In English for our narrative unit, we were focused on world-building. We started off by reading the book the Parable of the Sower. This book outlines a world of destruction, with violence and lawlessness. The themes present in the film could be relevant to issues today even though the world in the story isn’t parallel to our own world. After reading this story, we were instructed to create our own story. We thought of issues and characteristics of a world that is unlike our own. After we constructed our story and characters, we researched an issue from the book that could be relevant today. Overall it allows for creativity with the creation of a world unlike our own but it wraps around to teach us something about the world we live in today.
First, we wrote an outline for the characters and storyline, then pinpointed a theme that could be looked into. For my article, I looked into teen involvement in politics as the characters in our story were high school students grappling with political leadership making decisions harming the environment and its people as a result.
Presentation
World Building
Logline : When a 16 year old is transported to another dimension where the water has been poisoned by lead, he has to work with his different political viewing classmates to fix it.
Character List: Twins, Classmates, Bus Driver, Political Candidates, Parents, Family members
Main: Finn – 16 year old who is tall with fluffy brown hair, is extremely athletic and muscular, he has no political views
Twin: Leo (sick) – 16 year old who is short with greasy overgrown hair, is boney and has hearing issues, lean and had no political views
Austin – An intelligent, hard-working 16 year old teen, with light blonde hair put back with gel
Rebecca – A very social, well liked,17 year old teen that always wears bright colored clothing. She has long curly black hair.
Christina – A tall, mysterious, quiet 16 year old with short blonde hair. She previously supported Gregory O’Neil.
James- 16 years old, well dressed, quiet, short trimmed hair filled with gel making it stick up and shiny. He is emotional and shy and doesn’t really have many friends.
Overview : Twin brothers, Finn and Leo, live in a politically polarized society in which political ideas make or break relationships. While Leo stays at home with a cold, Finn and the rest of their 11th grade class accidentally transport to a universe in which the political candidate has put lives in danger by ignoring their town’s lead crisis, they are left with no choice but to try to fix what has gone wrong. However, with a class full of diverse political opinions, it will be difficult for them to all work together to change the future of the town. After seeing the negative effects of the governor’s choices on their loved ones, they band together to form a protest, and their protest brings in a lot of support.
Opening Scene : It is an early Monday morning. Finn and Leo’s class have a field trip to a museum. Leo wakes up with a sore throat and cough, so he decides to stay home and rest instead of going on the field trip.
As Finn arrives at school and boards the bus, he overhears his classmates discussing the recent governorship loss of a political candidate, Gregory O’Neil. Harriet Pullmen, the political candidate who won, raised taxes in order to help with the water pollution that is slowly infecting the town’s water. O’Neil wanted to keep taxes the same while investing more into the economy and construction of stores, factories and apartments.
Act One : The school bus heads off on the road towards the museum. On the road, the discussion about politics has the bus getting very noisy and eventually the bus driver has to tell the students to quiet down. They go through a tunnel underneath railroad tracks, the fluorescent lights hum through the long tunnel. The students go quiet and they notice the lights lighting up the tunnel flicker before they pop and go out. Screams echo within the bus as the students are concerned. The bus driver is silent as students are yelling.
After a couple seconds of screaming and confused noises the lights within the tunnel abruptly turn back on and the screaming stops. Exiting the tunnel they notice that they are back where they started and instead of heading towards the museum they are going back towards the school.
“What about the museum?” Austin says.
“What do you mean? You just went to the museum,” the bus driver responds. The students have confused chatter and muttering.
They pull back into the school parking lot and as they exit the bus the air is moist and it smells like rotting food. The sky is completely gray, not a blue spot seen. However it’s not just clouds, it’s too dark to be clouds. Finn looks at the skyline and sees rows of factories lined up pumping thick clouds of smoke into the air.
Finn’s mom is there to pick him up. She’s much thinner than usual, her bones show through her skin, her eye bags are more prominent, and her lips are cracked. As she drives him home, he is silent, confused, scared and worried.
Act Two : They pull up to their house. The lawn is overgrown, yellow and dead. The home is run down and the color of the paint has begun to fade. The garden that used to be there was shriveled away. As they walk into the house, Finn is greeted by someone he barely recognizes, but suddenly is shocked to realize that it is his twin. He is a foot shorter. His hair is grown out and greasy, his cheekbones stick out, and his eyes are droopy and sunken in. He is not the person he had left at home that morning.
