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Taught to Read
When I was four and just starting preschool, my brother decided to take on the responsibility of reading to me every afternoon. We went through all the classics: Captain Underpants, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and anything else with pictures and short words. -
The Shared Diary
When I was eight and in the third grade, my sister brought me a small journal. We created rules: we would both write in it, with our own separate entries, but we would have the decency to not read the other's work. I was the only one to stick to this rule. -
Fishsticks
During the summer going into the fourth grade, I decided that I was going to write a book. The book was going to be about baseball (a sport I know nothing about) and was going to be called Fish-sticks (a food I hate.) Unfortunately after months of hard work, I lost it all and forgot about it. -
Writer's Day Out
In the fourth grade I was chosen by my teacher to participate in a "writer's day out," where myself and some other kids boarded a bus to Morehead and wrote. It was extremely cool, but I haven't done it since. -
Future Problem Solving
In the fifth grade I was on the CES academic team, and was the "writer," for the future problem solving team. We placed first every time. -
The N Word
I was eleven years old whenever I was first called "the N word." It was after school in the BCMS gym, and I was called the word by someone who I'd considered a friend. They had claimed that it was done "teasingly," but it wasn't. -
Coming Out
The first time I told someone I liked girls was in Mrs Flannery's seventh/eighth period math class. It was in the seventh grade and I told Jonathon B. because his sister is a lesbian. -
Seeing My First Art Exhibit
Near the end of the eighth grade, Mr. Whitt took the TAG students to the Folk Art Center where we saw Joe Sartor's exhibit. He does these surrealistic landscapes and they're sick. That made me think that I wanna do that some day. -
The Hate U Give
I saw a description of the book "The Hate U Give," on the internet, and then I saw it at the 2017 fall book fair, and bought it immediately. It was the book that made me think more about what it means to be African-American. -
My Experience with a Kinda Creepy Guy
I met a guy last year who hit on me all this summer and when I told him I was gay he got salty.
