THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 18, 1996 TAG: 9605180279
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: CHARLISE LYLES
LENGTH: Short : 47 lines
The next generation of literary lights is indeed being born.
Norview teacher Linda Parks, in charge of the event, had asked me along with six others to judge the competition. I was pleasantly stunned by the caliber of the work.
I found such gems as this one in the first-place essay by Michal Leamer of Maury High School:
``The magical thing about little girls is that they can't wait to grow up: to have a family, to have some outstanding job like being a doctor, to have four kids (two of whom must be twins), and to have a successful career as a ballerina on the side. Yes, those 9-year-old waifs have quite high expectations for themselves. And how do they foresee all of these glorious events? Through their Barbie dolls, of course.''
And this one from Granby High School's Amber Wiley. It took first-place for descriptive sketch:
``With a turn of the rusty crank the old music box squeaks to life, churning out the familiar melody. The delicate clinks and bells tumble out, filling the room. The notes chase each other through the air,quickly at first, but gradually slower. The music box winds down and the notes stop abruptly mid-song. The box waits patiently for someone to turn the crank once more.''
Just as I had done as a teenager, oh so many years ago, many students had discovered writing as a tool to cope with life's dirty deals. They wrote through the pain of divorce, a runaway sister, an unemployed father, a dying brother, the shooting death of a friend.
``I write for myself,'' said LaToya Stanley, a Norview sophomore who won third place for descriptive writing.
And over lunch, students like Gina Ginn, a Norview senior, assured me that TV hasn't tuned her and other students off to good old reading and writing.
``It doesn't take as much time to write a poem or jot down a thought as it does to watch a TV show,'' said Ginn, a self-described expert on writer Charlotte Bronte. ``TV seems so superficial sometimes. It doesn't ever seem to get very intricate, the way life really is.''
Only literature allows for such, said Ginn.
Emily Dickinson is still right. ``There is no frigate like a book.'' by CNB