Six years ago, Jason survived an attempt to kill himself.

He shared his experience on Facebook in an effort to help anyone else who might be silently suffering.

"I won't bother you with what happened Jan. 7, 2017, that led me to wash down 13 (or maybe it was 14) pills with a Budweiser tallboy," wrote Jason (last name withheld). "I had reached a destination I was headed toward for more than three decades. Since my freshman year in high school, I often believed death served as the only antidote for the pain I felt."

Soon after his attempt, he checked himself into a behavioral health hospital where he stayed for 10 days. There, he got a diagnosis, medication and therapy to begin to manage his condition. Even though he had supportive friends, co-workers and family who cared about him, Jason said he felt too embarrassed, sad and lost to ask for help.

Jason, now 52, reflected on what might have helped him when he was in crisis.

"It's hard for me to know for certain if there could have been any magical words that would have convinced me to seek help or to feel heard and loved, but looking back, I believe if someone I trusted had said, 'Jason, I know something is wrong. Your behavior isn't normal. How can I help?' I might have felt accepted and cared for and more inclined to open up," he said.

Advocates who work in suicide prevention say being aware of potential warning signs of suicide can be lifesaving, along with being present for those who might be having suicidal thoughts.

Research shows that rates of suicidal behavior have increased disproportionately among young people of color over the last few decades. Rates are highest among Black Americans 25 to 34 years of age, predominantly affecting young men. Black girls have the highest rates of suicide attempts, and young Black children between 5 and 12 have almost twice the suicide rate of their white counterparts.

The majority of people who die from suicide exhibit some signs beforehand. Whitney Boyer Shumway, president of the board of directors for the Missouri chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, is also a suicide attempt survivor. She says to watch for cues like out-of-character behavior or significant changes in a person's mood. They may even say phrases like: "It's so pointless," "I wish I could go to bed and not wake up anymore" or "I hate my life."

One way to start a conversation is by noting specific changes in the person's behavior or mood, saying you are concerned and that you want to help. It's critical to be nonjudgmental and to ask directly if the person has had thoughts of hurting themselves, Shumway said.

If the answer is yes, ask if they have a plan.

"The goal is to keep them safe for now and connect them with resources to keep them safe (going forward)," she said. "Ultimately, you're only going to be able to provide that immediate assistance, like first aid. Your goal is to get them help."

Keeping a person safe in the short term may involve removing any lethal means to which they have access. If they have access to a gun, for example, consider asking: "Would you be OK with me holding on to that firearm to keep you safe for now?" You can also ask if the gun can be locked in a safe, with the key provided to you temporarily, or if a gun lock can be placed on the firearm itself.

It's also helpful to ask if the person has a friend or family member who can stay the night with them, or a place they can stay with others if they live alone.

As important as what you say is knowing what not to say:

-- Avoid trying to "fix it" if someone is sharing feelings of suicidal ideation.

-- Avoid debating the value of life or minimizing the person's feelings or problems.

-- Avoid passing judgment on a person's feelings.

"Individuals (who are suicidal) are experiencing intense tunnel vision," Shumway said. "Their logical mind is not processing or thinking of another way out of the pain they are enduring."

Tom (last name withheld), 45, has struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal thoughts since he was a teenager. He's tried exercise, meditation, medicine and therapy to keep those thoughts at bay. In his darkest moments, he describes feeling like a balloon that might float away. At those times, it's helpful when close friends ask how they can help and tell him that they care.

"It shows you that there's a person in your life who is trying to ground you to the here and now instead of letting you float away," he said.

Conversations that shift him away from the temptation to die are also helpful.

Being empathetic, supportive and present -- without freaking out -- makes a difference, he said.

Jason shared similar sentiments and encouraged others to talk to their children, especially teens and young adults, about their emotions.

"The more open you are about feelings and emotions -- both yours and theirs -- the more comfortable they will be," he wrote.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call 988 to be connected to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or 911 if a person is in immediate danger.

The College Board kicked off Black History Month by stripping Black history of ideas that might upset its conservative white customers.

For those who have read and studied American history, this move is appalling but unsurprising.

The College Board, which had introduced a new Advanced Placement course in African American Studies, cut seminal Black scholars and writers from the curriculum, including Kimberle W. Crenshaw, Roderick Ferguson, Ta-Nehisi Coates and bell hooks. The move came after Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis vowed to ban the course, although College Board officials say they had planned to expunge these “dense” secondary sources before the governor’s threat. The College Board also eliminated contemporary topics central to the debates about the Black experience in America, such as the Black Lives Matter movement and mass incarceration.

It would be interesting to see how many of the people up in arms about Crenshaw and Coates and critical race theory have ever read any of the aforementioned writers or texts.

When I taught a college writing course a couple of years ago, a legal essay by Crenshaw, a law professor at Columbia University, was part of the curriculum. In a paper published in 1989, Crenshaw describes how race, class and gender overlap with how individuals experience the world. One of the legal examples she cites is DeGraffenreid v. General Motors, a 1976 case in which five Black women sued General Motors over its seniority policy. The company did not hire Black women before 1964. So, when the company laid off workers using a seniority-based policy in the early 1970s, all the Black women hired after 1964 were laid off. Crenshaw points out that a policy like that didn’t fall under just gender or just race discrimination -- white women and Black men fared differently under this same policy. At the time, Crenshaw highlighted a shortcoming in discrimination law.

