Journal Entry #1: Brent Runyon the Freak

The first paragraph of Brent Runyon’s memoir, The Burn Journals, seems very common for me: “Im awake, listening to the radio, and Mom is yelling at me to get out of bed. I don’t want to get out of bed. I don’t want to go to school. Maybe I should play sick, but ive done that too many times this year already.” (3) I immediately picture myself in bed pretending to be sick just because I dindnt get enough sleep the night before, and then how karma gets me and I actually get sick.

As I read a couple of pages, I am confused and freaking out. For example when this guy is talking about how obsessed he became with Vicent van Gogh while reading Lust for Life, a book about “how fucked up his life was.” (4) He mentions the story in which van Gogh cuts off his ear and sends it to his girlfriend. All the normal reactions to this story include comments such as “ew,” “what the fuck,” or even “I think van Gogh was high” but never before had I heard a comment such as Runyon’s: “God, that’s so great.” (4) I had to read this part several times to make sure I was actually reading correctly and not just making things up in my mind. When I get to the part where he “puts his hand under Abby’s sweater and rubs it against the fabric of her bra and the top of her breast,” (5) I know that this Brent is so fudged up. He was touching a girl IN A SCHOOL BUS! Ew! Now I don’t know what to think…

This is my first time reading The Burn Journals and I’m so confused. I want to ask a few questions to see if later on in the reading, they will be answered:

-Are there other reasons for his attempt of suicide other than because he was going to get expelled?

-Is the disgusting girl from the bus, Abby, going to be involved?

-Why is it called The Burn Journals?

-Does he keep a journal sort of like in the movie Mean Girls?

I hope my questions will be answered. For now, this was my first entry for my “burn journal” in which I feel a little bit disgusted with Brent Runyon and how he thinks a bleeding ear is a “great” gift for your girlfriend. 

Vocabulary:

slats- (noun) a thin, narrow piece of wood, plastic, or metal