TEENAGE RIOT: Chapt. 4
I haven't really put much up about this in a while. Maybe I'll take some time with this one.
Last time we left off, school was just getting started and my mind really wasn't focused on TEENAGE RIOT or any plans of mischief. I was pretty content despite being back at school and I didn't really feel the immediate need for TEENAGE RIOT.
Things changed, though. I grew tired of school quickly, my girlfriend dumped me, and I just couldn't take it anymore. All things seem to die in time. I was growing increasingly depressed and I need some sort of outlet.
I began working on flyers in Photoshop; just to keep my mind off of things for a short time. I had an idea of testing how administration would react to TEENAGE RIOT by putting up flyers that I knew would rattle their bones. My hypothesis would be that there would be a very minimal reaction: hushed whispers and the like.
I was correct. After spending about three dollars at Kinko's and putting up flyers that said "PRIDE" across the front of a picture of a football player and "GREED" over a Notre Dame parking permit all around the school I was dissatisfied with the results even though I knew they would be nothing. It got my adrenaline flowing though. I put a few in the Burns hall bathrooms (both boys and girls) in the morning and two up in the Woodman hall right by my locker during the first period. Mr. Tourville took the two in the bathroom down after first period. He looked absolutely ridiculous coming out of the bathroom trying to hold on to tape and paper without being too conspicuous. I don't know what to think of him, now. I always thought he suspected me of the dirty deed.
In terms of students noticing, yeah, right; barely. Most people probably passed by the flyers in the Woodman building without even noticing or if they did see it, probably didn't understand the message. Bryce noticed it and pulled me out of class to go take me to look at them. I tried to play it off like I had no idea what he was talking about and I think he fell for it. When he showed me it, I said, "Oh, that's genius!" I guess it's okay to praise yourself when you're trying to cover your own ass. Kids in my English class talked about it briefly and thought the perpetrator was actually attacking the football player on the flyer. It was funny how quickly everything got talked up. Bryce was telling me about them, “They used to be all over the school.” “In every building?” I asked. “Yeah, like ten in each building.” I didn't get caught, Sydney and Jamian knew, but I still felt empty about the whole ordeal.
What really sparked everything that happened next was Ms. Connelly. I had turned in an article to her to read for prior review and she cut it because she didn't "feel comfortable with it." I can't stand her. I loathe her. Arguing is impossible with her. You can make a point and she will just inappropriately rebut it with whatever she said before in a jumbled and irrelevant sense. But what infuriated me most was how she played this multiple personality game with me. She would come off and say, "You have no rights," and at the same time follow it up with, "It's such a shame," when clearly, she's the most capable person to abolish those rules. I thought I'd make it clear to everyone just how I felt.
My next two flyers would be "Individuality" and "No Voice" which I thought would be proper vehicles to voice my concern. I wanted to instill a feeling in both students and the administration. I wanted kids to know that civil rights do not exist for Notre Dame students and I wanted everyone to question if that was just or not. On the “Individuality” flyer, I had a picture of a few people wearing the ND uniform with their faces scribbled out and on the “No Voice” flyer, I Photoshop-ed a girl’s mouth out. I made two times as many copies as I did last time and I knew that this was really going to be a lot bigger this time.
I was originally going to do it late, after school one day, but I forgot to bring the duct tape to school so I scratched that day off my calendar. While I was in class on the next day, though, I heard an announcement over the loud speaker that there was going to be a faculty meeting from 2:15-3:00, so I took that opportunity.
Though Sydney was out of the picture due to our lack of socialization, Jamian still expressed a want to participate in TEENAGE RIOT. I was worried that he might get in much more trouble than I would due to past offences but I figured for such a wide span flyer post, I would need help. So Jamian and I set out to every building, hiding out in abandoned classrooms and vacant bathrooms taping up flyers and running out into the hall, smacking them on the walls. We managed to get every building (top and bottom floors) by the time the faculty meeting was over. We went home feeling pretty good.
And then…DISASTER! I did my morning roam around the school to check for spectators and to see if the flyers were still up at all. Of the twenty or so flyers we put up, there were maybe four or five left. Every building except for the Burns building was without flyers. I was so disappointed, but I hoped someone had seen them. Some people did and I dodged around it again. I don’t know if I fooled anyone, I was feeling particularly apathetic at that point.
The day went on with close to no excitement at all. It was just pure boring. There was nothing keeping my blood boiling and I felt like once again, nobody saw the flyers. And then in the beginning of fourth period, there came a call on the telephone from a Mr. Dill. “Zack, Mr. Dill wants to see you in his office.”
