(And the Weight of Saying it Aloud) Talking about suicide has never been neutral. The words we use carry history, judgment, and fear— often before meaning ever arrives. Across media, institutions, and everyday conversation, language quietly determines what feels sayable and what does not, who feels seen and who retreats into silence.
By CAITLIN BREW | Design by IVY YOUNG
M ost of the time, I am at a loss for words. In the odd event I am in the position of public speaking, my hands are white-knuckled around a detailed and tight script that I stick to word for word because bullet points aren’t enough to clear away the brain static that is caused by any kind of congregation of people. Even writing this article, it took me days to muster up the courage to put pen to paper, fingertips to keyboard. I am a quiet person, careful not to misspeak for fear of not saying the right thing—or being able to say it in the right way. Suicide, especially, feels like a subject that de- mands absolute precision: a tender, delicate, and perfectly manicured grouping of words, phrases, and punctuation meant to capture the full essence and hardship of loss. Every time the topic comes up, I’m afraid that even the smallest misstep could shatter it. So, here I am. Writing because silence has not pro- tected anyone: not me, not the people I care about, and certainly not the people we lose. For Professor Emily Krebs, suicide was al- ways something of interest: something far away that was begging to be researched. She told me, “As a kid, I was allowed to watch pretty much whatever I wanted when it came to TV and movies. The only thing I remember being told I couldn’t watch was “Dead Poets Society” (1989), which ends
in a main character’s death by suicide.” I thought about that—how violence, sex, and even murder seemed permitted, but suicide marked the unspoken boundary. “It definite - ly set the tenor for my life in terms of con- versations about suicide being unwelcome.” That tenor is what led her to research and write about suicide and teach Health Com- munication at Fordham University. Krebs’ first publication on the topic of suicide was about Netflix’s 2017 show “13 Reasons Why.” “That show caught my eye because it centered suicide and was directed at teens. And it was riling people up,” Krebs said. “There was a lot of commotion surround- ing the show, so I was interested in what it was teaching viewers about the nature of suicidality and how we should address it.” I can recall exactly where I was when the show came out. I was in the 5th grade when it was released, and I locked myself in the basement to binge the entire series with my cousin over our spring break. It was my first time being exposed to suicide as an experience—not just a way to end a “Law & Order” episode. I remember all the noise around the show and how it was almost harder to find a person my age who hadn’t watched it rather than some- one who had. Teachers would hush our con- versations and say a show like that shouldn’t be talked about in a place for education.
Winter 2026
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