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| Here is an AP Lang example. |
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| Cover Art |
A psychologist's gripping, troubling, and moving exploration of the brutal murder of a possibly transgender middle school student by an eighth grade classmate On Feb. 12, 2008, at E. O. Green Junior High in Oxnard, CA, 14-year-old Brandon McInerney shot and killed his classmate, Larry King, who had recently begun to call himself "Leticia" and wear makeup and jewelry to school. Profoundly shaken by the news, and unsettled by media coverage that sidestepped the issues of gender identity and of race integral to the case, psychologist Ken Corbett traveled to LA to attend the trial. As visions of victim and perpetrator were woven and unwoven in the theater of the courtroom, a haunting picture emerged not only of the two young teenagers, but also of spectators altered by an atrocity and of a community that had unwittingly gestated a murder. Drawing on firsthand observations, extensive interviews and research, as well as on his decades of academic work on gender and sexuality, Corbett holds each murky facet of this case up to the light, exploring the fault lines of memory and the lacunae of uncertainty behind facts. Deeply compassionate, and brimming with wit and acute insight, A Murder Over a Girl is a riveting and stranger-than-fiction drama of the human psyche.
On February 12, 2008 in Oxnard, CA, 14-year-old Brandon McInerney and the rest of his eighth grade class walked to the computer lab with their teacher, Dawn Boldrin. As his classmates typed their history papers, Brandon quietly stood and shot 15-year-old Larry King—who for just two weeks had been wearing traditionally female accessories and identifying as “Leticia”—twice in the head. Larry died in the hospital two days later. Psychologist Ken Corbett was unsettled by the media coverage that sidestepped the issues of gender identity and race, and went to California to attend the trial. In his new book, A MURDER OVER A GIRL, Corbett, a leading expert on gender and masculinity, details the case, and all the social issues still littering the American landscape eight years later. The brutal murder begged the question: How this could happen? Ellen DeGeneres spoke out; Newsweek and The Advocate ran cover stories. Once again, a “normal boy” like Brandon had taken a gun into a school and killed another student in cold blood. But others, still, wondered: How could this not happen? In many ways this was a “perfect storm” of race, poverty, gun violence, and gender identity fueled by ignorance and fear. Brandon had been raised by drug-addicted parents. His mother shot his father days before their wedding, and his father later shot his mother in front of him. His home was a veritable culture of guns. Larry’s birth mother was a 15-year-old drug addicted prostitute. He had recently been removed from his adoptive parents’ home after reporting abuse. Larry identified as gay from the age of 10, and by 15 had realized he was a girl. He wore makeup and stilettos to school with his uniform and had asked the boy who would be his killer to be his valentine. Brandon says he was being sexually harassed by Larry and sought peace the only way he knew how. Eight years later, the citizens of this country have yet to get on the same page on so many of the major issues at play: gender identity; sexual and racial equality; gun control; drug laws. Neither experts nor lawmakers nor voters can come to a consensus, and yet, teachers—most of whom have received no training in any of these areas—are thrust to the forefront in the classroom.
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| My AP Psych students and I were able to meet Dr. Zimbardo! |
Dr. Seuss gave us many classics in regards to human behavior. My personal favorite is "Sneetches," a story about two kinds of Sneetches, creatures who lived on the beach, some of whom had stars on their bellies, some who did not.
I ran across this topic recently. When examining race and ethnic identity, this could lead to an interesting discussion of each.
I've been trying to write out why this article bothers me, and I feel like I just can't put my finger on it. What do we gain by comparing these two women this way? What point was this article trying to make? That Bristol Palin is a moron? Do they just want to make fun of someone who clearly isn't doing well? Bristol Palin was mocked by an entire nation for something that happens to teenagers all the time. She has been and apparently still is being used as a political tool, and as fodder for gossip. So what if she wrote a book about it? Why does her story have to be compared to Malala's? Why can't we discuss it as someone coming to terms with, I don't know, being bullied by an entire country, feeling like she has to justify her life? Or does the article just want to make her look like a dumb white girl? I found this article to be INCREDIBLY petty.
As I was reading it, while Bristol was the main target, she remains for me, the personification of the ugly and narcissistic American. She has made various choices to put herself in the media eye after her mother did so. She is damaged and easily made fun of. That said, she is emblematic of Americans and how immature we are. Was she the comparison? Yes. Has Malala gotten a lot of press for her amazing acts of courage? Yes. Are they incredibly different? Yes. I see one as the ideal and one as the clown in terms of what we expect from our young people. Bristol is the caricature of American teens--uneducated, stupid, pregnant, beer-drinking, etc. Malala is who we aspire to be. What better way to see he difference than with a side by side comparison. I understand your issue with the article, but understood it in a different way.Perhaps a dissection or discussion of this kind of article would be appropriate for a gender or sociology class.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/10/18/poor-kids-who-do-everything-right-dont-do-better-than-rich-kids-who-do-everything-wrong/?TID+SM_FB
