Chicago Sun-Times – April 27, 2007:
Police Thursday released portions of an essay used to charge a Cary-Grove High School student with disorderly conduct, leaving several experts puzzled at an arrest based on such schoolwork.
Asked to write about whatever he wanted in a creative writing class, would-be Marine and honors student Allen Lee, 18, described a violent dream in which he shot people and then “had sex with the dead bodies.”
But then he immediately dismissed the idea as a mere joke, writing, “not really, but it would be funny if I did.”
A second disorderly count accuses Lee of alarming first-year teacher Nora Capron by writing that “as a teacher, don’t be surprised on [sic] inspiring the first CG shooting,” an apparent reference to Cary-Grove High.
Here’s the essay:
Blood sex and Booze. Drugs Drugs Drugs are fun. Stab, Stab, Stab, S…t…a…b…, poke. “So I had this dream last night where I went into a building, pulled out two P90s and started shooting everyone…, then had sex with the dead bodies. Well, not really, but it would be funny if I did.” Umm, yeah, what to wright about…… I’m leaving to join the Marines and I really don’t give a (obscenity) about my academics, so why does the only class that’s complete Bull Shit, happen to be the only required class…enough said. The model citizen would stay around to vote in new board member to change the 4 years of English policy, but no one really stays around to vote for that kind of local crap, so whoever gets there name on the Ballet with a pretty face gets to do what the (obscenity) ever they want with local ordinance. A person is smart, but people are dumb selfish animals. We can’t make rules for ourselves so we vote others to do it for us, but we can’t even do that right, I meen seriously, Bush for President? And our other option was John Kerry who claimed to parktake in Vietnam Special Forces missions that haven’t been declassified….(obscenity) Bull Shit. So Power Flower Super Mario. Pudge, hook, rot, dismember “Fresh Meat.” Mostly new/young teachers are laid back, and cooperative with students as feedback and input into the curriculum and atmosphere. My current English teacher is a control freak intent on setting a gap between herself and her students like a 63 year old white male fortune 500 company CEO, and a illegal immigrant. If CG was a private catholic school, I could understand, but wtf is her problem. And baking brownies and rice crispies does not make up for it, way to try and justify yourself as a good teacher while underhandedly looking for complements on your cooking. No quarrel on you qualifications as a writer, but as a teacher, don’t be surprised on inspiring the first cg shooting.
This kid sounds like a future mass murderer. Maybe intervention can prevent this kid from becoming the next college shooter. By the way is he Korean?
Kid wants attention. Looks like he’s gonna get some.
How does a kid think it’s OK to write about that stuff.
“I am all for trying to understand what is behind the intention of his words” No name is a liberal /progressive, can you tell . Does the term “speak your mind” help
Noname….
“What the state is doing is more disruptive to the republic then anything this Kid has done!”
Apples and oranges, my friend…apples and oranges…
This kid sounds perfect for joining the Marines.
honestly he sounds like every marine i have met.
sure he is a fucked up head case but i kid you not that after 3 years in the army he is a average marine.
“How does a kid think it’s OK to write about that stuff.”
Are you kidding? What country is this in?
You should go read American Psycho. You don’t see them tossing Bret Easton Ellis into jail, do you?
Christ, this is a load of crap. Maybe Minority Report isn’t that far out of line.
RIght on! Gitarope Jethro! Then we c’n go after Stephen King & all those uther yeller sickos!
This kid’s only crime is his grammar.
But I do take issue with the Chicago Sun-Times headline, “…student’s creative writing violent…” Violent? Okay. Writing? Barely. Creative? Not even close.
This was written by an honors student?
There is a pretty significant difference between writing a work of fiction and a kid writing in a school he dreams of killing people and having sex with them. There’s no plot to a story or anything and that soon after the VT tragedy makes it even crazier.
Wait a minute. Did they revoke the Freedom of Speech while I was away?
Why doesn’t this American have it? Was he on American soil?
Well, at least they’re not over-reacting.
I hope he gets a couple million dollars from a lawsuit against the school and police. He deserves it.
Punk rockers in the 70s used to wear nazi symbolism – had nothing to do with nazis, it was all about youth being rebellious and what not. Some of you people have gone into batshit hysterics. Let’s put all the Koreans in internment camps until we can sort all this out, eh?
#14 – To be fair, you are talking about a particularly British subset of punk called Oi, or sometimes Streetpunk. And many, not all, but many of those bands in that subset were in fact influenced by the philosophies of the Nazi movement and were in fact racist.
Anyway… The kid isn’t talented enough to write a shopping list, and writing that bad deserves jailtime on asthetic grounds alone.
Lame, not creative at all
Deport him to Guantanimo
MIght get Straight ‘A’s but clearly not very smart.
“Gee, why don’t I threaten my teacher and classmates with mayhem right after the largest mass murder/suicide in US history?” In print, and presumably sign my name to it… Oh, wait, it’s just a ‘joke’…
I bet he doesn’t get an ‘A’ in this class… just ruined his chance to get into Harvard… or maybe not!
