| National Freak Alliance Page 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Wapakoneta Daily News Saturday, March 13, 1999 (Punishing the Victim) Dear Editor, Hi. My name is Andrew Wiechart and I�m a senior at Wapakoneta Senior High. I am actively involved in symphonic choir, men�s chorus, show choir, French Club and F.O.C.U.S., church activities and various other community activities. There is just one problem though. I�m �different.� There are various labels puts on me, the extremes are �freak� and �different.� Many times the outfits that I wear attract attention from my fellow classmates. Not my intent. My clothes simply express who I am and my high level of happiness. I guess that the reason I�m writing this is because the other day I had on black jeans, a silver shirt, and my hair in spikes. In addition, I had on a light-blue sleeveless jacket bearing the words �Its not polite to stare.� I wore this only for fun. Later that day I was called down to the office and told my clothes were drawing attention and to never wear the jacket to school again. In this age of Marilyn Manson, Stone Cold Steve Austin and various shirts using sexual innuendoes, my clothing was offensive. Since I was called harsh names, I was in trouble. I�m just wondering if this mirrors our society. The victim is punished instead of the criminal. I know you probably won�t publish this, but I though I�d voice my opinion anyway. Andrew Wiechart Wapakoneta The Price of free thinking. Dear Editor, Hi. This is Andrew the Freak Show. Lately I have been getting so much trash from my fellow students that I have stopped dressing the way that I used to on a normal basis. However, I still stand up for what I believe in, and I�m still very happy and swank, which is getting me in trouble with my fellow students. For instance, the other day I wore a �Stop Racism� sticker on my forehead. As I walked out of the restroom, minding my own business, a fellow student proceeded to call me �black� and tried to knock me down and take the sticker. During this valiant effort he ripped my cross necklace off my neck. I�m not saying all my fellow students are against me. I�d like to say thank you to all of the very nice students. As a high school student I realize that I can�t change the world, but I also understand that all these wonderful kids that are my self proclaimed enemies have parents that probably read this newspaper. My question is: Are all Wapak citizens against independent thinkers? Do parents know how their perfect little clones act when they are not under their watchful eye? What keeps me from physically fighting back is the fact that an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind. Some days it just seems like my fellow students are hypothetical teenage Hitlers as they try to squelch all ideas that are not their own. I am by no means the only victim. There are many students that are harassed more than the onslaught I now receive. I have been in the business of being a human punching bag for years now. It takes victims a while to understand they have rights and to stand up for them. One other thing I want to say is no one has the right to pick on disabled high school students, no matter what your last name is. And finally, you don�t have to have a 3.5 GPA , a nice car, rich parents or a varsity letter to have an opinion. Sincerely, Andrew Wiechart Wapakoneta | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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