The Truth Commission (25 page)

1
. That would be you, Ms. Fowler!

2
. Such as
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
by Hunter S. Thompson and
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
by Tom Wolfe.

3
.

4
. “A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again,” first published in
Harper's Magazine
as “Shipping Out” (1996). Interesting fact: at first you think the essay's going to be about how wonderful it is to go on a luxurious cruise, but it turns out to be about death. Highly recommended for depressive readers as well as those who like bitter humor, lists, and footnotes.

5
. Ms. Fowler, may I compliment you on how patient you are with the nonreaders in our class?

6
. I can't wait to write my acknowledgments for this project! It's going to be like writing an Academy Awards speech for an award that I gave
to myself
!

7
. More about her later.

8
. Just to show I've been paying attention in class, creative nonfiction refers to stories that employ the techniques of fiction, such as being interesting and fun to read, as opposed to fiction that has a few true bits. Notable contemporary practitioners include Jon Krakauer, Annie Dillard, and John Vaillant. Problematic practitioners include James Frey and Greg Mortenson.

9
. Front matter is things like tables of contents, author's notes, prologues, prefaces, and copyright pages.

10
. Please tick your top choice for epigraph. I can't decide.

11
. I wasn't sure whether this should be called a prologue or a preface. As far as I can tell, a preface is more common in nonfiction. Feel free to advise. Would it sound like sucking up to say that I'm really enjoying this creative writing project so far?

12
. For the gentle reader who has no knowledge of the subject, a truth commission (also known as a truth and reconciliation commission) is established to help a country's citizens find out the truth about abuses of human rights (such as genocide and torture and false imprisonment) and make recommendations—that's the “reconciliation”—about how to go forward. Think apartheid. Think Canadian residential schools for First Nations peoples. Dusk, Neil, and I were working on a completely different scale, obviously, but we didn't give much thought to reconciling ourselves or anyone else to the truths we found. Why is this a problem? Consider, if you will, the Oxford Dictionary definition of
reconciliation
: 1. The restoration of friendly relations; 2. The action of making one view or belief compatible with another. I think we can agree that we may have screwed up by leaving that part out.

13
. Serving oddballs in grades ten through twelve since 2007.

14
. A direct quote from Ms. Dubinsky, who teaches Women and Art: A Wild History at G. P. Academy.

15
. Ms. Fowler, I just got your feedback on my first submission. The timing couldn't be better! You suggested I stop beating around the bush about my personal history and lo! This submission just happens to be about my personal history, specifically as it pertains to my sister. It's like we're reading each other's minds!

Also you are probably drawing some conclusions about me, Dusk, and Neil, conclusions that may be shared by other readers. After all, in addition to your extensive collection of “how to write and feel good about it” books by Anne Lamott and Co., you are a highly trained guidance professional with your own copy of the DSM-V. You have probably diagnosed Dusk as an angry depressive, me as a neurotic, and Neil as a young man overcompensating for self-esteem issues with excessive focus on hot girls, sun tanning, early 1970s films and fashion, and poor boundaries. You wouldn't be wrong. But there's more to us than that, as I think this story will prove. Anyway, carry on! (Aren't you glad you're only a
part-time
guidance counselor? Could you imagine listening to stuff like this full-time?)

16
. According to what we learned in class, backstory, flashbacks, digressions, and on-the-page musing are all welcome in creative nonfiction. I plan to take full advantage of that fact.

17
. If you don't know what exposition is, you have not been paying attention in your creative writing class! If you have been away due to a legitimate case of mono or mumps, exposition gives important background information about characters and setting and what happened before the story starts. Exposition can be useful. It can also stall a story deader than my truck on a hill.

18
. Yes, the connection to the Chronicles of Narnia is intentional.

19
. At least, I don't think she does.

20
. P.S. Thank you for your editorial feedback on my last chapter. It was very encouraging! In other news, I saw you and Mr. Wells talking at the entrance to the Guidance Office. I'm going to tell myself that the fact that you had a copy of my last chapter in your hand is a coincidence. He's not supposed to read this until you've approved the first draft. Still, he got all blushy when I walked up, so that's interesting. Okay. Carry on.

