The Importance of Writing

August Napolitano

September has begun, the 2014-15 year is under way, and Mr. Taylor is urging students to spread the word of Bel Air High School’s literary magazine, Reverie, and the poetry slams held to fund it. Meanwhile, Mr. Blackburn makes sure that The Bellarion wakes from its summer slumber with a burst of new stories and a redesign to the website. But one question remains to some students: why write?

 

“Writing is not only important for students at Bel Air, it’s important for all students. It’s how we communicate, and it’s how we take the time to communicate,” says Mr. Taylor, BAHS English teacher and Reverie sponsor. “It’s one of the most important things for a student to do.”

 

Many students regard writing to be a tedious chore. Just one mention of the act conjures up mental images of essay deadlines, or sitting at a desk in elementary school, trying to make words rhyme. Newspapers were replaced by tweets and Instagram clips – and competitive poetry? How? “Students who don’t write need to realize the need to do it, which, unfortunately, has been a little bit submarined by online interaction. A lot of times you’ll see slang words and crazy abbreviations for things – which surely has its place – but I think some people mistake that for writing. Students need to understand the difference between the two,” Mr. Taylor observes.

 

Bel Air High School Sophomore Courtney Standish agrees. “I think as a society, we view writing as something very constructive. If we taught the aspects of creative writing more, I think a lot more students would be interested in writing. I’m in journalism and creative writing classes, and I like that there is a curriculum, but I still have the chance to express parts of myself.”

 

Others may want to learn how to unleash the contents of their mind onto paper, but can never find the right creative spark. But Mr. Taylor encourages students to disregard these problems. “If you waited around for inspiration to strike, you wouldn’t get anything done. Writing should be looked at as a task that needs to be accomplished in life, like washing the dishes, or feeding the dog,” he explains. “The difference is, when you feed the dog, you don’t really get something beautiful out of it. When you write, you have the opportunity to make art out of life. In terms of personal inspiration, that’s it: it’s life. Every failure you have is simply fuel for your writing fire.”

 

However, writers are still keeping the art alive and interesting for high school students. “My favorite novel is definitely The Fault In Our Stars by John Green,” says Standish.  The Fault In Our Stars definitely gave me a new perspective on life and death and taught me to make the most of my life. John Green’s novels inspired me to keep writing and reading.”

 

Despite all the struggles in encouraging young adults to write, Bel Air High School makes a point to encourage creativity among students. “I personally like to encourage my students to enter writing contests because if you get a tangible reward, you’re more bound to keep writing,” says Mr. Taylor. “It works too, and as we’ve seen in the past, whenever Bel Air students enter in the Harford County Reading Council Writing Contest, we do really well compared to others in the county. We’re very lucky that Bel Air has so many good writers.”

 

Quinn Baumeister, a Bel Air High School senior, believes that Bel Air’s success in writing is due to its unique efforts to encourage students to express themselves. “We have the poetry slams, which I’ve never heard of another school having. It’s really cool that they are held and advertised in the school, because so many other slams are sometimes inaccessible to some students. I think it’s a great way to encourage and introduce people to writing and performing.”

 

So if you’re a Bel Air High School student, new or old, looking to do something creative in your free time, the school offers many opportunities for aspiring writers, from joining the Bellarion news team, learning creative writing from Mr. Taylor and joining the Reverie staff, to simply stopping by the Black Box theater to watch a poetry slam. Perhaps the right move for you is taking Mr. Taylor’s advice and “don’t pick up the pen from the paper; just keep writing.”