Pick Up Your Pencils: Split Lip Magazine Goes Back to School
Well Split Lip Magazine readers, it’s time to trade beach bags for backpacks as we get ready for Back-to-School season. Time sure does fly when you’re having fun in the sun, but we here at SLM cannot wait for another year of learning. Even if you’ve long since graduated, our homework assignment to you is checking out these wonderful school-centered pieces.
First up, we’ve gotta catch the schoolbus. Chris Ames’s The Evaluation of Mr. Owen Niebyl tells the story of a bus driver as his performance is assessed through a series of oddly specific categories. Nothing says back-to-school quite like a yellow school bus full of screaming kids, but can we trust Mr. Owen Niebyl to pass his test?
Looks like we made it just in time for our fun-filled class with Mrs. Tsubaki! After a rogue fart sends her second-grade class into hysterics, a creative teacher uses the opportunity to teach a lesson that will impact some of her students for the rest of their lives. Kiik Araki-Kawaguchi’s poignant work of fiction acts as a love letter to all of the incredible educators who lean into the joy of learning.
Our list wouldn’t be complete without Kasey Butcher Santana’s thought-provoking memoir Contraband Marginalia, which details her unique experience as a jail librarian and college English teacher. Whether it’s a well-worn dictionary or love letters scrawled in the pages of Bonnie and Clyde, Santana offers a unique glance into the dreams and dramas unfolding in the margins.
Of course, literature classes are beloved by many of us here at SLM, but we can’t forget about STEM. Dávila Andrea Mejía’s flash fiction piece, Dbl Helix, brings us back to the good old days of working on group science projects. Through their genetics project, Jacqueline and Angela learn more about each other and themselves.
Between first kisses, first dates, and prom, school for many is the backdrop of their first love. But not every relationship is filled with rom-com moments. Alan Chazaro’s poem Pretty reminds us that young love is as thrilling as it is complicated and messy.
Learning to navigate relationships and sexuality is tricky at the best of times. However, these difficulties are exacerbated when gossip and rumors come into play. Clean Girls by Ruth LeFaive uses flash fiction to show the subtle, indirect ways that teens make this process harder for one another without always meaning to.
Likewise, Funny Fat Guy Origin Story gives us an inside look at how even the class clown feels the peer pressure to conform. Jeremy Radin’s witty poem tells the all-too-real experience of a high school student who uses self-deprecating humor to avoid the judgment and ridicule of his peers.
Not everyone chooses to fight classmates with jokes. Christina Cooke’s evocative flash fiction, What Happened Was, tells the story of Tamika who faces disciplinary action at school for her defiance.
Wow…that was quite an eventful first day of school. But we’re not done yet. Kenneth Lee’s memoir Track Changes in English uses a son’s edits on his mother’s movie review assignment for an English-language-learning course as a window into their relationship.
White Homework by Melanie Farmer also examines and critiques how the education system serves as a means of assimilation. In this rubric-style memoir, Farmer discusses the ways BIPOC students are forced to alter themselves and their answers to conform to the racist world of white academia.
While we all wish for school to be a safe and welcoming place of learning and curiosity, this isn’t the case for many. If you or anyone you know is experiencing bullying or discrimination in any form, you are not alone.
The Trevor Project : 1-866-488-7386
American Association of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
Call 988 to reach the national suicide and crisis line.
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Ella Schweizer is currently completing a bachelor’s degree in English & Economics from Pitzer College. Beyond interning at Split Lip Magazine, she is working on a book to celebrate the history of sailing on Nantucket. Ella enjoys travel, fashion history, and of course, sitting down with a good book!