lastnightblues

I'm having worries. So I go to Catholic school, and outside abstaining from uber-Catholic activities and not lying about my own beliefs when asked directly, I haven't rocked the boat much in these past three and a half years.

But. But now I'm a senior, and I'm president (former chief editor) of the school newspaper, and I already got into Stanford with a pretty generous financial aid package (ie., I'm not worried about getting scholarships from my high school). So I have this ability to speak, and I want to speak now. One of the biggest--and most administration-approved--movements at school is the Crusaders for Life, the pro-life group. If you're wondering what the pro-choice group is, believe me:  there's no option for one. The majority of my best friends are in this group and have even gone on the March for Life held every January in D.C.

I'm pro-choice. Strongly so. I don't get into it with my friends; we tacitly let that lie. But this opportunity has arisen for me to write an opinion article on the subject, and... I want to take it. So I wrote an op-ed entitled "A Culture of Life:  How a Pro-Life Movement Can Work With a Pro-Choice President." I wouldn't call it a pro-choice article; all I say in it is what I believe, which is that the pro-life movement going about stopping abortions the wrong way, and what I think the right directions would be.

I've prepared myself for the backlash:  from friends and mostly from faculty. I've prepared myself to lose respect from some people if it means that I can sleep at night knowing that I spoke when I felt I had to. But I'm still worried. Mostly because, even though I expect it, I hate to lose my teachers' respect--mainly, however, I'm worried that my journalism club advisor will face retribution. I don't want to jeopardize his job at all.

So. I don't know if I'm writing about this to garner opinions from my flist or just to set my mind at peace, but here it is. My plan at present is to send off the article and talk to highest administrator, whom I respect as a very fair man and who actually helped me get the newspaper started three years ago. Here goes nothing, y'all.