The Unbearable Lightness of Adolescence
| 1 octubre 2011The goal of this piece of writing (according to the teacher’s guidelines) is to reflect on something that has happened to us. Ha. If they want any writing of any quality don’t tell us to reflect. I write for either the pure imagery and flow of narrative, or to (and this is generally the case of stuff for school) get good marks by being pissy and critical and sarcastic in a generally smart-asinine and grandiloquent way. It impresses teachers.
The message of this essay: don’t make people write about their “feelings” unless they are either remarkably good writers or extremely insightful. The probability of someone being a Great Writer is very low, and insight-fulness and adolescence are practically polar opposites. We don’t even know who the frig we are, so how on Earth are we supposed to write about it?
Let me give you a summary of what most of these writings will be like. There will be two options: happy, and sad.
Happy.
1. Tells how something nice happened to them/something abstract but good and doubtlessly unoriginal. Like friendship, or something. Something topical that the teachers will like and will make the other people who read the blog think you’re a nice person
2. Adjectives.
3. Exclamation marks.
4. Cheesy-gripping pseudo-deep final paragraph. The sort of revelation the characters in the worse sort of children books generally have on the second-last page.
Sad.
1. Tells how something sad happened to them/something abstract but sad and doubtlessly unoriginal. Like how no one understands you, or something. Something topical that the teachers will like and will make the other people who read the blog think you’re really deep.
2. Adjectives.
3. Three dots. (What are those things even called?)
4. Cheesy heart-wringing pseudo-deep final paragraph. Either similar to the type of poetry you wrote in high school or an “always look on the bright side of life” thing.
There. Oh, and if any of the writings don’t coincide with my summary I’ll have to conclude that their authors can actually write well. I take no responsibility whatsoever for any of that ridiculous lack of consideration for me and my list on their part.
I personally believe that the existence of the aforementioned quality of writing is due in part to the kids regurgitating whatever they think the teachers will like. Also laziness. But mostly I think teenagers take themselves far too seriously. I am physically incapable of taking myself seriously at all. I laugh at myself internally ALL THE TIME.
But honestly. I get to the point where I dislike the fact that I like the music that I like (Bowie! Springsteen! Dylan! Lou Reed! Amanda Palmer!) because I kind of half feel that it means that I’ll hate it as an adult. And I don’t WANT to hate Ziggy Stardust.
I also stay a far away from poetry and poetry-writing as possible. How freaking clichéd can you get?
I don’t keep a diary partly because I’m lazy, but partly because I know it’s going to be painful to look back on how stupid I am now. But on the other hand, I sometimes get disapointed about the fact that adults can be just as petty and ridiculous and spiteful and superficial and pointless and selfish and irritating and stupid as some people I have to deal with now. But I guess that’s just humanity.
The way I see it, everyone is both confident and insecure at the same time. No, it’s not a paradox. We just feel those ways on different levels. There is an unpleasant type of person who believes that people are constantly judging them (they are) and that it matters (it doesn’t). Simultaneously, they believe that what that feel is utterly unique and special and that no one, like, even understands them, like, at all.
Pfft. There are millions of people who are having that same ideas and thoughts as me. There are millions of people who are having the same ideas and thought as you. There are millions of people who are thinking that millions of people are having the same thoughts and ideas as them. There are millions of people you are thinking that there are millions of people who are thinking that millions of people are having the same thoughts and ideas as them.
And on, and on and on, ad infinitum. Trust me. If we were all original thinkers there’d be a lot more psychopaths and we’d be much farther ahead. Also, art wouldn’t work.
Personally, I try to be cynical and conscious of the utter unoriginality of my mind, but I’m confident and happy in my self-ridicule.
Hmm. I’m getting sick of writing this. I’d better finish up before I start getting inflammatory and using four-letter words. So here it goes- the famous last paragraph. Summing up my misanthropic rambles. I’m gonna try to steer away from cheesiness and pseudo-anythingness. Aaaand so… here goes…
LIGHTEN THE EFF UP, FOLKS.
Natalia.
Natàlia,
Uff!!!
Em sembla que he entès el que expliques, però t’hauré de demanar una traducció pas a pas, per què no estic gens segur que no se m’hagin escapat els matissos, les ironies, els doble sentits… El meu anglès no dona per tant, i em sap molt de greu, creu-me. I suposo que ja entens que difícilment et puc ensenyar res d’escriure si no et puc llegir bé, així que haurem de parlar de la qüestió lingüística!
Al que he anat entenent hi ha idees alhora divertides i profundes. M’ha agradat molt!.
Pel que fa a la forma, m’he hagut de limitar a passar el corrector ortogràfic, i això m’ha pèrmès rectificar unes quantes faltes d’ortografia. Si més no, això em permet fer un primer comentari sobre la “forma” d’escriure: no pots donar per llest un escrit sense una bona revisió a fons! El que importa és la qualitat, no la quantitat.
Natàlia, penso que tens molt a dir, i que pots dir-ho molt bé, així que, sobretot, no deixis d’escriure. Què et sembla si el proper és en català? En parlarem, d’acord?
Fins al proper escrit
Josep Maria