I am (attempting) to write a narrative essay on a friend of mine. It started out OK but suddenly I realized I had lost myself as I was typing… something happened and I was wondering if someone here could point out any problems with ‘flow’ or whatever you think may be wrong with it… help…
(Title Pending)
You wouldn't think much of him just by looking at him, strolling down the school halls, head shaved with sounds of 2Pac and Dr. Dre echoing from his twisted modern-day earphones.
‘He’s just one of them,’ you might say. ‘Another conformist of today’s mindless rap culture.’ Oftentimes you can find him living up to such a statement, lurking in the bushes during lunch hour puffing away at his daily dose of Mary Jane or roaming the city streets on a Friday night in a drunken haze with his friends, struggling to find the nearest coffee shop. I, however, have noticed inadvertently, and perhaps in spite of earlier impressions, that beneath the stereotypical exterior of this particular teenager, there lies a beautiful, flawed, complex individual I am proud to know.
I first met this friend of mine, lets call him, John, years ago when I began living in Sudbury. The only people I knew from the city before that time were mere acquaintances. You know, the kind of friends who you would openly talk to if you bumped into them on the street, but never had the nerve to call in the evenings to ask how their day went. It wasn’t until I moved to the city that I had the opportunity to build on these friendships, and soon after, I was spending almost every evening at the local, and seemingly quite popular, coffee shop.
On one particular night, while sipping away at my hot chocolate and discussing the trivial events that school had to offer that day, a few unfamiliar faces stumbled into the shop. There were four of them in total: some were adorned in khakis down to their knees, others wore hats as if they had dressed themselves blind, every one of them reeked of weed. Apparently someone at our table recognized them and motioned for them to join us. They filed into our booth and one of them, who I would soon learn to be John, sat across from me. Immediately, all attention turned to the newcomers, and they were probed with questions about what they had been up that night. Most of them responded in a manner that one would expect of kids like them; speaking as though grammar were the plague and forcefully laughing at one another’s bravado.
There was one exception, however. John. I noticed that his interest in the conversation was somewhat lacking as he sat, slouched in his seat, tapping the table with his earphones. At first I assumed the drugs were to blame for his lack of enthusiasm. But as talk between the stoners veered from topics of sluts and ‘gay’ Math teachers to a somewhat philosophical discussion about music and its effect on teenagers, John began to speak. The thoughts he shared with us about music were, although expressed in a rapper’s tongue, well formulated and took on a non-judgmental position. It was apparent in the way that he spoke that he had thought about such issues during his own time. John was prepared to speak intelligently about many subjects, unlike his friends who seemed to be tossing in spur-of-the-moment, poorly thought, often contradictory, opinions.
I sat quietly in my seat that night listening to this seemingly misplaced individual as he shared with us his views on music, the catholic religion, and a thorough examination on how he believes Anti-Skip works. It was apparent that John was not your basic consumer of rap culture. Instead, the lifestyle he lead seemed more like a decision he made rather than something he fell into like most enthusiasts of this culture. To me, it was as though he had weighed his options beforehand and decided that this would be the most interesting way to live his life. At least for now.
Not only does John seem to be more self-aware than most of his other friends and acquaintances, since I have known him I’ve come to notice the subtle concerns he has for almost everyone. Instead of limiting his interests to just the people who are close to him, and harassing those who look at him funny, he honestly appreciates even those who he knows only by name.
For instance, a few months ago a close friend of mine, and a more distant friend of his, suffered a death their the family. John had been a close friend to this person years ago in elementary school, but ever since high school the two of them hadn’t spoken much. His relation to this person was just about as strong as the relationship between
where did i go wrong??? ugh…