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VPR's coverage of arts and culture in the region.

Young Writers Project: 'Current Thoughts Of A Grumpy Person - Breathing By June'

Courtesy, Susan Reid
Janet McIntosh Barkdoll, an 11th-grader from Shoreham, writes about the rigors of junior year.

There is fuzz on my sweater.
My house is cold.
The fridge lacks leftovers to find dinner among.
I'm fed up with screens.
Word thinks Spanish words are spelled wrong.
It is rainy and wet
and windy and cold
and homework about climate change, natural disasters, anthropogenic sources of
pollution, toxic materials, destroyed habitats,
species on their way to extinction,
humans dying,
lack of food,
lack of water,
lack of plant life in soil,
too many humans,
too many particles of CO2,
too many fossil fuels,
too many non-renewable resources.
What the freaking, WHAT are we thinking?
Are we thinking?
How many of us are thinking? OK. I'll think instead of complain.
Better -- I'll act.
Awesome.
I just remembered --
I have so many tests and hurdles to clear at the end of this school year;
let me just finish studying for the next fifty weeks,
then, don't forget, I have friends -- Let's get together!
Wait, nope, now you've graduated high school and you're in a new place.
Make friends with these people!
Oh yay!
But each of them just makes me look back -- this one's got her smile...
this one's got his ears,
that one reminds me of another friend …
Thanks, junior year.
If I am still breathing by June, I'll thank someone -- but certainly not you.

The Young Writers Project provides VPR's audience another avenue to hear and read selections from Vermont's young writers. The project is a collaboration organized by Geoff Gevalt at the Young Writers Project. The thoughts and ideas expressed here are the writers' own and do not necessarily reflect those of Vermont Public Radio.
 

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