It's not often someone can pick up a book and read his or
her own reflections on crossing from adolescence into adulthood. J.D. Salinger
qualifies. And, now, so do Melrose High School grads Shana Onigman and Amanda
O'Laughlin.
Both 22-year-old women, recently graduated from
college and making their way in the world, had writing selections chosen for the
book, Teen Ink: Our Voices, Our Visions. The book is a compilation of teen
reflections, short stories and essays published by Health Communications Inc. of
Deerfield Beach, Fla. The publisher culled final selections came from over
300,000 submissions to Teen Ink Magazine over the past 11 years.
Onigman and O'Laughlin made to the compilation via different routes. Onigman
wrote regularly and had several pieces selected for the magazine.
O'Laughlin related one life-changing event and was
done.
"Most of the kids who submitted weren't writers
per se," explained Onigman. "But they were people who had something to
share, a life experience."
In that sense, O'Laughlin was the
more typical Teen Ink contributor. Her lone essay, "Exit: My Hero,"
relates her experience of watching and nursing her once-active uncle -
an uncle who took her shopping and sightseeing in the city, "to the
opening of the new Tower Records" - as he lived with and then died of
AIDS." I never wanted to be a writer. It was my own therapy, about
getting through it without really knowing how," she
said.
Onigman, on the other hand, made numerous
contributions to the magazine during her high school years and it played
a pivotal role in her choice to study writing at Bennington College. "I
was so excited to get my first story published. I think it was about a
falcon. I think it was in 1993. I read it in English class and, back then,
you got a $10 check. At 13 that's such a big deal."
In
addition to finding an outlet for her urge and ambition to write, Onigman said
the magazine was a great way for her to meet other teens. "Kids would
write in response to what you wrote and I would write back. I developed
some good, six-year friendships through the magazine," said
Onigman.
The piece selected for the book surprised Onigman. "I
didn't really like it that much," she said. The short story, "Ophelia
and Me," places the main character driving a car and discussing various
aspects of going insane with a passenger. An O. Henry twist at the end
of the story then compels the reader to rethink the story
completely.
"I had just read a lot of stuff that seemed to
include insanity," Onigman explained. "That's where Ophelia comes
from. And I was just learning to drive and I was afraid of driving. I
was wishing I could do it because of the freedom of driving, but I was
scared. Then I started thinking, 'What if I could have that independence.'"
When asked if the prospect of driving and taking on new
responsibility was a possible allegory for growing up, Onigman paused
for a moment and then smiled, "I'd never thought of it that way. I
didn't write it that way intentionally."
For O'Laughlin, the
essay on her uncle's death became only part of her grieving process and
commitment to her uncle's memory." I learned a lot from Jay and his
acceptance of his death," said O'Laughlin. At one point in the essay, she
discusses the concept of telling her uncle it was "OK to die."
Today, six years later, the idea surprises her. "Now, at 22,
I don't remember thinking that at that age. I didn't realize I had
evolved there yet. I was surprised with myself," O'Laughlin
said.
O'Laughlin does remember Jay's inspiration, of how he
lived until his death. She wrote: "Jay had decided early that he would
not let AIDS lick him. He went to schools to teach kids the dangers of
this disease, spoke at conferences, worked with the AIDS Action
Committee and, most of all, worked with our family."
In turn,
the family made a pledge to keep working for AIDS causes. "We still do
the walk for life every year, even my grandmother at 86. The little we
do is the best we can do," said O'Laughlin.
During her
high school years, O'Laughlin spoke about AIDS to the health classes
since they didn't have an official AIDS speaker to come speak to the
class. "I got a lot of homophobic reaction, especially from the guys,"
she remembers. There was also a lot of denial, classifying AIDS as a "gay disease," and those who thought Jay had deserved his death because
of his own choices.
O'Laughlin persevered, never saying how her
uncle had contracted the virus. "I didn't want people to get hung up on
that. I just wanted them to see that I was here and I was someone who
had lost somebody she loved very much to this disease. It was difficult
to see the stereotyping and the prejudice, but if I reached one person
it was enough for me."
Though she studied theater and
anthropology in college, O'Laughlin now works at the Visiting Nurses
Association and is considering a career in some form of health care. "Acting isn't a profession that makes much of a difference," she
said.
Onigman seems similarly disaffected with her courses of
study in college: writing and theater. "I don't even keep my journal
anymore. I was in London studying and I saw, like, 40 plays and I just
didn't think any of them were any good. Saying someone else's lines or
someone saying my lines ... I just lost interest."
Another
interest has taken root for Onigman. She hopes to become a cantor - a
profession, that in a way, combines theater, writing and her vocal talent which
she pursued as a serious hobby in college." I sang for three years
during the high holidays at my temple and I enjoyed it very much. And I
began thinking, 'What if I became a cantor?' I've had a revelation that
this is where I belong."
"It was easy for her to be dreamy.
It's always easy to be dreamy on a rainy October day if you're in the
passenger seat. If you're in the driver's seat, you've got to watch the
road, and you can't just dream and wonder about anything, unless you've
got really good car insurance and not much interest in seeing tomorrow."
-- Shana Onigman, from her short story "Ophelia and Me," in
the book, Teen Ink: Our Voices, Our Visions.
"Although it has been hard since he died, I have thought a lot about how
Jay affected my life. He taught me about love, strength, and courage. If
it weren't for him, I would not have been strong enough to make it
through. He was and always will be my hero. No one in the world could
have had more courage."
-- Amanda O'Laughlin, from her essay, "Exit: My Hero," in the book, Teen Ink: Our Voices, Our Visions.
Teen Ink PO Box 30 Newton, MA 02461 (617) 964-6800 editor@teenink.com
Copyright 2008 by Teen Ink, The 21st Century and The Young Authors Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced,
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permission of the publisher: The Young Authors Foundation, Inc.
Teen Ink is a national teen magazine, book and website featuring
teen writing, information, art, photos, poetry, teen issues and more. All
articles are written by teen authors who are students at schools. The monthly
print magazine is appropriate for any teenager -- teenagers age 13 to 19
attending secondary school: junior high school, middle school and high school.
This publication is used by professional people including English teachers,
writing teachers, language arts instructors, journalism teachers, school
newspaper advisors, librarians, guidance counselors, K-12 principals in addition
to the PTA or PTO. Each issue of Teen Ink magazine contains a wide variety of
student work: we publish nonfiction, fiction, poems, community service, sports,
heroes, interviews, college essays, college reviews, book reviews, concert
reviews, movie reviews, music reviews, video reviews, video game reviews, the
environment, opinion, sports, pets, cars, automobiles, travel and culture, jobs
and money, health issues, artwork, photographs, cartoons, short stories, essays,
writing contests, a college directory and the website also has a bulletin board
and resources for teens and educators. Subjects include racism,
eating disorders, depression, death, suicide, family, relationships, jobs,
grandparents, violence, the college process, college information, colleges,
driving, self esteem, the arts, movies and more. Teen Ink is also a book series
published by HCI Teens. Subjects covered in the book include Friends, Fitting In,
Love, Challenges, Family, Heroes, Loss and Memories. Teen Ink was established in
1989 as The 21st Century magazine by The Young Authors Foundation, a nonprofit
organization. More than 25,000 teens have been published in the magazine and its
companion Poetry Journal. Teen Ink runs a London Summer Program for teenage writers.