“How was the field trip?” Leo asks, his voice is hoarse. A long silence occurred while Finn tried to find some words to say.
“Uhh… good” Finn says, still in a lot of shock. In the background their dad can be heard cursing at the President on the TV. Finn follows Leo to their room. There is a layer of dust that covers the entire house. Their room has a layer of laundry covering the floor and empty plastic water bottles everywhere.
“Did a tornado run through here or something?” Finn asks, Leo laughs followed by a small coughing fit.
“Courtesy of president O’Neil,” Leo says as he points at a cluster of empty plastic water bottles. There is a big jar of leftover change in the corner of the room.
“What are all the coins for?” Finn questions.
“My hearing aides, remember?”
“Oh right, right,” Finn says.
“You wanna check to see if the shower water will be clear today?” Finn follows Leo into the bathroom and Leo twists the faucet and brown water starts flowing out into the tub. Finn jumps back to avoid getting some of the brown substance splashed on him. “That’s alright we can use the rainwater from yesterday,” Leo smiles, Finn can feel his stomach twisting as he realizes what is going on. As he walks into the living room, their dad is still cursing at the TV. It shows Gregory O’Neil, the candidate that lost, but on this screen, it’s showing him with the words “Mr. President ” underneath. Harriet Pullmen had lost. He scrambled to find his phone and immediately called Rebecca asking her if she is seeing the things that he is still. She picks up, “You’re seeing this too?” Finn replies, “What on earth is happening? Leo looks completely different from this morning.” Rebecca sighs, “My little brother too. He was about to beat me as the tallest sibling but now I’m in the lead by inches.” Finn hears Leo hacking something up from across the room. “I’ve got to go. But please call everyone you know.” “On it.” She connected with the rest of the class to hold a meeting about the current circumstances.
Finn walks into the room where Leo was sitting on his bed coughing into a tissue. It was splotched with a concerning dark red and brown goo. “Do you want some water to drink?” Finn asks, looking at Leo with concern in his eyes. “That will only make it worse. I’m good really.” Leo tries to ease Finn’s concerns.
The main students that talked during this meeting (which occurred during school hours, lunch time in the cafeteria) were Finn, Austin, Rebecca and Christina. Christina was extremely emotional as she had just found out her grandmother passed away from lead poisoning. She explained that her parents believe it’s all fake news and nothing is wrong with the environmental conditions. Austin chimes in and he brought newspapers that had piled up in front of his house, half were on Gregory O’Neil’s side and half were not. “Radical Harriet Pullmen supporters believe Lead poisoning is the cause of recent spike in deaths” and “Gregory O’Neil supporters ignoring warning signs causing a family of 5 to turn into a family of 2”. Finn was appalled reading the newspapers and seeing the symptoms of lead poisoning, reminding him of Leo’s current condition. Students who previously supported O’Neil were scared and confused, their role model had just betrayed their trust.
All the kids decide they need to help their country and their families.
“I just want to go home!” James whines, holding back tears.
“We don’t really know how this even happened so the best we can do right now is make this place more like our home.” Finn says.
“We should start a protest demanding Gregory O’Neil change his ways and get rid of the lead crisis.” Austin exclaimed
“My parents would kill me if I go against their ‘lord and savior’, Gregory O’Neil,” Chistina said.
“That’s why we need to educate them and tell them about how wonderful the world would be if we weren’t in a lead crisis. We are the people who know first hand what it is like.” Austin told her “It’s the best chance we have to try and change anything.” All the students agree, they all start researching more about the lead crisis and about Gregory O’Neil.
At home Finn talks to Leo about everything going on. Talking about the tunnel and bus, Leo stares back at him with confusion and disbelief.
“When I left for the museum everything was normal, everyone was healthy. I came back and the world is a mess. You, Mom, and Dad are all…” He pauses
“Unhealthy? Weak? Sick?” Leo adds. Finn tells Leo about the plan to start a protest against Gregory O’Neil and the water pollution.
“I don’t really know how any of this happened, but considering how healthy you seem to be, I’ll join you.” Leo states.
