Best Work
1. The Tale of Erasertape Jackie
He’s cleared the streets at night, that Jackie.
Now all fear the breadsword wielding boogeyman,
That he has become,
Sealing his victims lips with correctional tape,
And writing his messages in crimson ink.
The night belongs to me.
“Don’t go out after midnight,” parents and authorities say
“Or Erasertape Jackie will take you,
And you will never see the light of day.”
All windows boarded and all doors locked,
Even though they are useless.
Nothing can stop me.
Nobody knows what happens when he catches you.
Sometimes, a person disappears from the streets,
At times for days, weeks, months, even a whole year,
Before their body is found floating on the lake,
Tied down to the old Dockcar Museum.
Nobody sees me coming.
They show no signs of struggle,
Even when he toyed with them.
Their skin is always pale,
And their eyes are often open,
As if fear had frozen them solid.
Nobody escapes me.
Every few years, when the new blood comes of age,
When the young, energetic and rebellious as they are,
Fail to heed the warnings of the elders,
He will strike once again,
Adding yet another exhibit to his exhibition.
Playtime is over.
Sneaking out at night to party and make merry,
They fail to realize just what danger they’re in
“That old killers long gone” they say.
“We’ll all be safe if we stick together” they say.
Yet, they are all so wrong.
So young. So naive.
So they traverse under the darkness of night,
Not aware that he’s watching from the shadows
Assuming they are safe in groups
Not realizing that, to Erasertape Jackie,
It doesn’t matter to if there’s more than one person.
I only need one.
Honestly, this was the first work that popped into my head for this.
The Tale of Erasertape Jackie is a poem I wrote for English class back in 11th grade, and since then it has served as one of my greatest victories that year.
I’ve always had an idea of what I wanted to write. My laptop is literally filled with story ideas, character bios, and individual files dedicated to stories I’ve tried to write. Tried. The biggest problem for me is that I tend to hit roadblocks rather quickly: sometimes it’s writer’s block, sometimes I just lose track, sometimes I get lazy, and sometimes I just can't keep up with my own expectations. Hence why most of the stories and files are incomplete or empty: I gave up at some point or another.
The Tale of Erasertape Jackie, however, was a work I couldn’t let up on. Of course I hit mental roadblocks, procrastinating or getting frustrated with my inability to meet some standard I’d set for myself. Yet this wasn’t one of my freetime short stories or attempted series of fanfiction, this was homework, homework that just so happened to be in a class I really enjoyed. So I stuck with it.
The result of sticking with it long enough was astounding: I eventually got to the point where that single perfect idea came into my head, and I was on a roll after that. Literally nothing could stop me at this point. Soon enough I’d crafted a lengthy poem telling the tale of a notorious serial killer, whose methods would seem childish and unworthy of attention if not for the sheer amount of confidence and, more disturbingly, success he has displayed.
I think it's best I go on to the next project, before I literally go on a tangent about this work.
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2. The Timeline Poster
At the end of my 11th grade school year in Biology, Patricia announced an end of year group project. The project in question was to create a timeline of the Earth’s biological history, from the dawn of oxygen-producing bacteria to the age of obscure small mammals and onwards. We were to include illustrations of organisms from these periods and events, most of them required to be hand drawn. Of course we’d all seen this coming: the more exemplary posters from past students had become decorations on the wall. All were well illustrated and on mark with time periods and events, admittedly making this all a bit intimidating. Fortunately my group, a three-man team if I’m correct, was fairly competent.
I’m going to just get this part out of the way: The Timeline Poster is not on the list because it is the best quality of work I have, nor is it on her because of how it contributed to my grade. Now I’m not saying it was an outright failure, either: the grade my group got was of decent level, even if the resulting quality of the work was slightly lacking. In the end, it’s here because it taught me something very important.
My group decided to divvy up the work of drawing images, which we would cut out and paste on, amongst ourselves. We set deadlines, prepped the poster in the meantime, and essentially carried on as we always did in group projects.
Then the issue came up: one of us fell short right before the deadline. I’m not going to name names or point fingers, because honestly I don’t really see a point to it. I’ve been in the exact same shoes the guy was in then.
Of course back then it was incredibly frustrating. We were a week before the deadline, and he still hadn’t gotten the drawings in. We actually ended up turning in a partially incomplete poster, which Patricia gave us a bit more time to finish. After that another one of the my partners and I took it upon ourselves to draw up what was missing and then turn that in. We got a decent grade.
So, just what did this one experience teach me? Sometimes, a member of your group won’t be able to keep up. Sometimes you’ll just have to pick up the work and do it yourself.
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3. Of Mice and Men - Aftermath Court Case
John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men is a true American classic, telling the tragic tale of George and Lenny, a pair of migrant workers in Depression-era California. The most tragic of these scenes is the ending, when George shoots Lenny in the back of the head to ensure he isn’t caught and executed by a lynch mob. Yet this project decided to carry on with that: what if George was then accused of murder, and then put on trial? Thus began the English class tradition of holding a mock-trial for a classical book character.
Of course, I wasn’t an actor, nor was I a judge or a lawyer of any sort. I was in the jury. The rest of the class (5-6 people) and I were to observe the case and decide George’s fate. We were instructed to be neutral and rationale with our decisions. After everyone was dismissed, the Jury went on to meet nearly every lunch they had available. It was pretty similar to the film Twelve Angry Men, with each of us backing with evidence and observation. Eventually most of us agreed on a common choice: George would be sentenced to fifteen years in prison with the possibility of parole.
Notice how I say most of us.
I often look back at those weeks and groan at how long it got dragged on. It all stems from how George’s actor, Sebastian, referred to Lenny as “an animal”, which lead a poor impression on one of our jures. It took us another day to convince him otherwise, although eventually he agreed.
Regardless, this has gone down in my school history as one of my favourite school experiences. The court case was by far the most immersive of any project I have ever done. When we had finally finished, all of us walked away feeling like as if we had contributed in a truly valuable manner.