Installment+28

South of Denver - Chapter 28

December 12, 2005

Now that's what I call fun!

The paper hits the halls and there is an immediate buzz, a buzz that really hasn't died down days later. People are carrying their latest copy of The Rock from class to class. Some classes actually take time to discuss several pieces of opinion writing. An English teacher creates an impromptu lesson on how to write a letter to the editor without resorting to ad hominem attacks.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

We had a girl-ask-guy semi-formal dance on Dec. 3, organized by some girls in Student Council who obviously like to dress very well (it being our second semi-formal dance of the school year).

A guy in one of my AP Lang classes stopped by before school one morning in November asking if it would be okay if he were to try his hand at a humor piece for the paper. He wanted to write about the unfairness of dating rituals. A sample: "Yes, we must break free of the chivalric notions of our nation, and stand on equal footing with women, who have fought free of oppression themselves." Yeah, it was over the top.

Ryan's a bright guy, but I warned him about how tough being funny is on paper. He shared a rough draft that went on way too long (over 1,000 words). Eventually, after a long coaching session, he cut to an essential, and funnier, 450 words.

About the same time, Nate, who is a junior on the staff, proposed during a brainstorming session that he write a column on how opposed he was to semi-formal dances. He is also a bright guy, and he's very secure with himself, which can lead him to say and write some outlandish things. In some ways, he's born to be a columnist.

Susie was page manager for the commentary page, and she deftly packaged the two commentaries together with some art and a "student in the hall" quote collection based on the question, "What act of chivalry have you seen or experienced lately?" You will not be surprised to know that some of her respondents had to have the word chivalry defined.

Mix well, add readers (especially some readers who don't necessarily recognize satire when they see it) and you have heated discussions all over the school about dating and semi-formals and Nate not being asked to the Sadie Hawkins style dance.

Most importantly, The Rock was able to set the agenda for discussion in the school for perhaps the first time in its 9-issue history. It was not an important discussion in the big scheme of things, but you've got to start somewhere.

Based on several sessions students attended in Chicago, we introduced a "fun page" this issue, as well. It included jokes from late night talk shows, a holiday crossword (kids today don't know what a yule log is), and sodoku puzzle (all these were created or gathered by Chelsea), along with a fake horoscope (that wasn't nearly wacky enough for my taste). It was a huge hit. The page has nothing to do with journalism, but it has everything to do with students actually hanging onto their papers, talking about the paper, interacting with the paper.

The hope was that we would grab readers with the "fun page" and the satirical girl-bashing of the commentary page, and they might stick around for more "meaty" pieces like our profile of a Syrian Muslim exchange student celebrating his first Christmas, or our feature on students suffering from depression, or our editorial expressing our dismay at falling gas prices and the need for higher prices to encourage alternative energy sources.

So we ended the first semester on a high. Can we maintain the magic balance of light and heavy, thoughtful and fun in the second semester?

Jack Kennedy

Rock Canyon High School

Highlands Ranch CO 80124

 jkkennedy@comcast.net

 jack.kennedy@dcsdk12.org

Note: This is the latest chapter in a series of columns on working with a young staff in a young school (8 of the 11 staff are sophomores and no senior class yet). It is cryptotherapy for me. It may occasionally provide something positive for you. Please go to the JEAHELP archives to read the previous chapters if you missed them and have absolutely nothing else to do.