- The Vanguard

The Vanguard

Special thanks to both Val Deangelo and Jessica Mousseau for filling in a few blanks that I had missed/forgotten.

“To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." - Tennyson

I started my senior year in high school exactly ten years ago. Let it be known here and now, I hated high school. Hated it. Never felt I belonged. It was boring. I always looked forward to the weekends, so I can go back to the place I felt like I belonged, Showcase Sterling, the part-time job I had at the time.

Everything changed by my senior year. I quit one job bitterly, and walked into another job I hated. I got fired from that job within a short amount of time, and had nothing but high school to look forward to (which, again, I HATED). I wasn’t getting along with my friends (in fact, I hardly had any friends). Everyone started drifting apart by senior year. I bought a car that fall, and then crashed it soon after (and since I had no job at the time, the car sat in my parent’s driveway from beginning of the school year to graduation the following year).

On top of everything else, I was borderline of not graduating. Because I slacked off 10th and 11th grade, I needed credits to graduate. So I had a full schedule; seven classes (or was it eight, it felt like eight!), no lunch, and I had to pass every single class, C or above.

All and all, I didn’t have too many fond memories of high school. And I don’t miss any of it. However, I was able to escape from all the heartache/headache/disappointment/and depressing emotions I felt during that year, one hour a day, five days a week, in my school newspaper class.

I joined The Vanguard newspaper, because all my teachers kept pushing me to write for the newspaper. I was reluctant at first. I enjoyed writing short stories/scripts, but I didn’t know anything about writing newspaper articles! My journalist teacher in 11th grade, Ms. Faricy, insisted I join anyhow. Glad I took her advice. Out of all the teachers I’ve had over the years, she was one of my favorites!

I don’t remember the first class (or month, for that matter). But I do remember, I started writing articles instantly. I was interested in writing movie reviews, and because the advisor/teacher, Ms. Pantano, is familiar with my writing from what Ms. Faricy showed her of my work (I also wrote a movie review (‘Spiderman’) for The Vanguard end of 11th grade), she let me write my first piece for the paper, a negative/sarcastic review to 'Signs.' I think our editor-in-chief, Jessica, had something to do with my freedom as well!

Everyone in the class knew me (or knew of me), and thought the entertainment section was the best place for me. And I wrote my share of entertainment articles for the paper. But Pantano saw potential, and pushed me to write other pieces. She didn’t want an entire paper of editorials. Everyone has an opinion. Everyone who is everyone could easily write an editorial. She wanted some journalistic integrity to her paper (and would always preach that we had to follow the journalism bible in class: the infamous AP style book!) I had a few ideas bouncing in my head already (would you believe it if I told you, a good majority of those ideas ended up becoming published pieces in the paper by the end of my senior year?!?)

I ran the first idea I had to Pantano, a piece about how movie theater prices keep getting more expensive (was also a nice middle finger to the employer that fired me!) She liked it, and told me to run with it. So I did. I interviewed some peeps in my classes so it wouldn’t seem like I was editorializing (or bitching!) It got edited with few minor changes, and published (along with my 'Signs’ review) the first issue that semester. I became more comfortable in the class and with my own writing. I didn’t really get any praise from the two pieces I wrote from students or friends, but the powers-that-be seemed to like my sarcastic approach, and gave me more freedom with the next few ideas.

I wrote a 'Red Dragon’ review, which was a little controversial with the principal, since I was reviewing a R rated movie (apparently, there was an unwritten rule that one can’t review R rated movies in a high school newspaper), but at the last minute, it got approved since there was nothing offensive about the review. As soon as I wrote the review, I started an ambitious writing project.

