If I’m a nerd,
By Maria Monsell
what are you?I hate being called a nerd bird! What's up with that? Sure, I do get good grades and I do my work, but how does that qualify me as a nerd?
Sometimes I sit there and take the harassment and try not to sink down to their level of stereotyping and name-calling, but after awhile I just can't hold it in any longer. I usually snap back with a label that consists of more colorful words, if you know what I mean.
Sometimes I think that maybe it's my whole persona that gives people the idea that I'm a nerd. But when I analyze myself, it doesn't make sense to me. I dress like everybody else, I play sports and I'm friendly.
Reflecting on my situation angers me because I've come to realize that I'm an ordinary teen-ager, just like those who pick on me.
The thing that really gets me is the fact that there are people in my advanced classes that are equally smart, if not smarter than I am, and they don't get teased. Of course those people are good-looking. It seems to me that popular people can't be nerds.
I'm pretty good at sports. Some students in my school can't even run or kick a ball without falling on their butts. Most of them are frail little wusses afraid of breaking a sweat, and no one picks on them. Why do I get the attention?
I wish there were a way to change the image I've established. I've had it since my elementary school years and I don't know how to get rid of it.
The main thing is that I'm happy with who I am and if other students want to label me, that's their problem. If I had to lower my standards to fit in with their little cliques I'd rather stab myself to death with a spoon.
I have the rest of my life ahead of me and hopefully, I won't ever see these people after I graduate.
Graffiti vandals
By Briah Gere
are not coolDRIVING around, you expect to look around and see scenery, but when I was driving down Kaukunahoa Road from Wahiawa to Waialua I was shocked to see graffiti.
Vandals may think graffiti's cool, but others, like me, think it's ugly and irritating.
I think graffiti shows how insecure the vandals are. They feel they need to do this so their peers think they're "cool" and "hard core." This gets them the attention they lack in other areas of their lives.
If the vandals were truly hard core they would put their names and addresses up on a wall because they wouldn't be afraid of the consequences.
The only thing graffiti really does is impose on the public. Innocent people end up doing the clean-up work, which isn't fair.
Vandals who are caught should have to paint over all the graffiti in the area. If not, they, not their parents, should pay for all of it to be painted. Then they should have to make a public apology for defacing the community.
Hopefully, all this will make them stop. If not, they need more punishment, such as attending counseling sessions, paying a fine and doing community service.
Many of the vandals are good artists. Since it is hard to catch vandals, the city should create a place where anyone can write, draw or paint, as long as the art does not contain profanity, slurs or gang-related messages.
People should be able to express themselves in a productive way. Hopefully, this would open a creative door for some and keep them off the streets and in school where they should be.
With an approved outlet, these artists could be proud of their work and get the respect they may deserve.
Maria Monsell and Briah Gere are juniors at Waialua High School. Rant & Rave is a Tuesday Star-Bulletin feature
allowing those 12 to 22 to serve up fresh perspectives.
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