I love Soundgarden, it was one of the first bands I was exposed to. My mom would blast her tape of Superunknown on the way to bringing me to school every day in her 1992 Festiva (I never really figured what the cover was supposed to be of). Chris Cornell’s voice could go from a low growl to a high crescendo in a matter of seconds without missing a beat. My mind was completely blown when he and Tom Morello teamed up when I was 11. When Chris Cornell killed himself a few months ago, it was something you couldn’t ignore. Especially after Chester Bennington killed himself a few weeks ago. It underscored how no amount of money, fame, talent, or power makes you immune from depression and mental health problems. How someone with so much success in their life could still die. Social media was quick to echo this idea,...

With the popularity of 13 Reasons Why on Netflix and the announcement of a second impending season, I think talking about self-injury is very relevant. It’s a difficult topic to discuss, but an important one. When we talk about “self-injury”, most people have a stereotypical image come to mind, usually the way Skye Miller talked about. However, this can be an oversimplification of the reality of self-injury. Here are some things to think about (if you aren’t already):   1. It takes a variety of forms  This includes scratching, biting, burning, head banging, and cutting. These things are all done for some form of an emotional release. If you haven’t struggled with something like this yourself, odds are pretty good that you know someone who has. A 2010 study estimated that around 15% of teens engaged in some form of self-injury; this is a conservative estimate at best and is most likely...