As I Escape, the Water Calms

As I Escape, the Water Calms, Spencer Arias (2017)for saxophone trio In 2015 I wrote a piece called he said there was no sound for the Rogue Trio in response to the school shootings that had become an epidemic. Since then, shootings have not only continued to happen they have become larger with death counts on the rise. Every single time, it gets worse. After the shooting in Orlando at the Pulse Night Club, I sat down to write a piece completely in tears. I never made it past the first page. They have taken our safe spaces. As an openly gay man, the one place where I am supposed to live with zero fear of persecution became one of my biggest fears. When will it end? On October 1st 2017, a man decided to end the lives of 58 individuals at the Mandalay Bay on the Las Vegas Strip. When I was growing up, my grandparents lived about five minutes from the strip. I have been to the Mandalay Bay at least 10 times. My younger sister, who I have had a strained relationship with for the past few m