'Red' gets inside teen girls' minds
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7/16/2008 - 6/17/08
Everyone has a story, whether it is a grandfather's story of struggle and triumph or a child's story of a hysterical event at school. But many times, the most interesting stories and adventures take place inside the minds of those who remain silent. Sometimes the greatest happenings are those left untold.In the case of the book Red: The Next Generation of American Writers — Teenage Girls — On What Fires Up Their Lives Today, editor Amy Goldwasser did not allow this to happen to the bright young authors who played the largest part in this book's creation. This book is a compilation of 58 essays, all written by teenage girls. Topics range from "Various Thoughts on Beauty" to miscellaneous essays such as "The Depth of Depp" (on Johnny Depp).
The diversity of this book seems to parallel the lives of the girls who wrote the essays and those of its readers. It can go from light-hearted to complex and explains how the two can so perfectly intertwine. It also allows people to attach names and lives to the issues that many teens face.
If this weren't enough, it almost seems as though all teen girls could relate personally to one of Red's writers. Emily-Nicole Johns, 19, wrote, "My home may look nothing like the rest of the dead's but all of my realities, everything I'd had to say, drowned in the floods of Hurricane Katrina. I am aware of the offense, mourning pieces of paper when all those people and pieces and people ... Yet my boxes of crying sisters and cotton clouds were demolished, and my heart was crushed. I never wanted to write again." This passage almost made me cry, and there are many others with the potential for that kind of impact.
I recommend this book to teens and those who wish to get into the minds of teens. As a writer, this composition can inspire you, but as a teen, it seems to do much more. This book will possibly let you see that no, you are not the most horrible person in the world for doing that, and yes, a lot of people think that way.
Johns began her essay with "I understand that I am misunderstood." But this book may possibly show you that perhaps you are not so misunderstood after all.
Rebecca Gonzales is a junior at Capital High School. You can reach her at nellybly22@gmail.com.
