The Bubble

Link to the documentary:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aXWl0HaxjI

Cheddar Cheesy

WARNING: This is a cheesy blog post.

      Nothing feels worse than being cheated on. You feel like you aren’t good enough because your partner had to cheat, to find on others what he couldn’t find in you. You even feel ashamed of yourself and that’s why it’s so hard to talk about it. I admire Olivia Kling the author of The Hole in My Heart (87) because instead of writing about how perfect love can be, she decided to talk about the dark side. Before, I would have never thought about writing about the negative side of love. It felt wrong with all the beautiful love stories, movies, poems, and songs but now I will because I felt related to Olivia’s thoughts and feelings.

      Olivia had been with her boyfriend Samuel for over a year. She said it had been “the happiest months of her life” (89) but when she found out what happened the night Samuel went to a party, she was “heartbroken and devastated.” (90) Samuel told her what happened and even though it was a girl that Olivia didn’t know, she was very hurt. I understand what Olivia was feeling at the moment especially when she said, “I wish he felt all the pain I am feeling.” (91)

      Olivia’s story is just one of the many stories in the Love chapter of Teen Ink. It has amazed me how more than half of the stories are sad love experiences rather than happy ones. From my experiences, I have seen that at this point in life, you find more disappointment than anything else, especially in love. Up until know, this has been my favorite chapter even if it was very cheesy. I wonder how all teens that wrote these stories will feel in a couple of years. Judging by Olivia’s title, The Hole in My Heart (87), this experience touched her so badly that she will still be affected by it even if time passes. In my case, lots of time has passed but I will never love again like I did the first time. 

Death Slips

     “I remember her walking in the room, the long shadow cast behind her. She asked me very nicely to come with her. I could feel the tension in the pit of my stomach, the fear washing through me, my face burning red.” (130) I could use this part from Marcy Griffin’s story Why Me? to describe how I’ve felt during the past month. Every time I hear a knock on the classroom door, my heart skips a beat. The teacher or someone else other than me opens the door and I carefully look in that direction to see who it is. Like most of the time, the High School Office secretary is standing beside the door holding some slips of paper. It is no surprise that one of them is for me. I hate this.

     The voyage through the numerous stairs and halls of the school and to Viscardi’s office is eternal. As you walk, you feel like you will never reach the end and when you finally do reach it, you think of all the possible reasons why you were called to the office. You open the door, and when you look into Viscardi’s eyes, you can either tell if your life will continue or if it’s the end. Luckily for me, I have managed to get out that door alive.

     Anyway, nothing is worse than the secretary knocking on the door. I once heard someone say that the secretary brought “death slips” with her. Marcy’s story would be related to this because in her case, the principal came to her class not to talk about a detention or an absence but rather about her mom’s sudden death. “A person’s life changes in the death of a heartbeat.” (131) I can’t imagine how it was for her to get the news. After reading this story, I am even more scared to hear the knock on the classroom door. 

Vocabulary:

grimace- (noun) an ugly, twisted expression on a person's face