The recent suicide of WSU quarterback Tyler Hilinski hit me harder than most news stories. I don’t know the circumstances that led up to his death or the state of his mental health, but it made me reflect on the millions of Americans, especially those in my own millennial generation, who suffer from depression and anxiety.

SpoFi is the brainchild of Ron Hauenstein, who felt called to form the initiative two years ago when a group of pastors and leaders gathered to address some of the biggest issues facing Spokane. In almost unanimous agreement, they all said fatherlessness is one of, if not the biggest issue in Spokane.

If no one else will, I will lead the crusade to recapture and rebrand failure into something that can be positive and transformative.

And to be blunt, I find the call by Hollywood to protect women or anyone from sexual abuse and assault a bit late and a lot hypocritical. It’s a bit hard to swallow the “Time’s Up” from an industry that lauds and adulates the works of men like Woody Allen and Roman Polanski, wines and dines with men like Harvey Weinstein, and gives a lifetime achievement award to 101 year-old actor Kirk Douglas, who has long been rumored of having raped actress Natalie Wood when she was a teenager.

Jan. 2, marked the end of an era for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The president of our church, Thomas S. Monson, the man millions of Mormons consider to be a prophet of God, passed away due to health issues incidental to his age.

I beginning to think either I’m getting old, or that I’ve been living under a rock, but apparently I missed the obituary for the age-old adage, “We need to disagree without being disagreeable.”