During a meeting in class (all newspapers (even peon high school newspapers) have meetings to determine future articles, and assign those articles to staff writers), someone joked about the overcrowded hallways, and how someone should write a small piece about always being tardy for class. Another person said they could write an editorial in regards to the subject. I piped in, and said I could write my own angle about it (I didn’t tell anyone in that meeting, but I had already thought about something similar, and had in mind the approach I could take with it). Because Pantano/Jessica liked what I did with the movie theater piece, she liked my idea from the start and okayed me writing it. It ended up being called CLEAR A PATH, I received some praise from some of my classmates, and I was starting to not only enjoy what I was writing, but enjoy my senior year. I let that comfort free me to write yet another boiling idea…LOVE MEANS MORE THAN A CLICHE.

I didn’t ask anyone if I could write it. Didn’t occur to me that it would even be published worthy. I was possessed by an idea, and it unleashed itself. Turned it in to Jessica. She loved it. I then turned it in to Pantano, and I can’t remember if it got approved that issue or the next issue, but she loved it. And everyone in the class loved it (especially the girls, though, sadly, I didn’t win any hearts or get any phone numbers over it!) Once it was published, some students outside the newspaper class started noticing my writing. Not me. Just my writing. That was okay. I didn’t want any attention or become popular. I just wanted people to read my stuff. Us writers are power-hungry over readership, but we are also shy when people come up to us and ask us about what we wrote.

One of my least favorites about being part of the school newspaper, was a) being obligated to get advertisement from a local business and b) selling newspapers at school. I just wanted to write. Didn’t care for anything else. But it was all part of the package deal. Like high school itself, I grit my teeth and went along with it.

Selling the newspapers was the worst. Pantano would always say, 'quota.' Once the newspapers were printed, us staff writers had to go to every classroom during our newspaper class, and attempt to sell the newspapers. Let’s be honest, at least half of the school actually gave a shit about the articles. Most bought the newspapers for the 'teacher coupons’ in the back of the paper. There were a few teachers that got irritated with me every time I would interrupt their precious class to sell newspapers. A couple even attempted to critique my movie reviews (one was pissed I gave 'Signs’ a negative review, another was pissed I gave 'Red Dragon’ a positive review!) I learned quickly, you can’t win them all.

Most of the staff writers hated, 'crunch day,’ which was the deadline all stories must be edited/placed on the spread-sheet, and finalized before it would get printed. I actually enjoyed the atmosphere of it, and sometimes stayed after school to help out with the editors. With the amount of work I did for the paper, I was a little disappointed I was never appointed 'editor,’ or even have my own column section. But because I never had any newspaper experience prior, I was considered a newbie (though it was said that if I was part of the newspaper back in 10th/11th grade, I would have been an editor of some sort). On the other hand, I was treated differently, like I was a freelance editor. I was a senior. I provided at least 2/3 articles an issue. I had more freedom than most. In other words, I was respected. It was a nice feeling, considering how I felt about high school (did I mentioned I hated it?!?) Everyone liked what I brought to the table. I sometimes helped with other people’s articles, adding my two cents.

There were times competition plagued the staff. Who was the best writer, who had the most articles, who had the TOP story, who was doing the most bitch work, who got the most credit, blah-drama-blah. Most times, there was a collaboration formed anytime there was a deadline, a struggle with a story, or feedback on a story. Not everyone liked each other. I am sure I had a few haters in the class for writing so many articles and taking too much space (as well as being sarcastic all the time). But everyone respected each other. I guess because we were all staff writers for The Vanguard, we had a maturity level that was higher than most of the students in the school. Or maybe, it was just me.