Shit.
So, I sat down in the office, the dean of men, Mr. Dill, at his desk and the dean of women, Ms. McClung sitting in a chair next to me. Mr. Dill is pretty nice to me. I had him as an English teacher and I don’t know…he’s just always been lenient with me. He had my newspaper article on his desk and for a moment I thought that that was the reason I was in there. Sometimes I think he’s playing some Law and Order tricks on me or something. But we got into it right away, they asked for an explanation and I gave them one. They were surprised to see that my motives were actually positive and almost commended me for it. There was something weird going on and I couldn’t exactly place my finger on it. I explained that at Notre Dame, students don’t have the rights that they should have and as a result, I thought the only vehicle for voicing that concern was through the flyers. And while they thought it would’ve been better if I had just come to them instead, they understood and they sympathized with me. Mr. Dill told me he felt sorry for me and explained at the same time that I couldn’t do this. So, I started getting the sense that the deans were trying to trick me or trap me with that Ms. Connelly split-personality bull shit. But they came off as actually caring and understanding. It was a commendable side to them. I took full responsibility for it, didn’t mention Jamian, and everything seemed okay. They started asking me why I’m at Notre Dame and my whole history building up to this. And then they started asking how I did it which started to get a little strange. “So you did this yesterday?” Mr. Dill asked. “Yes.” “During the faculty meeting?” “Yeah.” “You must’ve planned this out pretty well, it’s all pretty clever.” “Uh…yeah, I heard there was a faculty meeting over the loudspeaker and I took my chance.” “Yeah, that was a smart idea.” And then they pulled out one of the flyers and asking who the people were. “This is Becca, was she involved?” Mr. Dill asked. “What? Who?” “Becca…” “Mr. Dill, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” “This flyer.” “Oh she doesn’t go to this school.” “That’s not Becca?” “No.” “You’re kidding me.” “I didn’t think that was Becca,” Ms. McClung said. “Let me get the yearbook. I believe you, Zack,” Mr. Dill said. “Mr. Dill, it’s oka-” “No! I have to prove I’m not crazy! Look, look at the hair it looks the same…and if she had no mouth, huh, huh?”
It was such a warm kind of interrogation. I don’t really understand all of it. They had such a great attitude with all of it. They actually understood me and didn’t really seem to think it was all so much of a terrible offense. I think this meeting was responsible for two things above all: removing any fear I had previously and making me completely unprepared for what happened next.
I was called into Ms. Connelly’s office where Ms. Harkins was brought as well. I sat down next to Ms. Harkins and directly across from me was an infuriated Principal. She went right at it: “I just want you to know how disappointed I am…” She made ridiculous accusations and assumptions and never really seemed to care what exactly I had to say. Instead, she felt more inclined to bitch at me for the majority of the session. At one point, when she was talking about the parking article she said something along the lines of “I thought you understood me. But then you turned around behind my back and tried to sneak an article like this under my nose. What is this? Is this to get back at me for the penis article? Why are you trying to paint Notre Dame as a greedy school-” I just got so pissed off at that point that I just let her have it: “First of all, let’s pick one issue at a time here, don’t try to fuse the article and the flyers because they’re too completely separate issues. Secondly, don’t act like this is revenge on my part for you cutting my article; the school squelched free speech long before this. And concerning my parking article, well, if you actually read the article you’d know that I wasn’t calling some sort of conspiracy, I’m just stating my opinion; there are no outrageous claims included.” So she went on and on about how pissed off she was and how she didn’t understand if I was so unhappy, why I was going to a school like this. And I told her that I wanted to go to Notre Dame and I wanted to graduate. She told me that she needed to see my parents tomorrow and Mr. Dill walked me out of the room with an “Are you okay? How’d it go?” “I just got torn in two.” “Yeah, I’m sorry.”
So basically, I got suspended. I’m not sure if there will be other consequences at this point. Tomorrow at 11:00 I have to go with my parents to see Ms. Connelly and I’m going to have to kiss a bunch of ass and apologize. I’m not really looking forward to that. In general, my day kind of sucked due to the two hours of getting yelled at/questioning. But there's a slight grin on my face. I think I got an idea across. Even if it's not supported, I got something across. The end to TEENAGE RIOT? Most likely. We’ll see.
I’m sorry that I lied to you guys. I didn’t want to get you guys involved. I just felt it was safer for everyone this way. And yes, Karlynne, I’m Crackity. Sorry about not telling you.
P.S. If you want to go to read all of the old TEENAGE RIOT entries, you can go ahead now. They’re now on friends only instead of private. Enjoy.
