Get Me Out of This Bamboo Cage

By James Bordewick

If the average, everyday person were to ask me, "Hey, James what is your own personal hell?" I would pretend to think awhile, then reply "A never ending rap/country/technopop concert sponsored by KCLD."

This is a lie.

Although it would be an excruciating experience, it pales in comparison to the brutal, savage, primordial environment of my real hell that my friends know as North Junior High School.

It is the most childish, hypocrisy filled area that I have ever had the displeasure to encounter. Where unprovoked violence and savagely instinctive behavior reigns. A place where intellegance is a crime against nature. An environment that claims to be liberal, but for every positive aspect of the school, there are two drawbacks, which either cancel out the positive, or miraculously enough, make it actually a burden.

For most of my school life there, I haven't understood what the hell is going on. It seems like a chaotic mass of negative vibes. After a lengthy period of reflection, (and a view of how things function at Apollo), I believe that I have stumbled upon the secret of why it is such a negative environment. I may be miles off, but please, bear with me on this one.

The cause of the aura of crappiness in most (pre)teenagers is their rampaging hormones. The changes taking place in their bodies lowers their self-esteem. It is, in a subconscious way, creating stress by changing the schedule that they are cquainted with. All it takes is a few insecure people to spread it to the general populace.

Unfortunately, these people believe that if someone is even remotely different, then they pose a threat, because there is a possibility that they are better in some way than that person. So in part, it is sort of a jealousy/paranoia thing going on there. These are the same people that go on to become homophobic, sexist, and racist.

Luckily, there is a flip side of this. For most it is not a permanent condition, I know this from my almost daily sojourn to Apollo. Much of the time they mock those who are different because they themselves were mocked. I honestly believe that 98% of these people wouldn't do it if they only understood how harsh they can be. And yes, there are a few people who can stand it on their own, or band together to repel assaults from all sides.

All you need do to find someone who is capable of this is look in a mirror. Adults many times will try to help, but all it does in effect it in some obscure way, or even worse, it backfires. So, my advice to adults is this; keep away, we can handle ourselves.

I guess my time is up, although I've barely scratched the surface. Hopefully, this zine will have another issue, so I have another chance to vent myself. Let me know what you think.

Til next time, keep the cheese acomin'.