<div style="font-size:10pt;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;color:black;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p><u><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="3">Wow! It doesn’t get more heart
wrinching than this. The way in which you told the story in a straightforward
way, without resorting to emotionally evocative vocabulary,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></font><font size="3">is extremely effective.</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font size="3"> </font></span><font size="3">I feel the same way ab out the English
teacher as I do about the policeman in</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font size="3">
</font></span><font size="3">Les Miserables</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font size="3"> </font></span><font size="3">They b both
followed the letter of the law rather than the heart of the law. I</font><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><font size="3"> </font></span><font size="3">can see nothing to suggest that would make
this piece better. Cudos.<o:p></o:p></font></font></span></u></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv9209116531msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv9209116531msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p align="center" class="yiv9209116531msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in; text-align: center;"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><b><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">A Poessay: May 28, 1968</span></b><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p align="center" class="yiv9209116531msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p align="center" class="yiv9209116531msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">by Alice Jane-Marie Massa<o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv9209116531msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv9209116531msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p align="center" class="yiv9209116531msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in; text-align: center;"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><b><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Prologue</span></b><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv9209116531msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv9209116531msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">
1968 was the first "sea change" year in the history of my
lifetime--for the entire country and for my high school. Due to the
assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and presidential candidate
Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, many people do not recall that Helen Keller also
died in 1968--June 1 of that memorable year. Most people never knew that
Susan also passed away in 1968; but everyone in our high school, with an
enrollment of about four hundred, knew.<o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv9209116531msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv9209116531msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">
During our senior year of 1967-68, Susan returned to school after her surgery
for malignant cancer. In Mrs. Baldwin's senior English class, Susan sat
in one of the wooden row desks which was two seats in front of mine and one row
to the left. Although Susan's hair was gone, her ever-present smile and
twinkling eyes persisted. The wig she wore, like the cancer, seemed too
large for her thin face and body. Her slender hand rested on a small,
decorative, gold pillow--gold because our school colors were old gold and black.
With great hesitation, I glanced at what remained of her hand--part of her
hand, her thumb, and her index finger. After a while, I tried to turn my
attention to the English class.<o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv9209116531msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv9209116531msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="3">
At a later point in the semester, I was walking down the north stairway of the </font><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on"><font size="3">Junior</font></st1:placename><font size="3"> </font><st1:placename w:st="on"><font size="3">High</font></st1:placename><font size="3">
</font><st1:placetype w:st="on"><font size="3">Building</font></st1:placetype></st1:place><font size="3">. I entered
the seemingly empty corridor and realized that Susan was making up a
test. She was sitting at an arm-chair desk and was trying to complete the
test. Another student was standing beside her and called me over to where
they were in the stairwell. During the brief conversation, the other
student said that I would know the answers to a couple of questions. I
did. Susan never asked for my help; the other student did. I had
never cheated nor facilitated someone else's cheating; however, on that day, I
thought I was doing what was right by helping Susan with a couple of
answers. I never regretted doing so. I knew that my helping her in
this way was a very small gesture. Cancer was really the one doing the
cheating.<o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv9209116531msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv9209116531msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="3">
After our senior trip to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Chicago</st1:place></st1:city></font><font size="3">
was cancelled due to the unrest there after the assassination of Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr., we seniors were told that there was not enough time to plan
another trip. Of course, these events happened in April of 1968; by May,
although Susan had not returned to school for some time, we heard that she
wanted to graduate with her class at the ceremony in the Clinton High School
Gymnasium. Also, we heard that one teacher was preventing Susan's wish:
Mrs. Baldwin, the senior English teacher, did not want to give Susan a
"pass" without work being appropriately and satisfactorily
completed. <o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv9209116531msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv9209116531msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><font face="Times New Roman"><font size="3">
As the events and parties of the last month of our four years at </font><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on"><font size="3">Clinton</font></st1:placename><font size="3"> </font><st1:placetype w:st="on"><font size="3">High School</font></st1:placetype></st1:place><font size="3"> continued, we finally heard
that someone convinced Mrs. Baldwin to change her mind so that Susan could be
one of the 104 graduates at our Commencement. Nevertheless, up to the
last minute, we were not certain that Susan would be able to attend the
graduation of the CHS Class of '68.<o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv9209116531msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p align="center" class="yiv9209116531msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in; text-align: center;"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><b><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Malignant Commencement: A Poem</span></b><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p align="center" class="yiv9209116531msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in; text-align: center;"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><b><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"> </span></b><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv9209116531msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Fifty
years ago,<o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv9209116531msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">holding
a lace-trimmed, white handkerchief,<o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv9209116531msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">I
heard Donnie Miller say,<o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv9209116531msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">"Are
you going to cry?"<o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv9209116531msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv9209116531msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Wearing
a white, tasseled mortar board<o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv9209116531msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">and
a white graduation gown with white low heels,<o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv9209116531msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">I
saw, in brown-tones and a blur,<o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv9209116531msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">the
gurney being wheeled across the auditorium stage.<o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="yiv9209116531msonormal" style="margin: 1em 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Susan
did come for our graduation.<o:p></o:p></font></font></span></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">
</font></div>