a crash.

Also, it seems that somebody in the N.F.L.'s league office likes them, because the Chiefs are scheduled to play in more high-profile games this season than any other team. They started the season in São Paulo, Brazil, playing the Los Angeles Chargers, on the vanguard of the N.F.L.'s imperial ambitions. They played the Eagles in Week Two, in a rematch of the Super Bowl on Fox. They play in the prime Sunday-night slot three times, and on Monday Night Football twice.

As a psychologist who lives just miles from the Annunciation Catholic School/Church in Minneapolis where a horrific shooting occurred this week, I offer this blog in support of parents everywhere. Our Minnesota summer began with the murders of former Minnesota House of Representative Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and the shooting of State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette. And now, the first day back to school for these Annunciation School children begins with violence...an event having ripple effects across communities throughout the country.

"Us as football players, we're not like other premier sports like basketball or soccer or baseball. We wear helmets, so our face is covered..."