english journal 8 (1/08) the gunnery washington, connecticut

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The Collected Frustrations of the Adolescent MindMy BoxBy ELLEN DALIGHLAHGive me some space. Jeez. I’m being closed in a box. Just let me have my space. I needmy space. Really. Look, I’m just trying to move. Just trying to move. Not a lot, just a little bit.Why do you need to close in on me? I cannot think in small spaces. I cannot function as ahuman being if you don’t let me breathe. Sometimes, I feel like I just want to jump and shoutand laugh and escape from my box. Break the rules. I don’t care what people think of me. Theycan judge me all they want. They think they know it all, that they have the ability or the nobilityto judge everyone. They are chosen right? Ha. I try not to judge people. But sometimes I can’thelp it. But at least I don’t go around; judging people like it’s my job. People seem to judge mewhen I act impulsive. And you know what? Impulsivity has got itself kind of a bad reputationand it’s not that bad, really. If I want to jump around, flailing my arms because I feel like it thenlet me. Don’t walk around, all high and mighty, like you know me and have the right to judgeme. Let me be honest, okay? We all do impulsive things. Okay? Don’t think that you don’t doimpulsive things. When you feel sad, don’t you just want to dance around and be as loud as youwant? And you know what? I think it’s pretty impulsive when a man beats his wife. So there,I’m judging you. You like it? I don’t know. I’m just kinda confusedThe Insanity of Homo sapiensBy F. CALDWELLThe very existence of a flame thrower says that at some point in time, someone said tothemselves, “I want to set those people on fire, but I’m just not close enough to get the jobdone.” Many other “innovations” show the same thing, that someone had an idea thateventually led to a weapon. And not just weapons. Other things too, milk, for example.Someone decided, possibly out of the blue, to take the product that comes out of a cow’sunderside. I suppose that sounds a tad uneducated. What I’m trying to say is that we as a racehave the ability to come up ersatz ideas that don’t communicate “sanity” to other people, withall due respect.To be honest with you, I think that the human race is kind of messed up. I say that in acompletely analytical view. Everyday, more and more people die, and I just sit here. I read the“Wall Street Journal,” yesterday. On page one, a headline read, “New Innovative Mustard BombBeing Used on Troops in Iraq; First Usage Kills 45 People.” That doesn’t make even a little bit ofsense. How could it. But, there are a few things that still make sense to me. Music, love, I guess.I don’t really know. I guess you could say that my “worldview” isn’t broad enough yet. I mean,I’m only 13.English Journal 8 (January 2008) 67
God’s MistakeBy KARRENI step on the scale, and there is a number that’s can’t possibly make sense. Noway. I mean, why would I be that weight? I’m the best student in my class; everybody is mybest friend, why would God forget about one thing? Just one thing! 134. That can’t be right. Noway. I won’t believe it. Look at me. I have the same pant size as all the other girls in class. Butmy thigh just bulges out a little bit here. And there. It just doesn’t make any sense. I tried tostop eating one time, but I had to go to the hospital when I fainted. They fed me though a tube.Then, I tried dieting and exercising, but I just couldn’t keep it up! It is really harder than itsounds. My metabolism is probably just gonna keep slowing down, I’m gonna keep gettingfatter and fatter, until I am nothing but a blob, being suffocated by my own body weight. Whata wonderful future waits for me.Have you ever seen one of those movies? You know, where girl wants guy, andthe girl is all nice and pretty and they get married? I just want to be one of those girls. I want tobe able to walk around, not constantly pulling my pants up to hide my stomach, and choosingthe same clothes to wear every day, because I don’t look that fat in them. God made a mistake.I’m almost perfect. And that is not vanity.ConformityBy JAMES CAULDINI will not assume the mentality of a duck! Or a sheep; or some other kind of farmanimal! I don’t know who to listen to. Do you want me to buy an Abercrombie shirt or not? Doyou want me to be part of the ‘loop’? It feels like my mentality has multiplied itself and keepsshouting at me. I don’t know what to think.One of the voices says “conform.” He wants me to “go with the flow,” and “play itcool.”[i] The world is trying to create a set of robots that eat at McDonalds, wear whatevercommercials say is ‘hot’ and where we all listen to Ipods and walk around, having no sense ofperception whatsoever. Its crazy. Well, I will not be one of the robots, I will just do the oppositeof whatever society tells me to do, and I will always stand up for being right. But, nowadays, itseems like the only way to be “honorable” is to keep my mouth shut. I hope we as a societyhaven’t been degraded ourselves that far just yet.One of my favorite Pink Floyd lyric says “Welcome my son, welcome to themachine.What did you dream? Its alright we told you what to dream.” Well you know what. Themachine hasn’t gotten my dreams yet. Not yet anyway.English Journal 8 (January 2008) 68
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english journal 8 (1/08)the gunnery
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Nathan Moy, Polyphemus’s Distress
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I’ve tried day in and day out to
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The murderer was...The murderer was
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Clouds are dark…Clouds are dark a
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Subway race trackUgh…it’s been
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DC savvyColor my TV screen becauseI
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SubwayI am aloneIn the subwayNo one
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My FutureFast paced and action pack
Page 19 and 20: WARNING: This theme is written from
Page 21 and 22: powers of saltpeter to fire round r
Page 23 and 24: esponsibilities or expectations. Th
Page 25 and 26: said water onto yourself and wash w
Page 27 and 28: covered in fresh fish and eels, fre
Page 29 and 30: All the magic of the star gives the
Page 31: Just Do ItFlying down the iceTwo mi
Page 34 and 35: You sneaky little humans clung on m
Page 36 and 37: “I’ve always loved…”I’ve
Page 38 and 39: If I could think of you waiting, st
Page 40 and 41: Just A Poet.It’s not enough to fi
Page 42 and 43: WednesdaySitting in my window I sta
Page 44 and 45: Sitting in the librarySitting in th
Page 46 and 47: Epic Haiku SeriesGet up too earlyHa
Page 48 and 49: Out of box thinkingKeeps me from fa
Page 50 and 51: Applying to schoolJust does not see
Page 52 and 53: RishikeshWe piled onto a creaky old
Page 54 and 55: into the jungle behind us. After an
Page 56 and 57: ConformityA man with his lunch pail
Page 58 and 59: What is RealThe man with silver hai
Page 60 and 61: The One That Got AwayThe woman sitt
Page 62 and 63: The sorcerer looked at the man and
Page 64 and 65: As the sorcerer reached the back of
Page 66 and 67: “I’m called the Mage Knight. Th
Page 68 and 69: like a kid on cross countryshe keep
Page 72 and 73: Will You Marry Me?By MARY DOOLINPeo
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Page 76 and 77: The boy stayed at the doctor’s pl
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