Modern-day Commentary

Finally, I’ve found a school paper for my Rewind Series which is totally truthful. This is a tour of my bedroom, a glimpse of my home life in seventh grade.

What’s intriguing to me, looking back, is the fact that I don’t present the room’s feature with any negativity or shame. Knowing how messy I tended to keep my room, in spite of sincere efforts to change, I think it’s charming that I had such pride in my surroundings.

My boyhood bedroom was a re-engineered back porch. Our house was quite small for a family of four, and my parents did what they could to give their children separate rooms from the moment I was born. I think a few corners were cut. Insulation, for example, was never a strong feature of my modified porch. In fact, as it is the computer room now, my mother sends me the occasional winter email reporting that the room is some twenty degrees cooler than the rest of the house. But, it was my room, and it’s clear from this paper that I had a special connection to it.

I remember well when each of the non-original features was added, many at times of transition in my life, as I became a “big boy”. The (awkwardly described) “four sliding door cabinet” and the wooden shutter door were both additions that were very special to me. And, like any child of my generation, I couldn’t count the hours I spent playing the original Nintendo Entertainment System on my hand-me-down television. I’m actually curious what TV I was using at the time I wrote this, because there was one period I recall when I had my Nintendo rigged up to our five-inch black and white camping television.

The final “Exit through the gift shop” sentiment speaks a lot about junior high school Ricky Seaholm. I had just followed all the instructions, wrote a nice “descriptive paragraph”, got a little sentimental, and then toss in a big Will Hunting capper. as if to say, “So, you want me to waste my valuable time writing a stupid little story about my bedroom? Is that what you want? Well, I’m gonna toss in as much sarcasm as would still allow me to get a “7” and a check mark on this rinky-dink assignment. This is a f*kin joke!” I think I really could be Matt Damon.

The Primary Source

Primary Source

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Rick Seaholm
English
November 8, 1989
Mr. Luzi

Towards the back of our house is a cozy spot called “My Room.” Upon entering “My Room” you pass through a folding wooden shutter door. On the wall to the right of this door is a wall covered with shelves that I have owned since I was an infant. On the left wall next to my door is a turquoise bureau filled with my clothes. Straight ahead you will notice a bed which takes up half of the wall. A four sliding door cabinet stands at the head of my bed. Lots of games and old toys are located here. At t he foot of the bed is a desk filled with papers and folders. On the wall beside the desk is a bookshelf that contains some reference books and a few pleasure books. The newest addition to this area (summer 1989) is pair of shelves constructed of four plastic storage cubes and two wooden planks across them. A table with a television and Nintendo video game system on top of it lies beside my new shelves.

“That’s the end of our tour. I hope you now have a better knowledge of ‘My Room’. Refreshments and postcards are on sale in the gift shop.”