Out of the web

Emily RICHARDS

As Timothy stepped into the classroom, he looked around. He had been learning online for two months and hadn’t been to school once. His school was being tested to see how students liked learning only online. It hadn’t gone too well. As it was grade 7, he was new to the school. Everyone was. But there was a key difference between him and everyone else. He had been very sick for the first part of term one, and that had meant everyone had their friend groups. Except him. As he went to his seat, no one noticed him, which wasn’t surprising, as the class barely remembered their friends. When everyone had taken their seats, the teacher came in and launched into a speech about how this term was going to go by without so much as a hello. It was going to be a long year.

Timothy shuffled out of class with everyone else as they went off to lunch. He was very bored after a long session of listening to things he already knew. He looked up and saw that there was no one sitting by themselves like he had hoped there would be.

When Timothy got back into class, he was happy to see that there were worksheets on the desk. He knew he was good at these sorts of things. Math, science, history... he was quite good. He was halfway through the sheet when the person next to him, Caleb, if he remembered correctly, tapped his desk. “Can you help me with question three? I kind of forgot how to do it.”

“Sure.” Timothy replied, and he explained how to do it. Caleb had just caught on when the teacher started collecting the papers and the bell rang.

“See ya.” Caleb called.

“Wait!” Timothy replied. “Can I sit with you for lunch?”

Caleb shrugged in reply and walked over to a bench with one other person sitting at it. Timothy introduced himself, as did the other guy, Nick, and they all chatted for a while. When they went back inside, Timothy was happy to see more worksheets. Caleb groaned. Timothy grinned.

“Come on!” He said. “I’ll help you!”

Op-Doc

Anonymous Submission

“Strugglingthroughmyworldandyours”

I remember growing up and watching the great internet debate on if pineapple should belong on pizza. I remember how the thought of the sweet pineapple mingling itself with the salty cheese of a pizza brought sour thoughts that triggered a division, be it the sensation of pure petrification or an arousal of an appetite. With those sour thoughts, history had struck again, the world divided through opinions where the only thing they have in common is mutual hatred. Watching the internet turn in rumbles, I asked myself why both sides care so much. Why do they care if I liked pineapple on pizza? …Why do they care that I was…gay?

I was spoon-fed this burning hatred for people who ‘liked pineapple on pizza’. To me, It was like growing up in a family part of the anti-pineapple on pizza campaign, while I hid my secret likings for…Hawaiian?

For instance, I remember rummaging through my mother’s makeup bag, in hopes to find the solidarity which brought girls theirs in the form of lipstick. I remember and feel the gaze of my mother’s eyes as I printed red on my lips, her laughs that still echo in humiliation till this day. I was mortified. All that humiliation, just because the ideology of ‘pineapple on pizza’ were one of delusion and because ‘lipstick didn’t belong on boys unless you’re are a sinner’. Who knew my being different would conjure such battles from my own family and eventually… my own friends.

‘Hey! you sound gay, ‘you act gay’, ‘you’re totally gay’, ‘don’t come near me’, ‘stay away from me’. Still, I stayed still. Nowhere to turn to, not even family, not even friends. This is when isolation bridges itself to familiarity. Pure isolation. From their world. I hated myself for being this way. Remembering, how I used to pray to God that one day I would just wake up and these ‘sinister’ feelings I had for pineapple on pizza would just dissipate? All of my problems would simply just go away.

All of this hatred just because “pineapple should not be on the pizza.” Just like how lipstick should not be on boys. Just like how boys should not kiss boys. Like how guys like me should not be gay. Like how guys like me should not be in this school. Like how guys like me will burn in hell.

Readers, this is what the thought and the feeling that the majority of youth tormented with their sexuality go through. Whether it be at school or at home, homophobia can stretch through any corner. So be their light. Have their back. Be there, when they face the world and say, ‘I love pineapple on pizza’. Support them. Support our youth.

I want to live in a world where I can hold another boy’s hand without feeling embarrassed, a world where I can kiss another boy freely, and where I can marry another boy happily.

Lion’s Post Issue 9.5

Editors

Benjamin Lu

Ms. McKenna

Journalism

Arjun Ramke - “The future of MacGregor – Major Development”

Richie Taulani - “Teachers v. Students - The debating fight”

Op-Docs

Sarah Kirby - “The ShineGirl Program at MacG”

Yong Kuang Leow - “Should mobile phones be used within school grounds?”

Yong Chien Leow - “How Cyber-safe are our teens in their Cyber-bubble?”

Noah Ryu - “How Cyber-safe are our teens in their Cyber-bubble?”

Abody Al-Ani - “How Cyber-safe are our teens in their Cyber-bubble?”

Anonymous - “Am I Hurting You for Liking Pineapple on Pizza? ”

Photography

Anonymous - “Golden Brisbane”

Emily Richards - “Out of the web”

Alexis Ong - “Untitled”

Anonymous - “City”