A message from Jamie Rich, our Editor-In-Chief:

Like my fellow alumnae of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (class of ’95) I felt paralyzed at the news of the shooting at my old school in Parkland, the small Florida suburb where I spent my teenage years. I was immediately glued to CNN in my office in Ponte Vedra, scrolling through Facebook posts connecting with friends. Messages of “thoughts and prayers,” rang trite rather than true after so many similar tragedies before this one. But the phrase, “There are no words,” popped up over and over on my friends’ posts. What can be said in gut-wrenching times like these? Nothing seems to measure up to the graveness of the situation. And most people feel powerless to create change.

As the publisher of Florida’s only statewide feature magazine, I’m in a position to help amplify the voices and thoughts of Floridians. In an effort to do that, Flamingo is accepting essays that touch on all sides of the issue of gun violence in our schools and how we can move forward as a state and a nation less riddled with mass shootings. The essays will appear as a series over the coming weeks to try and help move the dialogue forward and heal.

Please submit essays to editorial@flamingomag.com