Parkland - Dave Cullen Page 0,118

in this book comes from my own reporting, following the MFOL kids around the country and meeting and interviewing hundreds of people who interacted with them. I first made contact by phone on Sunday, February 18, when David put me on speakerphone with the entire group. I arrived in Parkland the following day. I stayed in regular contact until we finished fact-checking this book in mid-December. I spoke to nearly everyone in the group at some point, but I focused on a manageable number, and spent the most time with Jackie Corin, David and Lauren Hogg, Cameron Kasky, Matt Deitsch, Alfonso Calderon, Daniel Duff, and Dylan Baierlein.

I did several formal interviews with all those students and with many others, but more often my interactions were brief, informal exchanges in the field, or checking in by text. I visited several kids in their homes, and got to know some of their parents. I also followed them on social media, and in the traditional media, observing how they interacted with people there. Cameron and Alfonso liked doing late-night Instagram Live chats, which are always fun—and I’m happy to report they’re exactly the same there as in person. Wherever the MFOL kids traveled, I tried to talk to as many people who were interacting with them as possible, including fellow Douglas students, youth activists, teachers, coaches, clergy members, mental health workers, survivors of other tragedies, academics, and political professionals. It’s all about hearing multiple perspectives, and I tried to cast as wide a net as possible.

Most quotes from the kids are from my interactions with them—or occasionally from statements they made at events I attended. Exceptions are noted here, with brief citations for readability, and the full details are given in the bibliography. The main exception is Emma. She grew concerned very early that she was becoming the face of the movement, and she was determined to share the spotlight. She rarely did substantial interviews after that and never agreed to an in-depth interview with me. I observed her in person on well over a dozen occasions, and I got an occasional question, as well as recordings of her speaking to individuals and groups. The longest interview I got with her was about five minutes with a few other reporters in the media tent the morning of the DC march. Of course, I got stories and impressions from everyone in her orbit constantly. So I developed a good feel for her, but I had to rely on published sources for a lot of her quotes.

I could not be everywhere, and I wouldn’t want to rely on my own impressions alone. So I am indebted to a great number of wonderful journalists whose work I relied on to fill in many pieces. They added so much more than details and quotes. I learned a great deal in the field just by comparing notes and impressions with smart reporters also immersed in this story, and by discovering fresh insights from reading their work. I want to call out two journalists in particular: Lisa Miller at New York magazine and Emily Witt at the New Yorker did deep dives into this story, and their work was invaluable.

A few words on quotes and thoughts. I adhere to standard journalistic practices: everything in quotation marks was either (a) heard by me, (b) published by a reputable source, or (c) recorded on TV or other media. (I watched all the TV passages cited, but I often relied on published transcripts. However, the punctuation of spoken speech is subjective, and I frequently changed some odd transcript choices. I tried to preserve language the way the speaker delivered it. I also corrected mistakes in the wording, which is why online transcripts may vary slightly from what you see here.)

I recorded most of my conversations on my iPhone, an e-recorder, and a notepad, typically all three. (I get nothing from Sony, but if you’re looking, I’ve been very happy with the Sony ICDUX560BLK.) Everywhere I went, I took photos and videos on my phone (a few thousand total), which allowed me to re-create the visuals with precision later. I edited quotes for length without inserting ellipses, and made minor edits for grammar and readability—obviously taking care to preserve (and clarify) the intended meaning. (For example, when someone used a pronoun to refer back to a name used earlier, I’ve substituted the name without adding brackets. I’ve also generally eliminated stumbles, midsentence backtracks, and so forth.) Whenever I say a person thought something,