Dylan Read It To Me.
Dylan went up to his room after school one evening, closed his door, and turned on some kind of goth metal music – full blast – so that I was a bit irritated downstairs.
I did not go upstairs, or ask him to turn it down. Usually when the music is cranked to that point of obnoxiousness, Dylan is doing homework.
More than an hour went by, and Dylan came downstairs.
“I finished my essay,” he said. “But I can’t turn it in.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m not sure if the format is okay. I kind of wrote it in poem format instead of paragraphs. It’s more of a song than an essay. But it’s supposed to be a speech, not really an essay, so it might be okay.”
“A speech? Is it due tomorrow?”
“Yeah,” he said. “But I need to ask the teacher if it’s okay.”
“You need to turn it in now,” I said. “And then ask the teacher if the format is okay.”
“I am going to ask the teacher first,” Dylan said. “I don’t want her to grade it if it’s totally wrong.”
“Whatever, Dylan,” I said. “Do you have to read it in class? I mean, if it’s a speech?”
“Yeah,” he said. “And I don’t know how I’m going to do that either.”
“Do you want to read it to me? Maybe I can tell you if it will work. Do you have a rubric?”
“No,” he said. “But here, I’ll read it to you.”
Dylan read it to me.
I started to cry.
It was a deeply personal, powerful, moving work filled with deep, painful angst.
“That’s really good, Dylan,” I choked. “I can’t imagine she wouldn’t accept that.”
“Well, I’ll ask her,” he said.
She accepted it in its original form.
For several days, I didn’t hear about him reading his speech in class. I wasn’t sure if everyone read their speeches aloud, or if Dylan had ever even submitted it.
Then, from school one day, Dylan texted me: “I was voted most recommended for the oratorical contest in AP Lang because of my speech.”
“OMG!!!!” I texted back, breaking my cardinal rule about too many exclamation points. “I was just wondering about your speech. I am so proud of you!!!”
He texted back: “But should I do the contest?”
Dylan actually didn’t know if it was a good idea to take his now-award-winning speech to the next level.
“OMG YES!!!!”
I hope that Dylan understands that all the exclamation points were positive feedback – that he earned something wonderful here, and that he has an opportunity to step out of his normal realm into an unexpected limelight, even if it’s only for a few minutes.
“It’s just really weird,” he said. “It’s just not, like, something I ever expected to do.”
Dylan was recognized for something other than music.
But three days have passed, and Dylan still hasn’t remembered to tell his teacher that he will be in the competition.
I am picking him up early from school today, and we are not leaving the school grounds until he does.