FIRST RESPONDERS

BY SABRINA VIZURRAGA ‘22 ON THEFAMILYfront lines

A woman burns incense at a memorial for shooting victims at a King Soopers Grocery store on March 26, 2021 in Boulder, Colorado. The shooting at the King Soopers Grocery on Monday left ten people dead, including one police officer. (Chet Strange/Getty Images/TNS)

It’s all over the news: another shooting. Your mom is on duty. You toss and turn all night until you hear the garage door open and the engine of their car spurring at two in the morning. The headlights illuminate your room as your mom drives up. Relief fills your body, like a breath of fresh air. “She is home. She is safe,” you finally close your eyes to sleep.

This is a reality for kids’ whose parents are first responders, the not knowing if their parents will return home every time they leave the house. With the political climate, the pandemic and the every day violence that occurs for many first responders, people often don’t think about the family until something tragic happens.

For Blake Bridges ’22, whose dad is a lieutenant for the Denver Police Department and his mom is a registered nurse for Denver Health, the pandemic brought additional strain to the family.

With the pandemic, political unrest and shootings becoming more common in the nation and especially Colorado, law enforcement has become an especially dangerous career.

“I worry about my dad at work a lot because of what he does, especially during the summer when protests were going on. It’s always a little bit scary when he goes in at a random time when a shooting happens,” Blake said. “I worry about how he sees that and how it affects him emotionally after seeing a body. I was concerned for my mom at first. I worried she would get sick, but luckily, she didn’t and hasn’t had any problems.”

When a shooting happens, it sparks fear in the whole community. The Boulder shooting in March was no exception. The shooter gunned down officer Eric Talley, a father of seven.

For senior Kylie Pendelton, whose father is a Leutient for the Aurora County police department, it’s about trust and hope.

“It can be scary. I also know that my dad is really experienced. He is one of the most respected officers in the state. I have trust that he will come home safe. You can’t go into everyday thinking that he is going to die,” she said.

Junior Clare Anselmi, whose father is lieutenant in Arapahoe County, experienced a similar situation to Bridges’.

“Officer Talley is actually from my church,” Anselmi says. “I didn’t know him very well, but it was really hard because he was an amazing officer. It was a shocking experience.” For many, in times of sorrow, faith is what get’s them through and that is no different for the Anselmi family. “In my family, we have a very strong belief that Christ is watching over our first responders and that [Christ] will bring them home,” Anselmi says.

In these difficult times, it isimportant to remain thankful for the work that our first responders do on a day-today basis and how that effects their families.

“I am really appreciative of my parents and I’m thankful for everything they do for me and others.” Bridges says.

Pendelton added, “Times are tough right now. We have to remember that police officers, firefighters, nurses are all human beings.”

Regis Jesuit Alums Joe Mailander ‘04 and Justin Lansing ‘03 work hard to put the attitude “Men and Women with and for Others” into action in the real world. After participating in many bands and music groups throughout high school and college, the two men found their passion in the creation of their very own duo, The Okee Dokee Brothers eleven years ago. During their time at Regis Jesuit, they participated in all things musical including the choir and jazz band. They performed in many plays and found their place within the creative world of music.

These two musicians started small with performances in many schools and parks with family friendly music. Within these small gigs the band created a fan base and went on to be nominated for many Grammys. Becoming an official Grammy winning band for Best Children’s Album back in 2013, with their song “Can you Canoe?”

In becoming award winning musicians, Mailander and Lansing haven’t forgotten where their roots lay. In the world of music, they came to find a surprising lack of diversity when it came to artists and award nominations.

This year, the band was again nominated for Children’s Album for their song, Songs for Singing. In the Ignatian spirit the band turned down this nomination, after finding out that all nominees in that category were white men except for one female. They turned down the nomination along with two other nominees, Alastair Moock and Dog on Fleas.

The thinking behind this lack of diversity was nothing new to Mailander.

“When you have a lot of white people sitting in a room making decisions, their taste for music is veered towards white genres,” he says. When confronting the Grammy nomination committee, he found that it did not have strong representation from people of color, which was an immediate red flag. When it comes to the Children’s music genre, choices for nominations as big as Grammy’s are based more on what is familiar to the committee. Since Mailander and Lansing play more folk/country music they are preferential in the eyes of the judges, compared to say Rap or Latin music. This is where diversity takes a hit, if people are in favor of more folksy bands, that usually creates a majority of white nominees.

The big focus of declining this nomination is that it was an action the band felt was to better the community.

“The genre needed a bit of a wakeup call, and we didn’t make this decision lightly,” Mailander says. Since about half of the country’s population of kids are people of color, Joe and Justin think it’s important for them to see themselves reflected in what they’re listening to. The duo is making it a point to start finding solutions to these industry wide problems now, so kids won’t have to endure it later.

“I think it has to change if the genre wants to remain relevant,” Joe explains. “Otherwise, it runs the risk of becoming completely obscure if we don’t hear from tons of different voices.” Justin and Joe make it a point to use their platform to address these prominent issues with not only their fan base, but all families listening to the genre. They try to mention other artists of color as often as possible such as Pierce Freelon, a father and an extremely influential hip hop artist. In addition, they often reach out to other musicians of color in hopes that they will become members of the Grammy selection committee, working to diversify the academy.

Overall, they stress the point that there are so many amazing artists of color out there creating so many diverse types of music. The Grammy selection and organization should be working to select the best artists, no matter the color of their skin. “The genre has a lot of work to do to expand inclusivity,” Joe says. “We’re trying to make sure different types of voices are heard and promoted.”

The band hopes that the Children’s music genre is moving in the right direction to diversify and create a wider outreach amongst listeners. They are doing their part in making sure that all voices are heard equally and clearly, as the music world continues to change and evolve every day. BANDMATES AND CHILDHOOD BEST FRIENDS, Joe Mailander and Justin Lansing, grew up in Denver and attended Most Precious Blood Catholic School and then Regis Jesuit together. It was at Regis Jesuit that they found their love for playing music in classes with Mrs. Timme and the late Ernie Denapoli.