For my final project in English class, I had to create a portfolio of several pieces of writing relating to a topic.
I chose depression, specifically that of teenagers.
I basically took the contents of this blog, rewrote them into the third person, changed everyone's names, and stuck it in Arizona. In this alternate universe, my name is Allie. I also threw in a brochure about depression symptoms for good measure.
I got an A. First time all semester.
My teacher attached a note. To paraphrase: why haven't you done this sort of work all semester, blah, blah, blah.
And then there was this:
While the quality of writing here is exceptional, teen depression is not really
a school-appropriate topic.
I want to kick him. Because depression apparently doesn't exist outside of the realm of fiction, you know.
Lol. What is a school appropriate topic? Butterflies and rainbows?
ReplyDeleteMy drama teacher had us all write out a play involving a school massicre. He tried to 'inspire us' by having one of the students pretend to hold the class hostage, but nobody fell for it. Then he was shocked when we all wrote rather dark pieces.
Argh. Apparently little has changed in the time since I was in school, at least when it comes to the discussion of certain subjects. Hush it up. Don't talk about it, then we don't have to think about it.
ReplyDeleteI mean, from what I understand, only the teacher was going to read this, so it's not like you were going to be influencing the whole school with your "radical ideas"
Glad to see you about. Hope your feeling better.
@ themadandwild-
ReplyDeleteIt's post Columbine (I think, not really sure about your age) and we've had many more major school shootings since I can remember. What did the teacher expect?
@Vaugn-
Yeah, I thought teachers were adults, too.
Themadandwild took the words out of my mouth. I'm frickin shocked he'd say that tbh. You're at ordinary public school, right?
ReplyDeleteIf you can call public schools "ordinary," yes, I am.
ReplyDeleteBut does that mean free speech/press/opinion? No, not really.
I've only had 11 years to figure this out.