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By John Thompson.

Diary of Some Webster Kids: Advocacy in Action is a powerful anthology written and edited by middle school English Language Learners. The first thing that jumps out of the essays is the students’ moral character and their heroism.  The second thing their writing communicates is that they are middle school students. Their work gives insights into both – the resilience these immigrants bring to our communities and vivid accounts of what it means to be a middle school student. A first post reviewed their unique immigrant experience. This post stresses stories that are pretty representative of the overall life of middle schoolers.

When Mia was in 5th or 4th grade, the classrooms were loud, and girls were talking about her. “I didn’t really learn that much because I was worried more about what they were saying and less about doing my work,” Mia recalled how the teacher called her out and asked why she was mean to a classmate. “Because she look at me up and down,” I said.

“That is not a good reason,” the teacher said.

“For you it is not, but for me it is.”

Mia walked out of class and concluded “It was not a good first day of school.”

Jose’s day started with him slamming the door on his brother, who woke him up at 6:00 because he had to catch a 7:00 bus. Jose didn’t have to be in class until 8:20 so he walked to that “school, the dark jail for kids, school.” Afterwards, Jose discussed his anger with his mother and, “Well mom was like, ‘You can call this the worst week of your life.’ For the next four days, I was better.”

Not surprisingly, a couple of the most intriguing stories related to hair. Anonymous’ dad commented on her hair and she “mean mugged him.” Her mom responded with a “scary face.” She left the house but ran into her friend David, who is estranged from his family, and he successfully urged her to not run away from her family. Noelia’s “Hair Disaster” was influenced by Ronnie Radke, “Falling in Reverse,” and Sasuke Uchiha, but when she finished cutting her own hair, “It looked like I had about three wigs stacked on my head with a super small one on top.” Noelia’s experiment grew out of that “cringy phase” but she “won’t stop doing what I love.”

Neither is it surprising that pets played prime emotional roles in the stories. Brisa told of two pit bulls killing Moyo, her puppy. Anonymous mourned Bud, his german shepard who died of cancer. He concluded, “You should spend every minute with your family and pets like it’s your last, and never be mean to them because you don’t know what will happen to them.” (and since the author sat next to me in the opening for the book, I can say that he now loves another German Shepard.)

Teen loves were also recalled. Fernando described the negotiations required to visit a girl he liked. They concluded with her mom saying, “Pues aunque no los deje ya andan de todos modos,” and her dad replying, “Si pueden andar nomas portese bien.”

Sophia first kissed a boy in 7th grade, but he broke her heart. In 8th grade she liked Mario. Sophia wrote, “Now it is 8-25-17 I was going to 8 hour he asked me out.” She concludes, “I just want to say thank God for giving me this boy. I hope I stay with him my whole life.”

Yaritza’s relationship-building was described in a more complex way. She wrote, “Let’s be honest … woman know deep down that it’s what is on the outside that the world judges.” Yaritza concluded:

No one can help you but yourself. You’re the only person you can trust. Everyone says that loves hurts, but that’s not true. Loneliness hurts, rejection hurts, and losing someone hurts.” 

Yaritza then affirmed, “Writing this all down is making everything better though. We are free to make choices, but we’re not free from the consequences of those choices.”

Anonymous is a bisexual student who helped a gay kid being taunted by a bully. He said, “Leave him alone or I will tell the teacher.” The bullying of gay kids then turned violent. Anonymous wrote that he and his new friend were beaten up and “I woke up in the hospital.”  Assailants were taken into custody, When everyone left the hospital room, “thoughts was swirling in my head, Why me? How? I wish I was stronger.”

The stories of students trying to ditch class ended on a lighter note. Naomi’s experience in cutting class ended with the conclusion, “I want to go to a very good college, but I can’t do it if I’m getting in trouble all the time.” Alejandro’s experience resulted in an encounter with a policeman when he was ditching. He was glad that he and his fellow students weren’t arrested “but the fun of ditching was gone.”

And, of course, the middle school students had stories about learning from stress and sports. After Alan and his cousin came close to drowning he concluded, “I have to be more responsible when I am watching my cousins.” Yazmin recalled how he worried in church after his brother was shot. Anonymous “got tired of being locked up in my room and being depressed.” When she agreed to go out, that made her sister “as happy as the sun.” Her story, “Confronting,” then described being calmed by a conversation with her father.

And yes, the students face the stress of testing. Israel’s “Doubt” climaxed with the realization that he hadn’t needed to rush through a two-day test. Thinking he only had one class to complete it. And when the subject turned to sports, Diego recalled the three goals he scored in Kansas City and affirmed, “All I need by my side is my family.”

Celeste started worrying a week before the tryouts, asking “How did I miss that shot.” On the day of the try-out, her mom prayed for her when dropping her off. Celeste then had to wait to see if she was one of the 20 who were chosen for the soccer team. She recalled, “That night I laid on my bed with a whole zoo in my stomach. My head was all over the place to mars and back.” After Celeste made the team, her mom said, “There’s nothing in this world that can trouble you as much as your own thoughts.”

(Note: All copies of the book that were printed have been sold.)

Author

Anthony Cody

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