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LatinosUSA Editors: Barbara Leonhard, J. Ré Crivello, Nolcha Fox, Michelle Ayón Navajas, Francisco Bravo, Robbie Cheadle
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A Short Story

“A Gun Violence Tragedy: RIP John Scully” by Cindy Georgakas

Note: This article has appeared on MasticadoresUSA, and today on LatinosUSA, and will appear in the Spanish edition of Masticadores.com in the coming days. —J. Ré Crivello, founder of Masticadores & LatinosUSA

The following interview Cindy Georgakas had with Maris Shield on the loss of her brother in the 101 California Street shooting 32 years ago is powerful. It reveals a tragedy involving gun violence. Although this tragedy occurred years ago, the issues surrounding gun violence are still unresolved. We must not forget those we have lost to gun violence, which kills nearly 46,000 people in the United States annually. This post is longer than usual. It contains the interview with Maris, the interview video, and Michelle’s story. Michelle and John were newlyweds when he was murdered. We pray for Michelle, Maris, and their families as they still grieve the loss of John. (Barbara Leonhard, Editor)

Image: John and Michelle Scully on their wedding day. Image provided by Michelle Scully Hobus.

Introduction

Maris lived through the tragic nightmare of her brother John Scully being killed in one of the first mass shootings at 101 California Street 32 years ago. He was 28 at the time and newly married in Honolulu to Michelle. They were both young lawyers working at law firms in San Francisco.   On the day of the shooting, Michelle was at John’s firm, Pettit and Martin, using the library, which was one floor below his office.   I listened to the entire news show the day it came out, and it tugged at my heart and brought tears to my eyes. It described how he ran to find her, and they tried to barricade themselves in an office when the shooter spotted them.  Unfortunately, the shooter was able to break through the door, and John shielded Michelle with his body.  When they realized he was dying in her arms, they exchanged their last words.  Nine people were killed in total, and eight others were injured. The shooter took his own life when confronted in the stairwell by police. 

John and Michelle’s Wedding. Photo provided by Maris Shield.
John Scully’s Family. Photo provided by Maris Shield.

Maris and her family were very involved in preventing gun violence in the early years and took many trips to Washington, D.C., to meet with members of Congress.  Sensible laws were passed, such as the Assault Weapons Ban and Universal Background Checks. However, in order to be passed, the laws had expiration dates. When the Assault Weapons ban was up for renewal, a Republican administration and congress was in power, so it was not renewed.  

Today, I have the privilege and honor to have Maris with me to talk about this.  I was reluctant as I didn’t want to stir up old memories of pain. She said she had to armor through this to get things done, so she would be honored to have the opportunity to share her story, his life, her stance on gun violence, and solutions to it. 

Thank you so very much for being here with us today, Maris.  My deepest condolences. Again, Barbara Leonhard, editor at MasticadorersUsa, sends her condolences and looks forward to publishing our interview to help create stricter gun laws. 

Interview

Cindy:

I can’t imagine the devastation you felt losing your brother at the time.  Can you share what that was like for you and your family to lose your brother and how your feelings have changed from when you first heard this to now?  

Maris: We were completely devastated and in shock.  John was the youngest of 7 children born in Hawaii to Niall and Pegi Scully. No parent should have to experience the loss of a child to senseless gun violence.  I was pregnant with my second child, Darrah, who was born 2 weeks after his death.  I was completely numb to the world and barely made it to the hospital in time because I did not know I was in labor.   There was a long period of shock and grieving for our family, with large memorials held in San Francisco and Oahu.   One way to process grief was through action, and there was lots going on at the time to get involved with violence prevention and sensible gun laws.  

Cindy: I imagine you had to bury some of your feelings to carry on and be such a huge agent of change. Can you tell us more about that?

Maris: You learn to bury your feelings so that you do not have a complete meltdown every time you hear a song or talk to someone in private or public about gun violence prevention.   Out of this tragedy, the Legal Community Against Gun Violence was formed by San Francisco lawyers who were impacted by the 101 California Street shooting.   We help this organization in its effort to develop sensible gun laws.  We also went to Washington, D.C., to help Senator Diane Feinstein and other legislators lobby for the Assault Weapons Ban.

Cindy: You were sympathetic to my fear for you when you were with your child and saw someone come across the street carrying a gun when you were in a restaurant in central Valley a few years after your brother was a victim of gun violence. Can you say more about that?