The students arrive at the Governor’s Office. Finn pushed Leo in a wheelchair, emphasizing the damage O’Neil had done. Everyone had made signs demanding change. As they start setting up, a few people show up. After a few minutes more and more people show up all holding signs that advocate for their cause.
“Look at all these people!” Finn shouts with a big grin on his face.
“I guess they all saw my posts about the protest” Rebecca said
“I can’t believe all these people agree with us. Good thing we have Rebecca’s social media skills to get the word out.” Leo said. About a hundred people showed up to the protest. All the students are thrilled that so many people want to help them change the world.
Guards of Gregory O’Neil were standing in front of the gate leading to the office. Eventually, O’Neil called the police in fully padded clothing, shields, and loaded guns. They began screaming and shouting at people to back up. Tear gas was tossed into the crowd forcing everyone to back off. Screams erupted and more shouting and yells occurred.
“RUN!!” Finn said to his classmates, they all sprinted away, Finn a little bit behind pushing Leo.
Act Three : They continue to sprint until the coast is clear. They pause to catch their breath and then Rebecca tells everyone to go into a pizza parlor to make sure everyone is still together. Finn and Leo’s mom come to the pizza parlor after Leo calls her and tells her he isn’t feeling well. She brings a bag of IV fluid and rolls him into their now wheelchair-accessible car. Finn stays behind, anxiously discussing with his classmates what they are going to do. Eventually, the manager walks up to them and tells them to leave as they are making too much ruckus.
“Let’s catch the next bus back towards the school, we can walk from there.” Austin says. They file out of the pizza parlor and sit down at the bus stop and smile at one another.
“I don’t think I’ve talked to this many people at our school before” Rebecca giggles. They all make jokes and laugh trying to keep the situation positive.
The bus rolls up and a familiar face looks at them from the bus driver seat, it’s the same school bus driver that was driving them to the field trip. He avoids eye contact with them as they file quickly into the bus.
The bus goes through a tunnel yet again. When they reach the other side the skies are suddenly brighter and are a vivid blue. The grass is a bright green and the trees are tall and alive. There are no factories on the horizon. The bus turned bright yellow. They all gasp in unison, excited chatter erupts in the bus. They arrive back at school, the buildings look like they got a fresh coat of paint and everything is very alive. The students’ parents were waiting in the parking lot to pick up the kids. They all rush off the bus and into the arms of their parents.
“How was the field trip Finn?” His mom says, taken back by the large hug her son is giving her.
“Can we just go home?” he smiles while his eyes begin to water. They get in the car and head home.
Final Sequence and Scene: Finn rushes into his house and his mom tells him to slow down, there’s no need to rush. He sprints upstairs towards him and Leo’s room to find Leo asleep but his face is full and his chubby cheeks are back, his hair was cut clean and short. He was himself again.
“I’m home,” Finn says.
Reflection Essay
Youth Involvement, Yes or No?
Imagine experiencing the trauma of a school shooting:, losing friends, teachers, or siblings. After this, because you are 16 and not 18, you are unable to vote on the legislation that could help keep this from repeating at other schools across the country. So many people at the Parkland school shooting experienced this. They spoke out, they created protests and movements, but the legislation surrounding guns has not changed. Just last month, a gunman killed three students atand shootings continue to happen like at Michigan State University in 2023. Although currently the legal age to vote is set as 18, this should not be the case as people by age 16 are largely affected by legislation and are knowledgeable about their government.
Some feel that people under the age of 18that 18 is the lowest age that voters can be because of lack of sufficient knowledge ofsurrounding their government. For instanceSuch as, Rieshchick who believes that although they may hold interest in the government, that they are not fully educated in the government’s processes and lack the basics to how different people play a role in this system;. In a sense, this article (Rieschick: Why we shouldn’t lower the voting age – NEWS CHANNEL NEBRASKA) argues that not only do kids not know the basics of information about the government, what they are learning is coming from often biased sources, teachers. However, the issue with this argument is that adults are not tested on their knowledge surrounding the government and its inner workings. Furthermore As well as this, plenty of adults are gaining lots of their information from biased sources through news. If these reasons were to keep teens from voting, we would have to put in place education removing bias and a test or screening for our voters. By 16, students have surpassed learning the basics of the US government through their 8th Grade US history class in addition to another US history class during their junior year of high school. During Senior year, when teens typically turn 18, they takehave taken Ccivics. This civics course could be further improved by political involvement by this age, as pointed out by the organization, vote16usa.
