The soundtrack of social distancing

By: Hailie Melton

From family-made bands in North Carolina to virtual reality and live-streamed concerts, we are still dancing to the beat of the music as this quarantine marches on. According to NPR, in their article “From The Urgent To The Absurd, Musicians Take On The Coronavirus Through Song,” there are many more tunes about quarantine than you might originally think.

NPR explains how on March 15, around the same time many cities ordered their citizens to stay at home, Detroit Rapper Gmac Cash released a song called “Coronavirus.” Cash raps on how if you cough or sneeze, he doesn’t want to be around you. His sweetest line may be “Make sure you wash your hands with lots of love.” Cash also released other coronavirus songs, such as “At Home,” “15 Days of Quarantine” and “Stimulus Check.”

While Cash’s songs are centered around fun, not every musical artist writing quarantine tracks is like that. Ben Gibbard from Death Cab for Cutie released a batch of gloomy tracks called “Life in Quarantine.” Even though Gibbard released some not-so-happy tracks, he has been live-streaming and raising money to donate to health and relief organizations to help stop the coronavirus. All of the money that is raised, plus the proceeds from “Life in Quarantine,” is given to non-profit organizations in Seattle, like Aurora Commons, an area relief group.

The inspiration that fuels musicians is different depending on the artist. According to The New Yorker, artists like A$AP Ferg have been listening to Kendrick Lamar and Baby Keem, while Gibbard has been listening to a lot of “Stars of The Lid” and says he is “head over heels in love with Eluvium’s new record ‘Virga I.’”

Overall, the music industry is still glowing bright, even in this lonely and dark time of quarantine. Like Gmac Cash says, “Make sure you wash your hands with lots of love,” and stay safe.

*Photo Obtained from MEL Magazine

The oh-so awesome nerves of quarantine

By: Hailie Melton

Recently a poll was sent out asking students “Who is getting on your nerves the most?” during this historical quarantine. The options given were pets, parents, friends, teachers, significant others, siblings and other.

The poll was sent out April 17 and closed April 24. Out of 54 responses, most people said that their siblings were the ones bothering them the most because they know how to push each other’s buttons a little too well (Sophomore Kathleen Spiehs).

The runner-up option was other. Senior Alex Levering said he’s getting too much schoolwork, which doesn’t help when working full-time. Senior Dominic Luevano explained that Cody from the gym is charging him when he hasn’t been there in over a month, and he wants to “throw hands.”

In third place was parents. Freshman Autumn Graczyk said she is an only child, so she is stuck with her parents 24/7.

However, the least picked option, friends, may be the funniest. Senior Skylar Ruhe said her friends are “acting like the world is ending.”

Overall, this time in history is very stressful, but it will pass, and we will survive it together because Vikings row together.

The mentality of a safer gun community

By: Hailie Melton

Gun control. It’s a topic almost all Americans have an opinion on, whether it be that we should get rid of guns in general or that we shouldn’t have as many gun control laws. I believe that we should have more laws mentioning mental health and/or disturbances that gun buyers should have to abide by before even being able to touch or see a gun. Studies show that the highest rate of gun-related murders (per 100k inhabitants for all rates) is in our nation’s capital, Washington D.C., which has a rate of 16.5, compared to the average rate, which is 2.7 and the lowest rate being 0.3 in Vermont (all per year), according to a study done by Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

Statistics show, via Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, that domestic violence and mental health issues have a positive relationship with criminal history. People with mental health issues or rougher backgrounds/criminal history are more likely to commit a crime. There are many people with mental illnesses who own a firearm. Now, not every mental illness is a danger when it comes to guns; the most likely mental illnesses, via NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information), would be PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and other types of mental illnesses that include heavy hallucinations or alterations in perception of reality, such as schizophrenia, BPD (borderline personality disorder), bipolar disorder and MPD (multiple personality disorder).

Eighteen of our 50 states don’t have laws regarding whether a mentally-ill person can own a gun, 35 out of 50 states don’t have laws regarding whether a drug/alcohol offender can own a gun and 33 out of 50 states don’t have laws regarding whether someone with a criminal history, history of violence or a juvenile offense can own a gun, says Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. That needs to change.

Stronger gun control laws contribute to less gun-related deaths. Studies show that states with looser and weaker gun laws have more gun-related deaths than those with stronger and stricter gun laws. The top 10 states with the weakest gun control laws (AK, AL, AR, LA, MS, MO, NV, NM, WV and WY) average at 20.46 gun-related deaths per year. The top states with the strictest/strongest gun laws (CA, CT, HI, IL, MD, MA, NJ and NY) average at only 6.37 gun-related deaths per year, says Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. This alone should clearly open up some eyes to show that we need to up our gun control laws in order to up our safety for future generations.