The New York Times Magazine, Sunday, August 22 - Unauthorized ...

The Outsiders
Andrew ventures, "Not to be mean to J., but that's plain old stupid."
Even Tyler, who tried to defend what was left of J.'s eroding reputation, admits:
"That was the stupidest thing I ever heard of. I don't even know why I tried to
protect that kid."
Drugs -- at least temporarily -- blur the social lines. Boys and girls from different
groups get high together; says George: "Polar opposites -- they are bound
together by drugs." James Key-Wallace, a 1999 graduate, attributes the social
leveling to limited distribution: "The drugs come from the same half-dozen
sources. You're going to come in contact on grounds that demand respect." Says
Hayden Draper, who also just graduated: "Popular kids do drugs. Unpopular kids
do drugs. Everyone has their own place to get high." J., however, was all alone.
Since Columbine, the Safe School Committee at ConVal has undergone a
renaissance. The Peterborough police have stationed an officer at the entrance.
But many of the students believe that a shooting spree like that of Klebold and
Harris's could happen anywhere. Says Toffer: "It certainly didn't happen because
of the lack of a safe-school committee. Their problem was, they weren't
accepted, and they weren't going to be accepted, and that's the way that our
society is. There are always people that are going to be cast out and people that
are cast in."
Colleen, George's ex, a slim girl with short straight hair and an easy smile, grew
up down the street from J. He's generally annoying, she says. He used to sing
Christmas carols on the bus in June, but he is not cruel. Everyone, she says, has
their days. What J. hates is people talking down to him, so she takes care not to
do that. She feels the same way when people talk down to her because she is a
girl. "There are times I can talk to him about things, without it being weird and
without him being a pervert," she says. It's all relative. When you are close to the
bottom, there's not much room left to fit. She recalls J. at his happiest during a
class he described to her, in the high school's on-site preschool, how content he
felt playing among the little kids.
Table of Contents
August 22, 1999
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