Dear Medusa

YA fiction in verse 

"She thinks she's been done grievous wrong 

by the two dollars extra on her waxy receipt 

and my mouth is supposed to be apologizing 

but my mind is on everything else:

*the whole school/world calling me a whore

*Sarah cutting me out of her life like a tumor 

*my parents, the wood chipper of their life between them"

     Whether you graduated high school in this century or decades earlier you probably saw how girls considered "fast" are ostracized and bullied.  While boys who score between the sheets frequently are called players and retain or gain in popularity, girls who do the same are called sluts and hos and reviled.  They're also the girls parents consider cautionary tales, deviants capable of bringing their own flawless kids down by association.

     Alicia, protagonist of Olivia A. Cole's Dear Medusa, is considered to be one of those girls.  Her peers avoid her like COVID.  They call all kinds of mean names.  At one point she makes a list of eleven.  Only some do worse than shunning.  Random strangers including guys beyond high school age call her demanding her services.

     Meanwhile she's lost her long term best friend, Sarah, who now attends a Christian school.  Alicia had sensed that Sarah's joining her church's youth group would change things but

" I just didn't know how much--

how virginity would become a coin in her purse 

how hell would become a comet in her palm

how judgement would become a sword in her belt."

     School is torment for Alicia.  She was sexually abused by one of the most popular teachers.  Memories of what he did royally interfere with her ability to feel safe, welcomed, and valued.

     This powerful and poignant narrative is a must read for people in its target demographics and well beyond, especially parents, teachers, and school administrators and boards.  The behavior of predator teachers has to be stopped before more kids are hurt.

On a purrrsonal note, me too.  I was in high school.  He was a teacher.  He told me to keep it our little secret.  I realized that he was telling me that so he could hurt other girls.  So even though I didn't want to talk about explicitly sexual matters with adult authority figures any more than any other '60s teen I tried to report him only to be told that I was a vicious little liar.  I knew that I was not to blame and that he had committed both a sin and a crime.  This was a mixed blessing.  I wasn't burdened by guilt.  But I also didn't have a way to stay safe from even the most seemingly respectable adult males other than making myself unappealing to them.  I felt like my changing figure made me a prey animal (like Alicia's rabbit) with a year round hunting season.  For a long time I starved myself to create a prepubescent appearance.  I don't want other kids to have to go through that.

A great big shout out goes out to Cole who shared her experiences so bravely through this truly engaging coming of age narrative.

Jules Hathaway 

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