Maris: You said, “in a civil society there is no reason to be walking around openly carrying a gun or for the general public to have assault weapons and that there are far too many victims of gun violence and the number of shootings in the USA, where it is easy to have access to guns, is exponentially higher than in countries with sensible gun laws.”  You went on to say, “Sure, there will be violent people in society, but it is much harder to kill someone with a knife,” which I agree with.

Cindy: I’m not sure you know this, but my cousin had just had a baby at 20 and was outside his very nice home in San Jose, California. A gang kept coming by his house and stealing parts of his car. He had called the police many times, but nothing had been resolved. He was a strapping, muscular 6’4’’ young man. When he finally went outside and tried to stop them, he was stabbed in his heart by an 11-year-old boy and killed instantly. 

Please tell us about the Giffords Law Center, formed by Gabby Gifford, a U.S. Representative from Arizona who was shot in Jan 2011 while holding a public event in Arizona on gun safety.  

It’s shocking that 46,000 people die from gun violence every year, and yet we still haven’t been able to end this senseless crime. 

Can you share more about what they are doing?

Maris: It started as the Legal Community Against Gun Violence in San Francisco in the aftermath of the 101 California mass shooting that killed my brother.  My family was very involved in the early years and took many trips to Washington, D.C., to meet with members of Congress. Sensible laws were passed, such as the Assault Weapons Ban and Universal Background Checks, but to get them passed, they included expiration dates. When the Assault Weapons Ban was up for renewal, a Republican administration and congress was in power, so it was not renewed. 

Over time, as the number of mass shootings increased and was impacting schools, the name was changed to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence to encompass all who were fighting for sensible gun laws. 

A U.S. Representative from Arizona, Gabby Giffords, was shot in January 2011 while holding a public event in Arizona.  A few years after she recovered from a shot to the head, she became very involved in gun violence prevention, and the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence merged with Gabby Gifford’s organization, GIFFORDS. 

More information about these nonprofits working to prevent gun violence and enact sensible gun safety laws can be found on Wikipedia. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giffords_Law_Center_to_Prevent_Gun_Violence

Cindy: I see the most resistance from people who are confused by the Second Amendment, which states that the U.S. Constitution protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms, and that a well-regulated militia is necessary to the security of a free state.  There seems to be confusion here to me because this can be true, and yet we need to end assault weapons that take out the masses. 

Please tell me your thoughts on this.

Maris: The interpretation of 2nd Amendment in the courts has changed over time.  The argument that “A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state” has held up in court in the past.  I don’t know when the interpretation changed, but I still feel strongly that there is no need for assault weapons or any other firearm on our streets.   A safely secured hunting rifle, with proper training, is no problem for hunters.   As is the training and use of firearms for the military.  I do not think guns should be freely available for the general public, especially for convicted criminals or people with diagnosed mental illnesses. 

Cindy: What is being done about this, and how can we help get involved?  

Maris: The best resource for learning about sensible gun laws is through the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.   A link to their website: https://giffords.org/about/

Cindy: What is your feeling about training teachers to defend themselves with guns in a classroom? 

Maris: Guns should not be in our classrooms.  We need to focus on ways to keep schools secure and prevent guns from getting on campuses.

Cindy: Is there anything else you want to share with us today?

Maris: Find ways to get involved in violence prevention.

Cindy:   One last thing:  Although so many of us want peace and do whatever we can, we feel hopeless in the same way we do with gun laws.  Do you think it is possible we’ll ever truly get the laws we need to support this? And how do you live with this loss when there is so much ignorance and devastation after having lived through this?

Maris: It is very hard to see others have to go through the same suffering we did 32 years ago.  You would have thought that after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, there would have been a reckoning and people would finally come together to pass legislation to support an environment where people can be safe at school, at work, and in their homes. 

Cindy: Thank you truly for taking the time to meet with me, for opening your heart, for sharing your experience and expertise, and for all you have done to help end gun violence.  Again, I am so sorry about the loss of your brother and SIL. 

Copyright © 2026 Cindy Georgakas
All Rights Reserved

YouTube Video of the Interview

Image Provided:

John and Michelle Scully on their wedding day. Image provided by Michelle Scully Hobus.

The Intimacy of Translation: Catalina Infante and Michelle Mirabella in Conversation on The Cracks We Bear

atalina Infante Beovic & Michelle Mirabella

Following over five years of collaboration between writer Catalina Infante and translator Michelle Mirabella, which began with the translation of the story “Ferns,” published in World Literature Today, Infante’s 2023 novel La grieta, now The Cracks We Bear, is out from World Editions in Mirabella’s translation. What follows is a conversation between Infante and Mirabella about the unique bond between writer and translator and this literary milestone of their English-language book-length debut.

