In the beginning, there was the Word...(John 1:1) and then there was Word 2011. Seven blooming middle schoolers had a spark of creativity to light the passionate fires of literature inside all of us. We began as a simple school newspaper, working day and night to become school sanctioned. We went paper-free and online. We typed furiously at our computers, desperately trying to make enough articles for our beloved school. And we even gave away our writing powers to school officials, emailing our articles so as to be censored before published...But that was one step too far.
Our freedom gone, the independence lost, and the power of free press relinquished, the writers for our original tribal newspaper, On the Wing, had the writing fire inside of them drowned by the stifling effects of bureaucracy and school officiating. No longer did writing come easily to them, like the bee to the flower; no, each word was a burden on our Word processor, a burden on our creativity and innovation, choking the life out of each article. Our school newspaper dreams were squashed, and remained that way for the rest of our middle school career. But somehow, in the remains of our broken vision, was the idea that we maybe, could just maybe, make a newspaper for our selves. School free. Censorship free. Burden free. And independent. Like America separating from Britain.
We made our own Constitution, like the founding fathers, and listed our goals for this future newspaper. And like the founders, we argued incessantly about what we were to do, or what we would be called. For weeks no compromise could be reached. Decision, then indecision, wracked each meeting. Even a focused conference at Edwards Cinema, after relaxing with an amazing movie, led to no agreement. Finally, rising out of the ashes of our burnt out arguments, a bright young man, named of Gokul, discovered a name no one could deride, dispute, or even discuss, because no one but Gokul could understand it. The newspaper would be named, The Tellury.
To be continued...
The King
Our freedom gone, the independence lost, and the power of free press relinquished, the writers for our original tribal newspaper, On the Wing, had the writing fire inside of them drowned by the stifling effects of bureaucracy and school officiating. No longer did writing come easily to them, like the bee to the flower; no, each word was a burden on our Word processor, a burden on our creativity and innovation, choking the life out of each article. Our school newspaper dreams were squashed, and remained that way for the rest of our middle school career. But somehow, in the remains of our broken vision, was the idea that we maybe, could just maybe, make a newspaper for our selves. School free. Censorship free. Burden free. And independent. Like America separating from Britain.
We made our own Constitution, like the founding fathers, and listed our goals for this future newspaper. And like the founders, we argued incessantly about what we were to do, or what we would be called. For weeks no compromise could be reached. Decision, then indecision, wracked each meeting. Even a focused conference at Edwards Cinema, after relaxing with an amazing movie, led to no agreement. Finally, rising out of the ashes of our burnt out arguments, a bright young man, named of Gokul, discovered a name no one could deride, dispute, or even discuss, because no one but Gokul could understand it. The newspaper would be named, The Tellury.
To be continued...
The King