Dealing with personal loss

AKA: Ask Kate Anything Advice Column

“Dear Kate, My friend passed away. How do I deal with the grief?”

Sad Soul

Dear Sad, Sorry for your loss. Death is something that no one ever seems ready to deal with, but is something that everyone will have to face at one time or another. It is a sad and unfortunate part of life.

It is important to know that everyone deals with grief differently, so don’t feel ashamed if you cry, don’t cry, need to talk about it incessantly or not talk about it at all. However you cope is OK.

According to helpguide.org, there are five stages of grief. While not everyone goes through every stage and there is no specific order in which they occur, they include denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

There is also no set amount of time that any stage or the entire grief period will last. Each person is different, and grief will vary based on how close the person was, how big a hole their passing will leave, if there is guilt over things left unsettled or feelings left unexpressed, and other factors.

Having a good support system

Issue 6

Volume 120 in place should help. Find friends or family members that can give you what you need, whether it is simply a listening ear, a distraction, or help building a shrine at an accident site.

Something that might help is writing a letter to the person you lost. It will allow you to express any feelings you have about your relationship, about them in general, and about their passing.

It will allow you to say goodbye.

If you are having trouble coping with the loss, you might consider seeing a counselor. A professional who has been trained to deal with loss and grief could be helpful in the healing process.

The Pierce College Health Center has a psychologist on staff that can meet with students for free counseling.

According to their website, students can go to the Psychologist up to eight times per semester for 45 minute sessions.

No matter how you cope, whether you need to see a counselor or cry in your room alone, it is important that you do face the sadness. Don’t push it away and pretend it didn’t happen. You will have to deal with it eventually. Loss of loved ones is inevitable, and you need to process the grief.

Over time, the pain will lessen. Find some support, and hang in there.

Do you have a question for Kate?

Don’t shy away, ask Kate anything by sending an email to AskKateAnything@ gmail.com. If you have a question of a sensitive nature and wish to remain anonymous, your identity will be a kept a secret.

-Corrections-

Page 2: The photographer for the Street Beat was Diego Barajas. Page 2: Reporting for the Street Beat was done by Manuel Rios.

dors themselves with approval of the district. This will promote diversity amongst vendors, more choices for students, and competition.

More specifically to Pierce, the design of the current cafeteria can become problematic to finding a long term solution.

While it is designed to host multiple vendors, the conflict resides inside the kitchen. For the vendors to work, they must share a communal kitchen, which may not be appealing to a franchise like Taco Bell because they may not want or be able to share cooking space for sanitation reasons.

Modifications to the cafeteria may be necessary to allow the college to branch out and acquire other vendors. If the design of the cafeteria can not be fixed, a catering style vendor who can manage a large cafeteria and provide a diverse food selection may be the answer.

Pros and Cons: Installing skateboard docks and bicycle racks

board racks so those who skate have gotten used to carrying their skateboards with them and taking them into class.

jcastro.roundupnews@gmail.com

Installing skateboard docks and racks at Pierce may seem like a good choice for campus attendees who skate and bike but certain flaws will render them unnecessary.

People could easily hesitate to trust the use of racks or docks. If someone’s skateboard or bicycle is left on a dock, what will prevent another person from vandalizing or damaging it?

To make people comfortable using racks or docks, a security system of some type should be paired along with it, but that would only add to the cost and effort that Pierce would have to put forth.

Another reason docks might be a complete waste of money is that Pierce already condemns skating. If skating is completely banned on campus, what would be the point of taking a skateboard to school or even installing docks in the first place? It sends mixed signals. Pierce doesn’t have any skate-

What will get students to break that habit? An extra effort to store one’s personal belongings elsewhere, possibly further from reach? It doesn’t seem logical, which is another reason why docks might be a completely ignored resource.

It may anger Pierce attendees who see the school is providing money to aid such a specific crowd. There are always different causes and opportunities people want money allocated to, and racks and docks are just too demographically biased. If people use the racks and docks, bicycles and skateboards might get damaged from overcrowding since many rack designs are inconsiderate to every type of board or bike people bring in, like banana boards or even varying chassis.

At the Academic Senate Meeting which took place on March 24, a projected cost of a little over $23,000 was made on the actual cost of buying and installing racks and docks.

If the docks and racks were to go unused due to the obvious flaws, that is a nice sum of money which would go to waste.