This morning on Town Neck Beach…missed connections, a lost wallet, a dropped s’more, forgotten beach toys, and still smoldering bonfires. I briefly helped a guy search for his wallet (it was found). He was so grateful that in return he offered to help me clean up the beach.

I texted the number I blurred out on this note. I didn’t want anyone waiting for a call or text all summer. I hope they have another way to connect with the person they met on Town Neck Beach last night.

4th of July 2022: Parades, friends, family, games, swimming, cocktails, cook-outs., sunsets, fireworks…and another (all too common) mass shooting in America by a young man with a legally purchased, high-powered rifle—a weapon of war.

“When nearly 3,000 people died on 9/11, it was enough to create massive change in our society. Over ten times as many people die from guns each year. Where is the social change?”
―DaShanne Stokes

DaShanne was born in Racine, Wisconsin in 1978. His mother gave birth to him when she was a teenager. He was raised in Las Vegas by adoptive parents of Lakota heritage, who he believed were his biological parents. In 1996 he began higher education at Boston University. In 1998, after moving to South Dakota, he discovered by accident that he was adopted, and he was not biologically a Native American.[1] Stokes has a B.S. in biology from the University of South Dakota; a Master's in psychology from Boston University; an additional Master's in sociology from Minnesota State University, and a doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh in sociology.