Cycles of Change

A school counselor reads a student's essay. Nothing in it mentions violence. The pronouns have changed. The "we" is gone. The "I" is everywhere, isolated, and final-sounding. She cannot name what she sees. She flags nothing. Language shifts before behavior. James Pennebaker's decades of research [...]

A mother sits in her car in the school parking lot. It is Tuesday morning. She should be thinking about the grocery list or her afternoon meetings. Instead, she stares at the brick facade and feels nothing. The fear has gone quiet. What remains is heavier. The cycle has repeated so often her mind [...]