Last time we left off, school was just getting started and my mind really wasn't focused on TEENAGE RIOT or any plans of mischief. I was pretty content despite being back at school and I didn't really feel the immediate need for TEENAGE RIOT.
Things changed, though. I grew tired of school quickly, my girlfriend dumped me, and I just couldn't take it anymore. All things seem to die in time. I was growing increasingly depressed and I need some sort of outlet.
I began working on flyers in Photoshop; just to keep my mind off of things for a short time. I had an idea of testing how administration would react to TEENAGE RIOT by putting up flyers that I knew would rattle their bones. My hypothesis would be that there would be a very minimal reaction: hushed whispers and the like.
I was correct. After spending about three dollars at Kinko's and putting up flyers that said "PRIDE" across the front of a picture of a football player and "GREED" over a Notre Dame parking permit all around the school I was dissatisfied with the results even though I knew they would be nothing. It got my adrenaline flowing though. I put a few in the Burns hall bathrooms (both boys and girls) in the morning and two up in the Woodman hall right by my locker during the first period. Mr. Tourville took the two in the bathroom down after first period. He looked absolutely ridiculous coming out of the bathroom trying to hold on to tape and paper without being too conspicuous. I don't know what to think of him, now. I always thought he suspected me of the dirty deed.
In terms of students noticing, yeah, right; barely. Most people probably passed by the flyers in the Woodman building without even noticing or if they did see it, probably didn't understand the message. Bryce noticed it and pulled me out of class to go take me to look at them. I tried to play it off like I had no idea what he was talking about and I think he fell for it. When he showed me it, I said, "Oh, that's genius!" I guess it's okay to praise yourself when you're trying to cover your own ass. Kids in my English class talked about it briefly and thought the perpetrator was actually attacking the football player on the flyer. It was funny how quickly everything got talked up. Bryce was telling me about them, “They used to be all over the school.” “In every building?” I asked. “Yeah, like ten in each building.” I didn't get caught, Sydney and Jamian knew, but I still felt empty about the whole ordeal.
What really sparked everything that happened next was Ms. Connelly. I had turned in an article to her to read for prior review and she cut it because she didn't "feel comfortable with it." I can't stand her. I loathe her. Arguing is impossible with her. You can make a point and she will just inappropriately rebut it with whatever she said before in a jumbled and irrelevant sense. But what infuriated me most was how she played this multiple personality game with me. She would come off and say, "You have no rights," and at the same time follow it up with, "It's such a shame," when clearly, she's the most capable person to abolish those rules. I thought I'd make it clear to everyone just how I felt.
My next two flyers would be "Individuality" and "No Voice" which I thought would be proper vehicles to voice my concern. I wanted to instill a feeling in both students and the administration. I wanted kids to know that civil rights do not exist for Notre Dame students and I wanted everyone to question if that was just or not. On the “Individuality” flyer, I had a picture of a few people wearing the ND uniform with their faces scribbled out and on the “No Voice” flyer, I Photoshop-ed a girl’s mouth out. I made two times as many copies as I did last time and I knew that this was really going to be a lot bigger this time.
I was originally going to do it late, after school one day, but I forgot to bring the duct tape to school so I scratched that day off my calendar. While I was in class on the next day, though, I heard an announcement over the loud speaker that there was going to be a faculty meeting from 2:15-3:00, so I took that opportunity.
Though Sydney was out of the picture due to our lack of socialization, Jamian still expressed a want to participate in TEENAGE RIOT. I was worried that he might get in much more trouble than I would due to past offences but I figured for such a wide span flyer post, I would need help. So Jamian and I set out to every building, hiding out in abandoned classrooms and vacant bathrooms taping up flyers and running out into the hall, smacking them on the walls. We managed to get every building (top and bottom floors) by the time the faculty meeting was over. We went home feeling pretty good.
And then…DISASTER! I did my morning roam around the school to check for spectators and to see if the flyers were still up at all. Of the twenty or so flyers we put up, there were maybe four or five left. Every building except for the Burns building was without flyers. I was so disappointed, but I hoped someone had seen them. Some people did and I dodged around it again. I don’t know if I fooled anyone, I was feeling particularly apathetic at that point.
The day went on with close to no excitement at all. It was just pure boring. There was nothing keeping my blood boiling and I felt like once again, nobody saw the flyers. And then in the beginning of fourth period, there came a call on the telephone from a Mr. Dill. “Zack, Mr. Dill wants to see you in his office.”
Shit.
