Slog - Comments on I, Anonymous: It's Elementary—The Bonanza Continues to Continue http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/i_anonymous_its_elementarythe_bonanza_co_1 Welcome to hour three of the I, Anonymous: It's Elementary day-long bonanza, wherein a new I, Anonymous submission sent in by students at a local alternative elementary and middle school is revealed every hour on the hour. There's a new anti-tobacco organization called "no stank you." They over exaggerate everything in their commercials. Their main target is the smokers themselves. They taught us that smokers are vile, unsocial, disgusting creatures that don't deserve any form of affection from anybody. They're the ones that did that commercial about the "smoke buddies," a few smokers that have the "powers" of embroidered smoking... Copyright 2008 Fri, 29 Jun 2007 11:00:27 -0800 Sat, 30 Jun 2007 11:29:15 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Mr. Poe Word.

]]> Mr. Poe http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/i_anonymous_its_elementarythe_bonanza_co_1#c754832 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/i_anonymous_its_elementarythe_bonanza_co_1#c754832 Life Fri, 29 Jun 2007 11:26:15 -0800 Comment by Katelyn Are these kids coming up with the topics themselves? The first two I thought were kid-like enough but... what elementary student is angry about the tobacco industry?

]]> Katelyn http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/i_anonymous_its_elementarythe_bonanza_co_1#c754848 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/i_anonymous_its_elementarythe_bonanza_co_1#c754848 Life Fri, 29 Jun 2007 11:30:38 -0800 Comment by Mr. Poe I bet they drilled out topics and the teacher wrote them on the board. How they were assigned, I'm not sure, but one thing I'm sure of is no child would ever voluntarily write about telemarketers (unless they couldn't think of anything and their parents filled them in with a topic).

]]> Mr. Poe http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/i_anonymous_its_elementarythe_bonanza_co_1#c754863 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/i_anonymous_its_elementarythe_bonanza_co_1#c754863 Life Fri, 29 Jun 2007 11:37:47 -0800 Comment by Clifton Exaggerated, yes. But bitter?

I just figured that commercials about dying from lung cancer don't resonate with the kids these days, so maybe the "You'll stink and have nasty teeth" approach will.

It's not so much about getting kids to quit as it is keeping them from starting, right?

]]> Clifton http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/i_anonymous_its_elementarythe_bonanza_co_1#c754868 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/i_anonymous_its_elementarythe_bonanza_co_1#c754868 Life Fri, 29 Jun 2007 11:40:09 -0800 Comment by monkey I'm soooo watching Thank You For Smoking again this weekend.

]]> monkey http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/i_anonymous_its_elementarythe_bonanza_co_1#c754870 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/i_anonymous_its_elementarythe_bonanza_co_1#c754870 Life Fri, 29 Jun 2007 11:41:30 -0800 Comment by David Schmader Re: 2 & 3: The assignment question is a good one. I have no idea idea what the specifics were. The only clue I have is that some of the entries have things like "Home room" and "final draft" in the upper left corner.

]]> David Schmader http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/i_anonymous_its_elementarythe_bonanza_co_1#c754875 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/i_anonymous_its_elementarythe_bonanza_co_1#c754875 Life Fri, 29 Jun 2007 11:45:12 -0800 Comment by Christin This letter rings of "Quit teasing my mom!"

]]> Christin http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/i_anonymous_its_elementarythe_bonanza_co_1#c754878 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/i_anonymous_its_elementarythe_bonanza_co_1#c754878 Life Fri, 29 Jun 2007 11:46:25 -0800 Comment by SDA in SEA Hmmm...

I'm with Katelyn. These are beginning to look suspicious. The first few looked totally legit. But I'm dubious of these last two. Yes, telemarketers are asswipes, and yes, the new anti-smoking campaign is a bit over the top. But neither of these sound like thoughts that would be at the forefront of a 9 year old.

]]> SDA in SEA http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/i_anonymous_its_elementarythe_bonanza_co_1#c754917 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/i_anonymous_its_elementarythe_bonanza_co_1#c754917 Life Fri, 29 Jun 2007 12:11:04 -0800 Comment by Gitai I think the writer should realize that teenagers don't think of long term consequences like lung cancer. Many smokers blow it off with, "You gotta go sometime." By targeting adolescents with immediate social pariah status, it makes the consequences more real, and more present.

And really, smokers are undateable and broke. I won't even go down on a smoker. Their cum tastes bad.

]]> Gitai http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/i_anonymous_its_elementarythe_bonanza_co_1#c754928 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/i_anonymous_its_elementarythe_bonanza_co_1#c754928 Life Fri, 29 Jun 2007 12:18:41 -0800 Comment by a_upstairs @8: we mustn't forget that the authors include middle schoolers which i believe range from 12 - 14yrs. old? i know at that age, anti-smoking was being drilled into my impressionable mind.

]]> a_upstairs http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/i_anonymous_its_elementarythe_bonanza_co_1#c754946 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/i_anonymous_its_elementarythe_bonanza_co_1#c754946 Life Fri, 29 Jun 2007 12:29:37 -0800 Comment by PA Native The teacher probably gave them the assignment and said pick something on your own or pick something from this list on the board.

]]> PA Native http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/i_anonymous_its_elementarythe_bonanza_co_1#c754995 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/i_anonymous_its_elementarythe_bonanza_co_1#c754995 Life Fri, 29 Jun 2007 13:09:10 -0800 Comment by elswinger David is picking what he thinks are the best ones, and I think most of what we are reading is from the 8th grade, so this one could have been written by a 15 or 16 year old.

]]> elswinger http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/i_anonymous_its_elementarythe_bonanza_co_1#c755179 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/i_anonymous_its_elementarythe_bonanza_co_1#c755179 Life Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:51:53 -0800 Comment by Andy I would hope a 15 or 16-year-old wasn't still in 8th grade. 8th graders where I went to school were 13/14 years old.

]]> Andy http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/i_anonymous_its_elementarythe_bonanza_co_1#c755511 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/i_anonymous_its_elementarythe_bonanza_co_1#c755511 Life Sat, 30 Jun 2007 11:29:15 -0800