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........THE
FAMILIAR Vol 1, Iss 2..............................................................................................................................
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BEHIND
THE SCENES OF AN EMOTION LITERACY E-ZINE MISSION
STATEMENT THE FAMILIAR VOL. 1 ISS. 2. Missed an issue of the familiar? Click here to browse through our entire back-issue archive! |
us damn kids We have a substitute teacher in Language Arts today. She's afraid of us and is trying to hide it by being a bitch. She's carrying her purse every time she, like, walks across the room- I think she's afraid someone will steal it. Crazy how people start out with misconceptions. I bet she came to this school clutching a can of mace, watching her back, acting mean so we don’t mess with her. But we're inner-city teenagers. We can smell her fear, see it in her hunching distance from us. We come close and she stiffens, tries to appear scary, like a dog baring its teeth with its tail between its legs. She barks like a Doberman but is reduced to a yipping terrier as we laugh. It would be pathetic if it wasn't funny. We don't take it personally anymore- we're used to it. We are "dangerous" according to the adult society that gave birth to us and we are reminded of it every second with the negative publicity our generation gets daily- and the huge lack of any positive news to counteract it. We may hurt each other- sometimes kill each other, and this is a problem that is not to be taken lightly, but we do a lot of good as well. We teach our younger neighbors to read, help our friends through hard times. We volunteer our time and donate our money. We work hard at low paying jobs, play hard in school and community sports, study hard at grossly under-funded schools. We have learned to rise above the unfortunate circumstances which are put before us. But all the good we do gets lost in the bad. Not to make light of it, but there were two people responsible for Columbine, out of the millions of good- doing teens. The people who questioned the focus on those two as opposed to focusing on the lives of those who had been unjustly killed were right on. Some things may go wrong, but without focus on what is right, with no reward for good doers, there is no hope for change other than our own guilty consciences. We get our "lack of morals" shoved down our throats. We are not bad, but we still have been told otherwise. But we still know the truth- give us a chance and we'll show you. We know how it really is and we can do anything you can do- usually better. Click "Next Piece" to read an epilogue by this author.
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Familiar encourages you to explore your own use of language as a key |