So, I sat down in the office, the dean of men, Mr. Dill, at his desk and the dean of women, Ms. McClung sitting in a chair next to me. Mr. Dill is pretty nice to me. I had him as an English teacher and I don’t know…he’s just always been lenient with me. He had my newspaper article on his desk and for a moment I thought that that was the reason I was in there. Sometimes I think he’s playing some Law and Order tricks on me or something. But we got into it right away, they asked for an explanation and I gave them one. They were surprised to see that my motives were actually positive and almost commended me for it. There was something weird going on and I couldn’t exactly place my finger on it. I explained that at Notre Dame, students don’t have the rights that they should have and as a result, I thought the only vehicle for voicing that concern was through the flyers. And while they thought it would’ve been better if I had just come to them instead, they understood and they sympathized with me. Mr. Dill told me he felt sorry for me and explained at the same time that I couldn’t do this. So, I started getting the sense that the deans were trying to trick me or trap me with that Ms. Connelly split-personality bull shit. But they came off as actually caring and understanding. It was a commendable side to them. I took full responsibility for it, didn’t mention Jamian, and everything seemed okay. They started asking me why I’m at Notre Dame and my whole history building up to this. And then they started asking how I did it which started to get a little strange. “So you did this yesterday?” Mr. Dill asked. “Yes.” “During the faculty meeting?” “Yeah.” “You must’ve planned this out pretty well, it’s all pretty clever.” “Uh…yeah, I heard there was a faculty meeting over the loudspeaker and I took my chance.” “Yeah, that was a smart idea.” And then they pulled out one of the flyers and asking who the people were. “This is Becca, was she involved?” Mr. Dill asked. “What? Who?” “Becca…” “Mr. Dill, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” “This flyer.” “Oh she doesn’t go to this school.” “That’s not Becca?” “No.” “You’re kidding me.” “I didn’t think that was Becca,” Ms. McClung said. “Let me get the yearbook. I believe you, Zack,” Mr. Dill said. “Mr. Dill, it’s oka-” “No! I have to prove I’m not crazy! Look, look at the hair it looks the same…and if she had no mouth, huh, huh?”
It was such a warm kind of interrogation. I don’t really understand all of it. They had such a great attitude with all of it. They actually understood me and didn’t really seem to think it was all so much of a terrible offense. I think this meeting was responsible for two things above all: removing any fear I had previously and making me completely unprepared for what happened next.
I was called into Ms. Connelly’s office where Ms. Harkins was brought as well. I sat down next to Ms. Harkins and directly across from me was an infuriated Principal. She went right at it: “I just want you to know how disappointed I am…” She made ridiculous accusations and assumptions and never really seemed to care what exactly I had to say. Instead, she felt more inclined to bitch at me for the majority of the session. At one point, when she was talking about the parking article she said something along the lines of “I thought you understood me. But then you turned around behind my back and tried to sneak an article like this under my nose. What is this? Is this to get back at me for the penis article? Why are you trying to paint Notre Dame as a greedy school-” I just got so pissed off at that point that I just let her have it: “First of all, let’s pick one issue at a time here, don’t try to fuse the article and the flyers because they’re too completely separate issues. Secondly, don’t act like this is revenge on my part for you cutting my article; the school squelched free speech long before this. And concerning my parking article, well, if you actually read the article you’d know that I wasn’t calling some sort of conspiracy, I’m just stating my opinion; there are no outrageous claims included.” So she went on and on about how pissed off she was and how she didn’t understand if I was so unhappy, why I was going to a school like this. And I told her that I wanted to go to Notre Dame and I wanted to graduate. She told me that she needed to see my parents tomorrow and Mr. Dill walked me out of the room with an “Are you okay? How’d it go?” “I just got torn in two.” “Yeah, I’m sorry.”
So basically, I got suspended. I’m not sure if there will be other consequences at this point. Tomorrow at 11:00 I have to go with my parents to see Ms. Connelly and I’m going to have to kiss a bunch of ass and apologize. I’m not really looking forward to that. In general, my day kind of sucked due to the two hours of getting yelled at/questioning. But there's a slight grin on my face. I think I got an idea across. Even if it's not supported, I got something across. The end to TEENAGE RIOT? Most likely. We’ll see.
I’m sorry that I lied to you guys. I didn’t want to get you guys involved. I just felt it was safer for everyone this way. And yes, Karlynne, I’m Crackity. Sorry about not telling you.
P.S. If you want to go to read all of the old TEENAGE RIOT entries, you can go ahead now. They’re now on friends only instead of private. Enjoy.