Once a upon a time, a teacher HIT a student at Stevenson during the school year. A staff writer wanted to write a story about it (was news worthy, that’s for sure), and it was a rocky road to even be able to write the story. The school newspaper had guidelines to what it can/cannot do, but Pantano had pull, and could go above the principal on some things if she needed to (the school newspaper had the same amount of freedom a regular newspaper has: freedom of the press, and can be fought for if needed). Because the principal didn’t want the same headache a school a couple of years prior had (which I will get to shortly), he okayed the story, but there was a wording he didn’t like and wanted it changed. The wording, 'allegedly hit,’ was changed to 'alleged altercation.' As soon as the wording was changed, then the principal had other problems about the story. It was almost censored, but the newspaper gods prevailed, and we were able to keep the story (I think the agreement was for the FRONT PAGE NEWS-WORTHY piece to be second or third page). The entire Vanguard staff was in full agreement to do the story, and was told not to leak the fact that the story was being written. Whispers/rumors roamed the halls for weeks (even the student involved with the incident at hand (pun glory) started to exaggerate the event), but it wasn’t until the article came out, that everyone got the full story. That’s a great example of the power of the written word, as well as having a solid team that we had. We all had the freedom to voice our opinion about the story. And we all agreed to support the story (and the writer/reporter that was behind the story).

The Vanguard was divided when the Iraq war was declared. As a matter of fact, I think the school was even divided. Some were for it (under the misconception of what the war was really about). Others were against it from the start. There was a strike that was scheduled outside the school the day W. Bush declared the war. A few staff writers wanted to attend. Those who attended, I believe, were suspended. It became front page news a month later.

A student in a different school (but same district) a year or two prior, had written a controversial article about the school bus parking lot. There was a neighborhood close by that was getting irritated with the fumes that were coming from the garage, and paranoid uncertainty if cancer could be caused from the fumes. Student wrote the story. Front page news. District found out about it, and censored the story soon after it was printed. A black box appeared on the front page, where the story would have been printed. The Macomb Daily found out about it, and not only printed the students original story on their front page paper, but also took a picture of the student holding the black boxed censored newspaper. Not only did the district fuck up royally, but the story received even more attention than it would’ve gotten. Once again, the power of the written word prevailed.

Moving on, NOTE TO EDITORS PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE: When you edit a story, PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU ARE DOING!!! I had written a funny, light-hearted editorial about Christmas. It got a few laughs among the staff writers. I was asked if I could trim a little bit from it for space issues. I did. Then a girl that a) didn’t like me, b) was careless with what she was doing, and c) was rushed, trimmed it some more. She hacked the end of one sentence, and had it go into another sentence WITHOUT A PERIOD. It didn’t make sense. I was pissed. Never said anything to the moron that edited the story, but did talk to Pantano. She also never noticed the mistake. I had requested for that girl not to edit any of my future stories. Pantano understood. That was really the only drama I was involved with. Luckily, friends/students didn’t pay much attention to the screw up. A couple of students went up to me, and high-fived me for how LOL it was. I also wrote a piece about MTV’s The Osbournes in that issue. A few friends were surprised how negative I was about the show, considering I was known as Mister 'OZZY’ in jr. high.

My best written piece I think was the 'Love’ piece. I tried to sequel-ize it for a Valentine’s issue. Didn’t sell very well. I wrote a few more entertainment reviews. Didn’t get much attention. Wrote a few boring news bites/filler pieces, just to please Pantano (or was it Jessica?!?) I think I was running out of creative mojo, to be honest. But there were two pieces that were solid hitters. One was called ENTERTAINMENT VALUES, that was intended for The Vanguard, but was printed in a special issue of The Macomb Daily (I even made it on the front page!) The other, my personal favorite from the stack of pieces I wrote, was called NEW FOUNDED CLUBS MAY GO TOO FAR. The original title I had in mind was CLUB-MANIA. I guess an unnecessary longer title was better for the piece. I don’t know! But boy, did I offend a lot of people (including a few newspaper staffers!) The power of the written satire! Hey man, with the over-abundance of clubs that were popping up around Stevenson at the time, the 'club-mania’ had it comin’, hence the original title versus the stupid title that was picked! I didn’t always have the freedom over my pieces once I was done with them.