21
. I hope you approve of the cliff-hanger at the end of Chapter Two. It wasn't intentional. I was just tired out and couldn't continue. Maybe the cliff-hanger was invented by an exhausted writer.

22
. As noted, there are other reasons her stories are painful, but there's no need to harp on that.

23
. Now I forge into that difficult territory in which I write about one of your colleagues and refer constantly to the class handout on libel and slander and how not to get sued for your work of creative nonfiction.

24
. I think I'm overusing footnotes. I'll try to cut back. As for the correct placement of superscripts, let's worry about that later. I like little numbers popping up at random in the beginning or middle of a sentence! It keeps things lively. Action-packed, you might say!

25
. Character markers being those smallish details that tell a bigger story about a person. Examples might include the school a person attends—Ivy League versus community college, art school versus technical; or the vehicle a person drives—Lexus versus
Firefly
; clothes—Hermès scarves versus ponchos. See? I pay attention in class!

26
. For some reason, “among her” sounds great here, but I know it's wrong. I'm going to keep it in place, with a line through it, so you see that your editorial feedback is getting through (and is probably having a negative impact on my sense of imaginative freedom).

27
.

28
. It is too bad the school sounds like a funeral home, but you can't have everything.

29
. You know: ostriches are famous for putting their heads in the sand to avoid unpleasant realities. Maybe the connection with me isn't obvious at this point in the story, but I feel I must mention it in case I can get credit for noticing thematic connections, which are extremely important in works of creative nonfiction.

30
. It's funny how when you start a story you might not be sure what you want to say or how to say it, but the more you write, the clearer it becomes. I would not have expected that, had I not embarked on this project. Before I continue, I wanted to say that I noticed yesterday that you were wearing not just lipstick, but also, forgive me for pointing it out, a new scent. In English, I noticed that Mr. Wells also wore a new scent. He didn't overshoot the mark into Axe Body Spray territory, but he definitely smelled of something effortful. Coincidence? Ha! Won't it be funny and charmingly awkward when you two confab over this chapter at the end of term! I know you told me not to make comments about you and Mr. Wells in the text, but footnotes aren't really the text, as you've pointed out when you say that they have a way of “pulling you out of the text.” Anyway, it's like you always tell us in class: a writer must be brave and honest. Politeness is the death of good prose. God, I kill myself sometimes. Anyway, let me transition seamlessly back to the primary narrative . . .

P.S. Thanks also for your comments on the last chapter. I know it had too much backstory but I appreciate that you think it's necessary and that it works. I promise to focus on action as much as possible from now on.

31
. The word
property
should give you some idea about how the relationship between writers and film companies works. Yes, I am repeating something I heard my sister's agent say.

32
. Since you are a dedicated creative writing teacher/guidance counselor, I won't tell you exactly how much money Keira's been offered. (Salt: stop looking at that wound!) Just know that it's an obscene amount.

33
. Poignant background detail: my parents both wanted to be artists and go to art school. My dad wanted to make models for architects, and my mom wanted to do some sort of graphic design. But right after high school, while they were working to save money, they got pregnant with Keira and they didn't have much family support and so they had to give up their dreams. They've mentioned about thirty thousand times how much they would have loved to attend a school like Green Pastures. It goes without saying that they are familiar with living vicariously through their kids. Mostly Keira.

34
. It is.

35
. Dad was president until the unfortunate incident (his extramarital affair) with the checkout girl. Whose uncle happened to be the secretary. The nice gay couple, Georges and Claude, are the only ones who still speak to him.

36
. Because if there's anything creative writing teachers love, it's specific, concrete
visual
details.

37
. By “Earth mother” I mean the mother who exists in the Earth realm of my sister's comics, not a hemp-trouser-wearing, quinoa-eating, downward-dog-doing mom.

38
. And because she had to give up her dreams to raise two kids.

39
. Sad, specific, concrete detail: I kept all of them.

40
. It goes without saying that my mom's parents hadn't exactly been supportive of her teenage dreams, and my dad's mom couldn't afford to help him, either.

41
. If you really want to know, the Chronicle spells out a version of the whole sordid affair in unsparing detail. And no, the story about the underpants
was not true
.