Sorry…didn’t proof read last comment……hire should read high
sorry did not proof read my comment….”hire” should read “high”
first…the teacher specifically said “don’t censor yourself”. It was a stream of consciousness inclass writing exercise – not a polished piece. So any critique of his writing skills is pointless.
second…moral of the story…even if the teacher says “don’t censor yourself” do it anyway
third…the kid also wrote a children’s story about a baby Hitler taking over the playground so maybe just maybe he does have some issues and needs help.
fourth…arresting him is not the best way to get him help, but is a great way to play CYA.
fifth…welcome to the thought police!
Sounds to me like its a cry for help. American law enforcement, well known throughout the world for its compassion and rationality, is going to provide that help?
Surely Freedom of Speech means that you can speak your mind free from prosecution. Criticize, sure, provide counseling, sure, but arrest?
All in all, it was, just bricks in the wall.
“Surely Freedom of Speech means that you can speak your mind free from prosecution. Criticize, sure, provide counseling, sure, but arrest?”
Arrest does not mean prosecution
If I read the article correctly he has not been charged with any offence
I don’t know what you “people” are upset about, he sounds more rational than many of the post on this blog.
#20 – first…the teacher specifically said “don’t censor yourself”. It was a stream of consciousness inclass writing exercise – not a polished piece. So any critique of his writing skills is pointless.
No, it isn’t pointless. He sucks. I hack up better prose the morning after a bender.
Seriously, stream or no stream, a good writer doesn’t suddenly lose all grammar skills just because he or she is writing in some half-assed free form mode.
Hell, I write these posts with furious speeds, because I’m typically posting between tasks at work. While I let go many typos, my grammar is generally sound. And I’ve only published one book.
second…moral of the story…even if the teacher says “don’t censor yourself” do it anyway
Wrong… Unless you are going to write a direct threat to your teacher involving gunfire… In which case, right!
third…the kid also wrote a children’s story about a baby Hitler taking over the playground so maybe just maybe he does have some issues and needs help.
You should read the story. That isn’t the writing of children.
fourth…arresting him is not the best way to get him help, but is a great way to play CYA.
Now here, you make a very valid point.
fifth…welcome to the thought police!
I’d agree, were it not for the fact that he made a threat. The bit about shooting up a building in a dream and necrophilia was dumb… The product of a simple mind, but “No quarrel on you qualifications as a writer, but as a teacher, don’t be surprised on inspiring the first cg shooting.” is close enough to being a threat to me. I’d certainly take that very seriously. And I’m about as liberal as they come on this blog.
(please note… I know “and” cannot start a sentence. I don’t care. Like Kirk, I changed the rules.)
That guy’s head is really pointy.
Let’s just get it over with, implant thought monitoring chips in peoples head. If that’s too futuristic how about RFID chips?
Sh.t that the only way dumba.s people are going to feel safe. We need security, and we need security now! Freedoms are so so yesterday, they are not cool anymore.
As long as the police don’t bother me (they have no reason too), what do I need freedoms for?
He sounds like a moron, but what law has he broken? What are the charges? Does writing nasty stuff in a workbook equate to disorderly conduct? #18 has a point though…imagine if the school ignored him and then he shot it up….
Good thing Stephen King didn’t submit any writings as a kid….
#7 – Angel
“This kid sounds perfect for joining the Marines.”
Oh, how true…
#8 – chris
“…i kid you not that after 3 years in the army he is a average marine.”
I’m here to tell you, after 3 years in the Army, he is most assuredly gonna be one royally pissed-off Marine; “You mean I just spent the last three fuckin’ years in the W H A T ? ? ?”
#15- OFTLO
“And many, not all, but many of those bands in that subset were in fact influenced by the philosophies of the Nazi movement and were in fact racist.”
Don’t look now, but in Germany – and here – we’ve still got such dain-bramaged turds… Thankfully for all concerned, they’re exactly like the vast majority of such antisocial groups – a lotta tough talk ‘n tats, but when you break it down, it’s just another dirty-shirt Rotary Club…
This boy made what wouldn’t be a too-fuckin’-bright move at the best of times – but to make it in the immediate aftermath of VT demonstrates a level of pathological self-absorption and lack of empathy that qualifies as either (a) psychotic, and / or (b), moronic. The smart money says ‘both.’
Straight-As??? Jesus X. Christ on-a-dumbed-down, “everybody’s-a-winner” stick, that’s an even worse indictment of our so-called “higher education” than it is of him!
Anyone defending this potentially lethal clown’s “free speech” rights who got behind throwing Imus off the air for making a lame wisecrack has got sufficiently warped thought processes to merit spending some time in an inpatient facility themselves…
“I’m here to tell you, after 3 years in the Army, he is most assuredly gonna be one royally pissed-off Marine; “You mean I just spent the last three fuckin’ years in the W H A T ? ? ?””
LOL. Yeah, I caught that too.