Dear Hendrix, It’s 4 a.m., and I can’t sleep. Soon, I’ll have to walk out of our apartment door and head to the KEXP radio station, where I do my daily Early Show. It’s Monday morning after a long weekend. I’m going to start the show at 5 a.m. with a tune from Mozart. It’s Mozart Monday—a regular thing for me. But I don’t feel happy about anything right now. When I finally arrive at work around 4:30 a.m., something feels off. It’s eerie, uncomfortable. It somehow even smells different down here at Seattle Center, where the station is located. It’s as if the whole area is sitting in some sort of stasis. You can feel the fact that a mass shooting took place less than 12 hours ago. Henny, I try to keep these letters to you light, fun, and upbeat. I love telling you about an old flame or how to play a rock show. But this morning, that feels impossible. I can’t help but think about our common reality. How guns too often rule the day. It’s not just in Seattle, either. All over the country, people are senselessly dying from bullets. Sunday night’s shooting took place during the Bite of Seattle, a music and food festival. According to reports, two young people shot at each other in the middle of a very crowded Seattle Center. They killed three people. They also injured several others, including a 2-year-old child. (Henny, as I write this, you are two years old.) Sadly, this isn’t the first mass shooting in the city, and it won’t be the last. In America, we see a mass shooting just about every day. We are the only country that lives this way. Hendrix, I’m sorry that you live in this type of world. I am sorry we brought you into such a violent place. And I’m sorry it feels there is nothing we can do to change it. That it feels like if Seattle Center can be turned into a mini war zone, any place can. America has a gun problem. America has a mental health problem. America has a lack-of-opportunities problem, too. We aren’t the only country with issues, but this is the only country I live in. This is my home. And it’s a scary place to be. I don’t think every gun on Earth should be thrown into a volcano. I’m not against gun ownership. I myself have a concealed carry permit. I’m a member of an all-Black gun club, and I even pay yearly dues on that membership. I believe in the right to bear arms, as people like Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale have written about, to protect yourself and your family. But we also have a right to safety. Second Amendment nuts have contributed to a culture where calm, safe, and serene places like libraries, churches, and food and music festivals feel like war zones. This is the world we live in. A world where, 12 hours after the mass shooting, you can still feel people’s screams, the pain of senseless violence and lost life heavy in the air. Something needs to change. We owe you that much, Henny. I love you. Mom Eva Walker is a writer, a KEXP DJ, one-half of the rock duo The Black Tones, and mom to her baby girl, Hendrix. She also cowrote the book The Sound of Seattle: 101 Songs That Shaped a City, which was released in 2024. Every month for The Stranger, she writes a letter to Hendrix to share wisdom learned from her experiences—and her mistakes. Read all installments here. The post Dear Hendrix appeared first on The Stranger. ...read more read less