Michelle Mirabella: “Perhaps there’s a word for it in another language, a grouping of letters whose sound can hold such emptiness.” Reading that sentence in the first chapter of your debut novel, La grieta, led me to think about how the act of writing is a way of translating the self. What has it been like to see yourself translated twice: first in your own words and then in mine?

Catalina Infante: I was actually just invited to participate in a panel alongside other Chilean women authors called “Writing the Emptiness,” and I was left thinking about that idea or question. I think the initial seed for writing this novel is precisely the quote you shared: how can I find a way to write about the emptiness left by the death of a mother? How can I find a way to write about the grief women go through during postpartum or “puerperium.” And the most difficult: how can I find a way to connect those two emotions? I had to write an entire fictional work to even get close to an idea of a definition. In that way I translated myself; I put into words something I felt running through me. Now that I think about it, I passed the baton to you so you could continue down that path… To answer your question: writing this novel was wonderful for me; I was able to recount and explain to myself many things from my own story that I hadn’t resolved. What was it like for you to read and translate this novel, considering how it also coincided with your own motherhood?

M.M.: The novel accompanied me throughout the entire process of becoming a mother, the highs and lows, and I felt like we shared a certain mutual understanding, the novel and I: the novel gave me insight into new motherhood while my new motherhood left its mark on my translation of the work. When I read it for the first time my body had never been pregnant before, so I spent that first reading reflecting on how I would approach translating a first-time mother’s body and state of mind. I did my research and asked questions to understand the both physical and emotional transition beyond your words on the page. I recall texting my friends questions such as “when your breasts are full of milk, give me adjectives to describe the sensation.” And when my daughter arrived, I had the opportunity to reread the novel and revise the translation from my new body and state of mind and leave something of my own motherhood in its English-language version. Throughout my revision process I always send you questions, and I feel we’ve come to trust one another greatly. What has the experience been for you, in these five years of collaboration and friendship, to entrust your work to another?

Read more LALT

You can send your collaborations, there are still free spaces at. (fleminglabwork@gmail.com)

Reviews / Books recommended by Masticadores

Masticadores —To day —in spanish

Epicentre South Africa

Editor: Robbie Cheadle

Poetry

Editors: Michelle Ayón Navajas, Francisco Bravo Cabrera, J. Re Crivello

Bookshelf (Poetry, Book News, Articles)

Editors: Nolcha Fox & Barbara Leonhard

Little Chews
Editor: Nolcha Fox
Essay
Hotel: «Hotel of the Broken Hearts»

Editor: Michelle Ayón Navajas


«Double Helix Strands of Love in Secrecy» by Karlyn Miraflor

______

«Double Helix Strands of Love in Secrecy» by Karlyn Miraflor

At the beginning, it was just a play of lovers on silver screen.
Unparalleled to others
We carry insane emotional spark they don’t have.
Averting gaze to stop this feeling from coming over

Exploring science for in depth interpretation
I traverse with fervid thoughts of us.
The possibilities of love that «I» only might feel not.
Your eyes on me relay messages only I can grasp

An opposing motion of «push and pull.»
Unsolicited directional romance
Thrives gradually into something more
Assuming it wasn’t just «me» all along.


Author’s Bio

Karlyn Grace Miraflor is a special education teacher from the Philippines who aims to inspire and touch people’s lives through words that can either struck their hearts or motivate them in daily life.

Reed More: HotelMasticadores (Read blog)

Daily Update from Chewers & MasticadoresUSA
Gobblers / Interviews
MasticadoresCanada Editor: Ray Whitaker (Daily Update)

LatinosUSA

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Masticadores.com and masticadoresdeLetras belong to the NGO Masticadores. We promote culture and communication. We publish in eight languages ​​(Spanish, English, Portuguese, Tagalog, Romanian, Italian, French and Catalan). And we publish in twelve countries (France, Italy, Brazil, USA, Mexico, Argentina, India, Taiwan, France, Turkey, Uruguay, Philippines. On 22 blogs. With 24 editors, and 450 writers.

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The images, art or illustrations we use to accompany some of the features on the site are either original works provided by the author to Masticadores for the purpose of illustrating a feature or are pulled from Unsplash or Flickr, or Pinterest, using the «commercial use allowed» filter. Unless the cover author created the illustration, we also provide attribution. Please contact us if you have any concerns about any of the illustrations.

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