Losing a Friend in a Mass Shooting
By Lindsey0 comments

Losing a Friend in a Mass Shooting

my drawing dedicated to my friend Mark Meza who died in the thousand oaks mass shooting

I will never forget the moment that I found out Marky had been shot down in the Thousand Oaks shooting.  My husband John had just gotten home from Sea. Thousand Oaks is his hometown and I was worried he may have lost someone. We turned on the news. Eleven victims. Five minutes before the news ended, they announced a 12th victim. And there was his smiling face on the screen. Marky.

Mark Meza wanted to be a Photographer. I met him when he was 18. I asked him if he would like to work with me and he was fucking fantastic, at 18 years old. He quickly became like a little brother to me. His older sister manages my screen printing for Mothersun. All 3 of us worked at a little wine bar together when I was a newly single Mama. 

He was Sol’s first crush. I would bring her in to the wine bar and she would attach herself to his hip. It was easy to do so because Mark is gentle and kind with amazing energy. He moved away earlier this year and I kept up with him via his Mama. Last time I saw her we talked about getting him a job on John’s boat! That Wednesday, Marky was bussing at Borderline and was killed in the shooting.... 

end gun violence together

Elise knew how deeply affected I was by this, and she sent me this incredible youtube video of Toms Shoes founder Black Mycoskie on the Jimmy Fallon show talking about gun violence.  Not only has he donated $5 million to the cause, he has also implemented a platform on this website so that any one of us can instantly send a postcard to our representatives telling them we support a universal background check.  Here is the link, it literally takes 10 seconds!  And for more info regarding how else you can get involved visit https://momsdemandaction.org/

 

Tags: end gun violence, thousand oaks mass shooting

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