Thirty years later, this argument seems obvious and uncontroversial. But discussing the legal reasoning and arguments gave my students a way to engage with contemporary issues and debates. And yes, legal writing is often “dense” and challenging. Grappling with difficult texts is part of learning how to think critically and engage in these debates.

So perhaps it’s not the content itself, but the connections that students might make that are threatening to certain political interests. For example, the same governor who wanted to ban this course held a press conference before the midterms last fall praising police for arresting 20 Floridians, some at gunpoint, for allegedly casting a ballot when they were ineligible to vote. Fourteen of those arrested were Black. When four white residents of the Republican-leaning retirement community The Villages were later arrested for voting twice, there were not heavily armed police dragging them out of bed in their underwear.

In fact, two residents of The Villages who pleaded guilty were only required to take a 24-hour civics class in order to avoid having any criminal record. A New York Times review of 400 voting fraud charges filed nationally found that “those who are poor and Black are more likely to be sent to jail than comfortable retirees facing similar charges.”

From that perspective, it makes sense that the Florida governor would want Crenshaw’s ideas banned in the state’s schools and colleges.

A reader who wrote to me in defense of DeSantis suggested that the course segments in question were “too one-sided and so controversial as to not represent Black history.” The ideas of scholars are never presented in a vacuum as incontrovertible truth. They are an invitation for evaluation and debate. These writers, in particular, provide a way to think about how Black history influences the present-day Black experience in America.

The writer’s next sentence revealed his own agenda. The original course “included topics that were teaching how to think about race, not factual Black history,” he said.

It’s intellectually dishonest to teach Black history without thinking about race in this country. It’s a difficult topic that makes us confront the complex reasons that so many racial disparities persist long after slavery, Jim Crow and segregation.

Crenshaw and Coates are not the boogeymen these cultural warriors would like you to believe. Instead of letting politicians tell you what you are allowed to read or think, find out for yourself what they are so scared of.

Pick up a book by a banned Black writer and read.

I recently spent more on a single dental cleaning than I've spent on my oral health for at least a decade.

The teeth that got professionally scrubbed belong to my dog.

Frankie's teeth looked great to me, but he'd never had them cleaned by the vet. He's approaching 5 years old, so I figured it was wise to get them checked out.

Given that I am a first-time dog owner, I based this decision on the poster in our vet's examination room that showed the various stages of periodontal disease and its effect on a dog's health. The vet agreed that it was a good idea.

I was a little apprehensive that the cleaning required general anesthesia, but Frankie is 16 pounds of fluffy stubbornness, and I'm sure sedation was necessary. The receptionist asked if I wanted the optional IV fluids during the procedure. It can prevent dehydration, which is more of a risk in older dogs, she said. I decided to spring for the fluids, even though Frankie is still fairly young.

I gave him a pep talk before I dropped him off: Be good and be brave, I said.

Maybe I was talking more to myself than him.

Four hours later, I called to see how Frankie was doing. The receptionist said that he had done great, and casually added that the vet had to do two simple extractions during the cleaning.

This did not seem like casual information to me. Apparently, two of his bottom front teeth were loose, so the vet removed them. I remember feeling the same way when my kids were small and the dentist reported that one of them had a cavity. It's a combination of guilt and shame: How did I cause this and why hadn't I noticed a problem?

Other than a less-toothy grin, Frankie seemed to be doing fine when I picked him up. They had shaved the lower part of his front right leg where the IV was inserted. The cleaning -- including fluids, two extractions and preventative antibiotics -- came to $517. At home, I noticed Frankie licking his shaved leg quite a bit. The next day the area looked red and a little raw. It was the weekend, so we went to our neighborhood pet store. I shelled out $18 for a bandage wrap and an antibiotic spray.

By Monday, his skin looked worse, so we went back to the vet. She prescribed a different spray, plus gabapentin (to make him drowsy and less interested in licking) and an anti-inflammatory medicine. Total: another $50.

She reapplied a bandage and suggested he might need a cone. By the time we got home, Frankie had ripped off the bandage. We went back to the pet store, where I dropped $23 on an inflatable neck pillow.

Frankie has never acted very bright when I've tried to train him to follow commands. It turns out he's not as dumb as he acts. He propped up his leg on his bed so he could continue licking it despite the neck pillow. The medicine finally kicked in enough to make him drowsy, and he only wanted to sleep in my lap.

This is when I turned to the internet for help. I checked the Facebook page for owners of this same breed and searched for dental cleanings. Several hours later, I was more confused than ever.

Frankie refused to tolerate the wrap on his leg. That night, I woke up a few times to the sound of him licking it despite the neck pillow. At 5 a.m., he came over and sat right next to my bed, staring at my face and whimpering until I took his neck pillow off.

I tried wrapping his leg again, using a larger nonstick gauze pad underneath. Within 15 minutes, he'd pulled the gauze out and torn it to bits. I decided to try a CBD "all day" calming bone (another $18) to take his mind off the obsessive licking. He finished it in 10 minutes. For those keeping track, the cleaning and subsequent issues have cost $626 to this point, plus six nights of sleep.

His skin is looking better, but he still starts licking when I take the neck pillow off.

The constant caretaking, coddling and worrying this past week took me back to when the kids would get sick as toddlers. They are on the cusp of young adulthood now. They don't let me fuss over them anymore.

Over the years, their perfect smiles also cost a small fortune.

At least Frankie will never get braces.