Due this week

5. Haunted. Have you ever been in a house where things go bump in the night? Do you believe that some buildings or places are haunted? Is there one in your town? Tell us a story about it. Make it believable.
Alternate: Lockers. What one thing do you wish no one to know about in your locker? Or what is the most important thing in your locker? Deadline: Friday Oct. 17.

To submit to Newspaper Series

  • Log in. (Click "Not a YWP member?" to create an account.)

  • Click "create content" and create an ENTRY
  • Fill out "title," "author name, school & grade" and "prompt" boxes.
  • Paste story into "body."
  • Click "Submit." You are done.
    NOTES: Your account email must be accurate; a "blog" entry must be resubmitted as an ENTRY to be considered.

This Day

obscure_one's picture

I like this day because it's the
one day when, between
8:15 and
3:00, I am
guaranteed to not say
anything
stupid since it's the
one day when I
can't say
anything at all.

emnoodlehead's picture

Day-o-Silence?

Day-o-Silence?

obscure_one's picture

Yup.

Yup.

mixedmusic333's picture

Was yours today? Ours was

Was yours today?
Ours was yesterday.

It was a bit
of a flop, honestly,
because people kept
ripping the posters
off the walls and
gay jokes were
told more frequently
than ever before.
But no, I'm
not bitter...

I do enjoy
this poem
though.
:)

imagine's picture

Goddess. This makes me

Goddess.
This makes me want
to scream.

Ours is happening
after vacation, I think.

obscure_one's picture

Ours was the 16th. So

Ours was the 16th.
So yesterday.
Wednesday.

Wow.
That's awful.
I can't believe that.
That sucks.

Thanks. :)

Day of Silence was so

Day of Silence was so inspiring for me.
I thought my school was going to have a
tough time handling it, but really,
almost everybody partook in it.
There were no jokes made,
and it just truly seemed to bring everyone together.
This poem expresses that complex day
in so few words.
Great job.

obscure_one's picture

That's really cool. I'm glad

That's really cool.
I'm glad it was such a
positive experience for you.
And thanks.
I'm glad you liked it.

mixedmusic333's picture

That's really awesome. I'm

That's really
awesome. I'm always
glad when it
has an effect
on people.

greenie's picture

Question

I feel very ignorant to be asking this question, but what is the Day of Silence?

It's a day when those who

It's a day when those who chose to participate are silent for the entire school day, and it's to respect the gay/lesbian/bi students who "never had a voice," so to say.

mcculs's picture

Its a day where you can sign

Its a day where you can sign up to remain silent for a day to show that violece, harrasment and bullying need to end against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transsexual people. This year's is in honor of a student who was killed in school because he was gay.
~Shannon

^ ^
(' ')
( )~

apples's picture

Don't feel bad, I was just

Don't feel bad, I was just as lost at first...
---------
You can lead a heart to love, but you can't make it fall. ~Self Quoted

NonSequitur's picture

I think that a better way to

I think that a better way to take a stand on gay rights would be to actually GIVE gays a voice, not to remove everyone else's.
The latter might be more practicably applied in a school, but in the long run, the former makes more sense.

obscure_one's picture

This has been a long-running

This has been a long-running controversy over the Day of Silence. However, it is true that because of what we can and cannot do in schools when it comes to demonstrations (the Supreme Court has ruled on this), a silent protest is the way to go. It is also an incredible impact--seeing a large number of students being silent for a day. Students who would normally have a voice, would normally speak up in class, chat with friends, ask questions and provide answers all silenced for the same cause. It is a statement about the number of members of the LGBTQQIA(etc.) community who are (possibly forcibly) silenced/closeted on a day-to-day basis for various reasons.

However, to recognize that the point is really to break this silence, at the end of the day, CVU did a Breaking the Silence event and Outright had its first annual Night of Noise. These two events recognized the Day of Silence as a way to simulate the actual silence faced by many members of the LGBTQQIA(etc.) community and as something that must be broken by speaking up.

On the flip side, I understand where you're coming from, which is why there are many other things the queer community participates in. For example, Saturday was Outright's ninth annual Youth Pride/Queer Prom and their second annual GSA Conference. This, like Pride in July, was a chance for Youth to speak up about being queer in Vermont, in a rural state, what's great about it, what's not-so-great about it, and celebrate (and SPEAK!).

So there you are. You probably didn't expect such a long, possibly rambling response, but there it is. I just felt I should try to explain it a little bit better because I realize it's kind of a strange demonstration because of what it's trying to say, but I promise, it really does make sense.

-Obscure

mixedmusic333's picture

(♥) I was going to

(♥)

I was going to say
the same thing,
had to go to
dinner, came back,
forgot, saw Obscure's comment,
and realized she's
done it better than I
could have anyway.

obscure_one's picture

I bet you could have done

I bet you could have done it
just as
well as I did.
Probably even
better...

mixedmusic333's picture

Bologna.

Bologna.

obscure_one's picture

Haha. At first I was

Haha.
At first I was like,
"WTF does that have to do with
ANYthing!?" because I had
no idea what comment-strand this
was...and then I
looked up and was like,
"Ooohhh... I understand now..."

mixedmusic333's picture

ahahahahahaha It's fun to

ahahahahahaha

It's fun to write
bologna at times
like that.

obscure_one's picture

It's kind of just fun to

It's kind of just fun to write
bologna in general.

mixedmusic333's picture

It really is. And it's

It really is.
And it's not
nearly as much fun
to say it.

obscure_one's picture

Not at all. Unless you

Not at all.
Unless you say
"bol-own-ya" and
exaggerate it a whole lot.

mixedmusic333's picture

Oooh. I'm totally doing that

Oooh.
I'm totally doing
that to Ace
tomorrow.

Unfortunately, he's
so used to my
antics he might
just tune me out.

obscure_one's picture

You totally

You totally should!

Damn.
Hmm...
You should pick a really
weird moment to
do so so he's
forced to pay
attention.
And then let me
know what he does!

mixedmusic333's picture

Hmm, okay. He's been in

Hmm,
okay. He's
been in a
wretched mood
for the past
couples months, so
he might just stare
at me. But even
that's still
kind of fun...

Yeah I
really do torture
him sometimes.

obscure_one's picture

Do you know why he's been in

Do you know
why he's been in a
wretched mood?
That sucks.
I hope everything's
okay with him...

Ah well.
That's what he
kind of signed
up for a little bit when he
decided to be a
teacher.

mixedmusic333's picture

Nope. It just sort

Nope.
It just sort of
happened and
now he's getting all
stressed because
of senior soloist music
we have to learn.

obscure_one's picture

That sucks. Well, it's that

That sucks.
Well, it's that time of the
year for everyone.

Sponsors

    We are grateful to the Vermont Business Roundtable and its members -- business and educational leaders throughout the state -- for their generous support of this project. These leaders recognize the value of what we do and the importance of writing in life. For more, see: VERMONT BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE & members
    We also depend on the generosity of individuals. Please DONATE NOW to continue our work. We are a 501(c)3 federal charity and so all donations are tax-deductible.