Sometimes the remarks caused a little anger, but they were usually ignored
When he got to school he went to his first class, Algebra. After getting his assignment, he
began work on it. He had a question on one of the problems, so he raised his hand for a lit-
the help. "One minute son," the teacher said in her southern accent. That minute turned to
forty-five and he left the class at the bell, the teacher sitting comfortably at her desk had for-
gotten him.
The next two classes flew by and he was at lunch. Standing in line waiting to purchase a
"janitor's missing dog special" to eat, a fight broke out next to him. It was two junior guys
Seems one waved at the other's girl yesterday. The two intellectuals were dragged away by
security but not before some good licks were laid.
Lunch eventually ended and the final classes of the day were no better than Algebra. He
had to walk by the corner where all the gangsters hung out after school. As he passed the
group, his glances were met by the
glares of the guys. It seems that
gangsters give pretty tough, hard
looks, maybe they shouldn't prac
tice so much.
As he boarded his bus, he sat and
thought about the whys: Why did
he dress different? Why didn't he
quit skating and take up wrestling?
Skating only seemed to make him
an outcast.
But that's how it was. He was sep-
arate from others. He wasn't so con-
scious about himself that he made
fun of others, like the pigskin play-
ers. He wasn't afraid of different
people like the girls. He wasn't prej-
udiced against people like the
teacher and the gangsters. And he
sure as hell wasn't so full of pride
that he'd fight somebody he didn't
even know over nothing in a lunch
room. He saw no purpose in the
things the other kids did, and until
he did he'd remain just as he was.
He didn't care if it wasn't cool to
skate in his town. He was different
from the rest only because he fol-
lowed himself for his style, not what
he saw on MTV
NATHAN CARY
MATTHEWS, NC
ERIC TRIPLECC
WRIGHTWOOD, SA)
PFC LOREN BENTLY
SAUDI ARABIA
JESSE BIRCH
WALES, JAK
ROB DURAND
DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA
KOVI LIMDEN
HOMER, AK
SHEILAS FROM HELL
PINECREST, CA
ncisco
FRIEDERIKE HOFFMAN
ESSEN, GERMANY