R-E-S-P-E-C-T (Mary Strand)
This month at YA Outside the Lines, we're talking about when (as a teen) we felt SEEN by adults ... and how we write about mentors, teachers, and other adults in our YA (young adult) novels. I rarely felt seen as a teen, and that was okay or even intentional. Sure, I sometimes got comments from teachers when I'd had a great tennis match or basketball game. But teachers seldom even knew who I was until we got our first graded papers or tests back ... when I got an "A," and they suddenly looked up to stare quizzically at that quiet girl in the back row who never raised her hand. Or when the school poetry magazine came out, stuffed with my poems, and a couple of teachers asked if I was okay. (I loved writing despondent poetry, just as today I love writing breakup songs. Fun!) I was a closet geek, or tried to be. I preferred to be known as a girl who played basketball and tennis and quietly made jokes in the back of the classroom. So, yeah, I was rarely seen u...
