Actress and activist together tackle ‘culture of violence’

A daily review of convention news from the staff of Reading Today

 Debra Winger and Dawn Anna hugged as they took the stage at the opening session of IRA’s 52nd Annual IRA Convention in Toronto. Their affection for each other was apparent: They became friends when their lives were interwoven by the national tragedy of the Columbine High School massacre in April, 1999.

Anna’s daughter, Lauren, was slain, shot 10 times by two students who went on a rampage, killing 12 students and a teacher, as well as wounding 24 others, before they committed suicide. Winger portrayed Anna in the 2005 movie, Dawn Anna, made for Lifetime Television about the single mother of four, teacher, and volleyball coach, who survived a rare brain disorder, endured the tragedy, all the while keeping her family intact, strong, and united.

Winger spoke of the challenges educators face in this “culture of experts with its talking heads” that has become a “culture of violence.” Because she takes her work as an actress seriously and meticulously researches the characters she plays, she came to know Anna well. Winger said when the heard the news on April 16 of the lockdown at Virginia Tech, her thoughts turned to Columbine and Dawn Anna. Winger said parents and the nation suffered an irretrievable loss of innocence on that day in April eight years ago and she deplored the ease with which automatic weapons still can be obtained today without a permit—or over the Internet piece by piece.

Despite the current atmosphere of fear, she said recent polls showed the majority of teachers are satisfied with their professions. She said that is because teachers know they are valued. Perhaps one teacher cannot make a difference, but teachers and a community together can, she said.

Dawn Anna corroborated Winger’s remarks. She began by saying that from the age of 12 she knew she wanted to teach, when she was a teacher’s assistant in Bible class. She spoke of four people from whom she learned empathy, trust, respect and love—her parents, her third-grade teacher and her high school honors English teacher.

But all children are not so fortunate, she said, and many have no positive adult figures in their lives to impart that sense of trust and safety. For them, sometimes the worst happens.

“Once the guns come out, we’ve failed him,” Anna said. She said a recent study reported that 81% of shooters tell what they are going to do beforehand. But often those they tell are afraid of trouble or they have no adult to trust, so nothing is done. She said she fears for those who say “It can’t happen here.” It can, she said. “Violence is not random, victims are.”

Her pain at the loss of her daughter was evident. She called Lauren her “snuggle bunny,” and said she was on the “springboard of life.” Lauren loved people and “her goal was to make one person smile—or maybe laugh—every day. She was an ‘old soul’ in a beautiful body,” Anna said. Sometimes people tell her that Lauren was “in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Anna disagreed. She said “The school library on a school day should never be the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Anna has been sustained by her faith, family and friends. She said she is at peace with where Lauren is, but “not how she got there.”

She said we should take the opportunities we have to be loving, caring, influences on others. “We can stop the violence,” she said. “Speak up.”