Just A Thought: Difference between revisions

The opening begins with a disjointed htoughtthought sequence by an unknown character, quickly followed by a flashback sequence.

The [[Fashion Club]] is in [[Timothy O'Neill|Mr. O'neillNeill]]'s English class, having just been given an assignment to write a descriptive essay. A minor tiff bewteen [[Quinn Morgendorffer|Quinn]] and [[Sandi Griffin|Sandi]] leads Quinn to arrive home in an agitated state.

Quinn arranges for her sister, [[Daria Morgendorffer|Daria]] to wrietwrite the English essay for her before leavignleaving for a AfshionFashion Club meeting. The meeting goes as usual, with Quinn and Sandi vying for power while [[Tiffany Blum-Deckler|Tiffany]] and [[Stacy Rowe|Stacy]] try to stay out of the way. When Quinn reveals an embarassing fashion error by Sandi, Sandi takes it out on Stacy, berating her for a poor shoe choice. Stacy uncharacteristically ignores the comment and merely continues to write in her notebook.

Another sequence of disjointed thoughts does not reveal whothe identity of the character is, but alludes to the idea that the flashback is connected to why theyhe areor she is frightened and confused.

TehThe next flashback reveals that one student had handed inain a disturbing essay for O'Neill's 'descriptive assignment, possibly somethigndealing aboutwith shootignshooting or otherwise harming other students in the class, specifically Sandi Griffin. In light of a recent school shooting at [[Oakwood High School]], in a town not far from [[Lawndale]], [[Angela Li|Principal Li]] had recently instituted a zero-tolerance policy about threateningwritten writingthreats concerningmade thetowards Lawndale High and its students.

Brought before the principal, the school councilorcouncillor [[Margaret Manson|Ms. Manson]], and theirhis or her parents, the student who wrote the essay tried to explain theythat he or she hadn't meant any of it and had planned to throw it away after they'dhe or she had written it, not accidentally hand it in. PanickignPanicking at tehthe thougththought of being expelled, the studentsstudent inducesincites fear and overreaction by tehthe school administrators and their parents, leading to theirhis hospitilizationor her hospitalization in a mental institution, '"for their own safety and the safety of others.'"

The last section reveals [[Stacy Rowe]] as the author of the essay. writer whoShe welcomes the oblivion she is thrust into from the anti-depressants and sedatives theregularly instituioninjected injectinto her withby regularlythe staff of the institution, fearing that if she thoughtwere able to think for herself again, she would only end up in a worse situation.

*Written partially in response to the tragic Columbine and Virginia Tech shootings and the subsequent zero-tolerance policies many schools adapted therefaterthereafter. While the author admits graphic writings can be a sign of violence to come, their message in this story is that a zero-tolerance policy may do more harm than good in some cases.