Like with the protests surrounding gun violence, teens have already been playing a large role in protests and political movements. As good as these movements can be, they only can inspire change of heart in adult voters, not make direct influence on the leadership within the government like within votes. Additionally, rather than things leading to violent protests or negative productivity, they can directly and safely make change through our legal system. This has been in discussion for decades, highlighted in 1971 U.S. Code Cong. Admin. News at pp. 365-367, “The anachronistic voting-age limitation tends to alienate them from systematic political processes and to drive them to a search for an alternative, sometimes violent, means to express their frustrations over the gap between the nation’s deals and actions. Lowering the voting age will provide them with a direct, constructive and democratic channel for making their views felt and for giving them a responsible stake in the future of the nation.” (365-367). This harassment within protests is not a rare occasion in fact it is far more common than one might think. The Article, Participate, But Know Your Place: Young Civic Activists Get Mixed Messages, outlines the good and bad that comes with youth activism. Some people think that kids shouldn’t be putting themselves into these political spaces and that adults in power won’t listen to them. But, for many of these kids the harassment and backlash is worth making a difference in a cause they care about. Often these movements are fighting for hold large stakes in students’their lives, such as in the example of David Hogg, who advocated for change after surviving the Parkland School shooting.
A large part of voting is creating representation which servesthat will do best for the people. Voters vote for representatives that support their ideals, needs, and wants. However, with the largest group of voters being overwhelmingly above 30 years old, according to as seen by the U.S. Ccensus 2017, young people are severely underrepresented. The question is, what can we do to increase youth representation within voting?. “When the voting age has been lowered to 16, young people have shown our interest in voting. In 2013, when Takoma Park, Maryland, lowered its voting age to 16, registered voters under 18 had a turnout rate four times higher than voters over 18. And again in Hyattsville, Maryland (the second place in the U.S. to lower the voting age to 16), registered 16- and 17-year-old voters had a higher turnout out rate than older voters.” (“Top Ten Reasons to Lower the Voting Age”). – NYRA) These statistics show how by decreasing the voting age, we could see a large increase of voters in the range of 18-29 which currently sits less than 50%. This would allow for voting to more properly represent the youth population as they are the ones inheriting the country and must secureneed to look for the best interest of their futures economically, socially, and environmentally., etc.
Overall, teen involvement in politics may already be existent through protests and movements, but youth voting would allow for real impact within legislation. Although young people do not have the same maturity or potentially knowledge, they do not lack an understanding of the basics of our government and overall their voting would increase youth statistics within the census. Youth voices need to be further heard, lowering the voting age will lead to real impact and improvements.
Bibliography
1971 U.S. Code Cong. Admin. News at pp. 365-367
“The Voices of Parkland.” America, vol. 218, no. 8, 16 Apr. 2018, pp. 8+. Gale In Context: High School, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A537204897/SUIC?u=los42754&sid=bookmark-SUIC&xid=8afcdc88.
“4 Reasons for Lowering the US Voting Age to 16.” Vote16 USA, 3 Mar. 2020, https://vote16usa.org/reasons-for-lowing-voting-age-16/.
Prothero, Arianna. “Participate, but Know Your Place: Young Civic Activists Get Mixed Messages.” Education Week, Education Week, 3 Dec. 2020, https://www.edweek.org/leadership/participate-but-know-your-place-young-civic-activists-get-mixed-messages/2019/10.
Prothero, Arianna. “Participate, but Know Your Place: Young Civic Activists Get Mixed Messages.” Education Week, Education Week, 3 Dec. 2020, https://www.edweek.org/leadership/participate-but-know-your-place-young-civic-activists-get-mixed-messages/2019/10.
Meyer, Tay Arrow & Margaret, et al. “Top Ten Reasons to Lower the Voting Age.” NYRA, 6 Apr. 2022, https://www.youthrights.org/issues/voting-age/top-ten-reasons-to-lower-the-voting-age/. Rieschick, Meg. “Rieschick: Why We Shouldn’t Lower the Voting Age.” NEWS CHANNEL NEBRASKA, Political Science Major at Northwest Missouri State, https://www.newschannelnebraska.com/story/40343722/rieschick-why-we-shouldnt-lower-the-voting-age.