The last few months before I graduated was all a blur. But I remember everyone was emotional. We really were a team. Hell, I’ll even say, family. I think I earned my stripes by the end of the year. Some thought I was still a little weird. I was obnoxious at times. Quiet, with a CD player and headphones attached to my ears, most times. As soon as I was done with an writing assignment, I started another one. I think I even wrote a few during class that never made it to print (wish I had kept them, at least).

I’ve written 18 articles [6 movie/entertainment related reviews, 6 editorials/columns, 4 features, and 2 very boring news bites] for The Vanguard between 2002 to 2003. I think that’s more than the majority of the staff writers. I was also the most versatile writer I think. Most stuck in one area they were comfortable with. I jumped around. That’s one quality about me that hasn’t changed. There were a few articles I wish I hadn’t written (i.e. the Cedar Point piece). There were quite a few pieces I wish I had written.

The people that made the experience AN EXPERIENCE: Jessica, Val, Brandon, Mike, Imran, and the one writer I admired the most and was very envious of their craft, Jordan. I was nominated best writer at the end of the year, along with Brandon and Jordan. Jordan, I believe, won. He always had everyone (including the teachers) laughing over his latest creation.

Funny story: when the girl announced my name during a little ceremony we had the end of the school year, she pronounced my name wrong - I guess HELINSKI looks/sounds like HELSINKI!

Pantano was not a great teacher, but she let her students be as independent as they can be, and only guided us when we needed it. It was Jessica who was our true leader. And Jessica wanted our paper to be different from previous years. I think because we had quite an assortment of different writers, our paper reached more readers. We weren’t writing the same nonsense that was written before. I think our papers were a lot more liberal and slightly more sarcastic (especially with me in the mix!)

I once asked Pantano if she could write a letter of recommendation for me. I was surprised/moved what she wrote:

"Keith enjoys writing immensely. He followed his stated writing desires by taking the bull by the horns and quickly working his way to being an irreplaceable staff member and reporter on The Vanguard. Seeing his potential, Keith quickly because a valuable part of the entertainment and editorial sections of the paper, writing movie reviews and numerous editorials. I was very impressed with Keith’s desire to overachieve, as he often wrote 2-3 stories per issue, instead of just one required for his grade.”

In a nutshell, I learned a lot during my time writing for The Vanguard. It was the movie reviews that got me a freelance job through MovieFreak.com nine years ago. It was the structure of the articles I had picked up that molded the short stories I had wrote the last couple of years (and how I am able to tie a story together, from beginning to end). The criticism I sometimes received from students/teachers over some of the questionable pieces I wrote, helped me maintain the thick skin I have for myself today, anytime someone bashes one of my stories. But it was the inspiration [To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield] everyone had to deliver the very best, resourceful, and entertaining newspaper we could possibly make, that pushed me to continue to write to this day. For a bunch of high school kids, we were a force not to be reckon with (or fuck with!)

It was nice to finally be part of SOMETHING. But to be part of The Vanguard?!? A joy (and exactly what I needed, an escape). My only regret…not joining back in 10th grade! Oh well. I think I made the most out of the short time I spent at The Vanguard with the 18 written pieces that has my byline!

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I’ve posted selective pieces (favorites/best of’s) online over the years. There’s still a good handful more that I never unleashed online. Once in a while, I like to go back in time and revisit old writings of mine. So don’t be surprised when you see yet another classic Keith moment from The Vanguard days in the near/distant future!

Here are the pieces I’ve posted thus far, where I’ve gone more in-depth about each piece.

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Let it be, it’s that simple to say

http://wastinawaypress.com/post/50551461162/let-it-be-its-that-simple-to-say

Getting to the ‘point’ this summer

http://wastinawaypress.com/post/26256646844/getting-to-the-point-this-summer

Entertainment Values

http://wastinawaypress.com/post/27972176088/entertainment-values

New homerooms need better purpose

http://wastinawaypress.com/post/44560849789/new-homerooms-need-better-purpose

Movies We Don’t Want to See

http://wastinawaypress.com/post/26956303760/movies-we-dont-want-to-see