“UnPossibleTask” on Twitter

Author: William Yusah
You can find William’s #teachread work at: https://fr.twitter.com/#!/UnPossibleTask
Categories: YA Lit, Social Media, The Simpsons
Tags: Twitter, Perks of Being a Wallflower, Ralph Wiggum

“UnPossibleTask” on Twitter

In defense of Young Adult Literature. Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky is a 213-page young adult novel tells the story of a typical teenage life attending a typical suburban high school in a typical American small town. In spite of the seeming normalcy of our protagonist’s environment, the novel’s narrative voice does incredible justice to the complexities of adolescent identity-searching (something people often overlook). In America, the challenges of young adulthood culminate in a four-year “trial by fire,” where teenagers juggle both the academic responsibilities and, often more importantly, the emotional journey of sexuality, social identity, and personal strength. Perks of Being a Wallflower takes this time in one teenager’s life and spills his heart open for the reader to see. The narrative voice is vulnerable and sincere, and not at all melodramatic. Most importantly, the book has great value to adolescent readers because it legitimizes their lived experiences through articulate, eloquent, and encouraging words. This seems to be the case with most acclaimed Young Adult Literature. Their power to connect with the adolescent reader and stimulate them intellectually through engaging writing brings great value to the genre. I enjoyed very much this novel and absolutely understand why so many books from this genre are now being made Hollywood feature films.

Twitter: Not useless. When Twitter began, I perceived the medium to be narcissistic and useless. The idea of “following” people’s uneventful thoughts was hardly “social” to me. But Twitter exploded as a platform when political and worldly events deserved attention from those on the front lines. No longer did we receive news filtered through the media, scheduled for primetime. We heard the voices of thousands instantly, unfiltered. It was empowering.

Now, I enjoy Twitter through the voices that make each of the 140-characters count—mostly news and comedy. It is because of Twitters years of existence—years that have bred hundreds of creative uses—that the same instant connection can be utilized in the classroom. A student’s voice can be empowered simply through a 140-character message broadcasted to his or her community.

Reading Perks of Being a Wallflower was better enjoyed because I was encouraged to Tweet my reader experience online to my reading peers. In the spirit of many Twitter users, I chose to Tweet in the voice of Ralph Wiggum from the lovable cartoon, The Simpsons. For both Ralph and myself, reading seemed to be uninspiring. In his words, this “unpossible” task was ready to be “possibled” again.

The simplicity of medium was gratifying, unintimidating, aesthetically pleasing, and surprisingly social.

Troubleshooting. In my experience, Twitter does not solicit direct user-to-user interaction. Because the nature of the 140-character posts are appropriately simple and declarative, I found it difficult to be inspired to comment or reach out to other users. The most I ever felt like saying was a, “Haha,” or “I agree,” or (God forbid), “I disagree.” Mostly, I exhaled a, “Huh,” or “Okay.” On Facebook, the only social network I truly engage in, the nature of my interactions are endearing, and intimately connected between friends (inside jokes or words of support). For classmates to utilize Twitter as a means of engaging both the academic materials and each other, there would need to be a more stimulating means of soliciting the community for “replies.” The classroom community, perhaps, would need a “social” foundation of its own. As it stood in my class, I enjoyed the novel and enjoyed my own posts, but selfishly felt insincere engaging other users. I realize how absurd that may sound, for me to enjoy Twitter as a one-way platform, but my preferred social practices are hardly online. Teachers should be sensitive to this as they integrate social media into the classroom discussions.

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