Black and White and Gray All Over Read Online Free Page B
Author: Rachel Wise
and hugged me sideways. âThanks! I will. Youâll love it. I promise.â
Jenna came up and we said hi, and then with a pang, I watched them walk off together. Jenna and Hailey. Michael and Miss Big. I pulled my clipboard out of my locker, snagged a pen from my messenger bag, and went to interview kids outside school about the idea of uniforms.
Itâs funny, but even though Iâm naturally kind of shy, when Iâm reporting for an article, Iâm not shy at all. Itâs like I have the Cherry Valley Voice to hide behind, so itâs not really me whoâs doing the interviewing and stuff; Iâm just the mouthpiece for the paper. It gives me courage.
Like, normally I wouldnât approach kids I donât know outside school, but today it was no problem. I pinned on this big press badge that Mr. Trigg had given me at one point, and I was good to go. Then, with my pen in hand, I stopped kids and asked them questions Iâd come up with during math class when I was supposed to be listening to the teacher. They were:
â¢Â How would you feel if our school adopted uniforms?
â¢Â If you are for it or wouldnât mind, what kind would you like to have?
â¢Â If you are against it, why?
â¢Â Do you have any other comments youâd like to add?
Kids were pretty willing to speak out on the subject, and the interesting thing was that most of the girls were for it and the boys were against it. I asked one really popular girl, Della Pollen, and she thought it would be a good idea because then she wouldnât have to worry about what to wear in the mornings. Another girl, Trina Jones, said if we had uniforms then she could save money or spend it on other things instead of trying to buy trendy clothes for school. Two girls who were dressed really cool said theyâd hate uniforms, and I could easily see why, though one pointed out that if we had a uniform sheâd never be late again, since it wouldnât take so long to get dressed in the morning! This was turning out to be a surprising assignment.
A quiet girl named Pam from my language arts class said it would be a good equalizer, so the nerdy and the cool and the kids who spent a lot and those who couldnât would all look the same and we could judge people on themselves rather than their clothes. I thought that was a really good answer, but she didnât want her quote to be used for attribution, which in reporter-speak means I could use it but not say who said it.
The girls who were âforâ uniforms all thought a plain skirt maybe in gray flannel material plus a solid-colored polo shirt or blouse on top would be just right, with some footwear restrictions but not requirements.
But the boys I interviewed were not into the idea of uniforms at all. Tommy Sheehan felt that the boy uniform options were dorkyâties, flannel pants, blazers, and button-down shirts were not appealing at all. Santi Diaz said that boy uniforms looked uncomfortable and like theyâd restrict his movements. Kevin Kurtz didnât like the idea of being told what to wear because it was unconstitutional and threatened his freedom of expression.I put a star next to his answer; I thought that was a really good point.
Other people I talked with told little anecdotes about their cousins who had to wear uniforms or friends they knew at private or parochial schools who had them. Some kids swore the uniform wearers hated it; others said for sure they loved it. It seemed kind of evenly split. I made a mental note to have Hailey help me do a poll on Buddybook to get a broader idea of what people thought. (I hate Buddybook because I think itâs a time suck, but itâs good for stuff like this. Thatâs why I donât have my own account anymore. I just use Haileyâs or Michaelâs if I need it for research.) In all, Iâd interviewed about fifteen kids, pretty evenly split between boys and girls, and I had some
Jenna came up and we said hi, and then with a pang, I watched them walk off together. Jenna and Hailey. Michael and Miss Big. I pulled my clipboard out of my locker, snagged a pen from my messenger bag, and went to interview kids outside school about the idea of uniforms.
Itâs funny, but even though Iâm naturally kind of shy, when Iâm reporting for an article, Iâm not shy at all. Itâs like I have the Cherry Valley Voice to hide behind, so itâs not really me whoâs doing the interviewing and stuff; Iâm just the mouthpiece for the paper. It gives me courage.
Like, normally I wouldnât approach kids I donât know outside school, but today it was no problem. I pinned on this big press badge that Mr. Trigg had given me at one point, and I was good to go. Then, with my pen in hand, I stopped kids and asked them questions Iâd come up with during math class when I was supposed to be listening to the teacher. They were:
â¢Â How would you feel if our school adopted uniforms?
â¢Â If you are for it or wouldnât mind, what kind would you like to have?
â¢Â If you are against it, why?
â¢Â Do you have any other comments youâd like to add?
Kids were pretty willing to speak out on the subject, and the interesting thing was that most of the girls were for it and the boys were against it. I asked one really popular girl, Della Pollen, and she thought it would be a good idea because then she wouldnât have to worry about what to wear in the mornings. Another girl, Trina Jones, said if we had uniforms then she could save money or spend it on other things instead of trying to buy trendy clothes for school. Two girls who were dressed really cool said theyâd hate uniforms, and I could easily see why, though one pointed out that if we had a uniform sheâd never be late again, since it wouldnât take so long to get dressed in the morning! This was turning out to be a surprising assignment.
A quiet girl named Pam from my language arts class said it would be a good equalizer, so the nerdy and the cool and the kids who spent a lot and those who couldnât would all look the same and we could judge people on themselves rather than their clothes. I thought that was a really good answer, but she didnât want her quote to be used for attribution, which in reporter-speak means I could use it but not say who said it.
The girls who were âforâ uniforms all thought a plain skirt maybe in gray flannel material plus a solid-colored polo shirt or blouse on top would be just right, with some footwear restrictions but not requirements.
But the boys I interviewed were not into the idea of uniforms at all. Tommy Sheehan felt that the boy uniform options were dorkyâties, flannel pants, blazers, and button-down shirts were not appealing at all. Santi Diaz said that boy uniforms looked uncomfortable and like theyâd restrict his movements. Kevin Kurtz didnât like the idea of being told what to wear because it was unconstitutional and threatened his freedom of expression.I put a star next to his answer; I thought that was a really good point.
Other people I talked with told little anecdotes about their cousins who had to wear uniforms or friends they knew at private or parochial schools who had them. Some kids swore the uniform wearers hated it; others said for sure they loved it. It seemed kind of evenly split. I made a mental note to have Hailey help me do a poll on Buddybook to get a broader idea of what people thought. (I hate Buddybook because I think itâs a time suck, but itâs good for stuff like this. Thatâs why I donât have my own account anymore. I just use Haileyâs or Michaelâs if I need it for research.) In all, Iâd interviewed about fifteen kids, pretty evenly split between boys and girls, and I had some
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