Digital Inkling

Digital Inkling is the bi-monthly online teen newsletter. In the summer we publish monthly, on the first Friday of the month. Send us your poems, short stories, or reviews.  Your reviews might also be selected for the Pick of the Day.

Alexithymic (And other words that should be)

Alexithymia (a/lek s? thi/me ?)
noun. Psychiatry.  
difficulty in experiencing, expressing, and describing emotional responses.

i want to know if this is diagnosable,
symptomatic,
if you’re going to put me on some wax paper table,
metal reflection devices
and try to see into me,
you’re never going to tell
when i forget the words i used to use to describe you
if you’re not even going to talk to me.
i want to know where emotions go
when you hide them,
where the words you swallow digest
(i love you because of what is unsaid,
because my brain is built up with so many different words
that they forget the path to my lips)

is this alexithymia
(or insanity)
when i can’t think of the words i want to use to express this,
how are you going to call this psychiatry
if you don’t even know what i mean
(if i’m not expressing this right,
how do you know it’s my mind we’re talking about?)
what does it mean if i make up words
to describe my emotional responses,
maybe none of the two-hundred and twenty thousand words
in the dictionary
mean exactly what i think when i see you again,
when i saw you then,
when my mind makes up words you would say
if i were seeing you now.
would you say it’s contagion
when i can’t express my emotions
so you can’t experience them
and we end up sitting there like mutes
or people in glass boxes
or paper dolls?

i want to create the next new word in the english language.

Fandom by Jessica

 I like so many other people am a fan. Whether it’s a new TV show or a brand new novel there with always be fans. Those people who’ve read the Harry Potter books so many times they’ve memorized it. Or those hardcore Doctor Who fans who have a working sonic screwdriver to go with their current costume. Its fandoms like this that influence and create a new world for people. For some it’s an escape when your parents are fighting. For others it’s a new world when exams are looming. Every teen can probably relate to fandoms. Even if you’re the only one, that’s all the matters. It’s your escape, it’s yours to enjoy and love. I like to consider fandoms as warm blanket when the snow outside reaches your bedroom window. No matter how high that snow gets the blanket keeps you comfortable and cozy. No matter the basis of fandom be it books, or even watching The Tour de France. Those special things you love, and create a small obsession around, can make you a different person. Maybe that winter blanket makes you question a quote woven into it. Who knows that quote may begin to affect your little actions of daily life. Many teens realize new friendships through a mutual attraction to a fandom. Some might consider fandoms, or teens becoming obsessed with one, a bad thing. Is it really? Do you want to find that warm blanket or not? Is it worth it to become one of the quotes on that blanket? Discovering its meaning in day to day life, and letting it affect you however you choose to let it.

The Always War - Review by ruthyruth321

 The Always War by Margaret Peterson Haddix is a futuristic book. The United States is a dark and depressing place to live in. The people are terrified of the war that has been raging around them for years they can't even count. A war that they've never seen, but only heard about. Tessa and her class are sent to the auditorium to see Gideon be given an award for killing over 1,000 people in a bombing raid. Besides being her idol, Gideon is Tessa's next door neighbor as well, and the war has left him mentally unstable. He runs off and Tessa follows him onto a plane going who-knows-where, flown by Gideon. This is where Tessa's adventure begins to find the source of the war, and the secrets hidden behind it. I loved this book, especially because Margaret Peterson Haddix is one of my favorite authors. She has proved again and again her talent as a writer, making the book come to life, with morals and leaves the reader thinking about life, society, and how the littlest things can make a big difference.

Bittersweet - Review by mreeves8

My next review is going to be on the book Bittersweet by Sarah Ockler. I would really recommend this book to anybody who likes romance and most of all cupcakes. If you like to figure skate maybe. I mean, after what happened with Hudson, I would say you probably know how that feels or you will feel totally betrayed. Other than that, if you haven't read this book and you really want to and you really just want a quick sneak peak. This is going to be my quick sneak peak for you and then on my next paragraph or whatever I will tell people who have read this book about what I thought.

"Bittersweet" by Sarah Ockler is a great book filled with sweet adventures, figure skating, some romance, a great story, and the best of all of it, CUPCAKES!!! It starts out with a girl named Hudson telling her story from three years back when her parents were about to get in a divorce. She thought that her figure skating career was getting in the way with their relationship and messed up at the competition on purpose. Three years later she is working in her Mother's diner, Hurley's. She learned to bake cupcakes and she took care of her brother Bug. She enjoyed what she did but sometimes she would regret messing up at the competition three years ago. One day she got a letter saying that her trainer for figure skating had passed away and that there was a competition that she could go to that would give her a skating scholarship. She didn't want to become like her mother and start running that diner, so she would sneak out on breaks out on the cold winter ice called Filmore's. She runs into a boy named Josh and starts to remember him from the school's hockey team. Awesome stuff happens then he asks her if he would like to skate at an indoor rink with him she says yes later on then he talks to his leader or head of the hockey team. After that the head of the hockey team (leader, not the actual head) cuts a deal with her. His name is Mike and she remembers some stuff that he did in 8th grade. So since she is such a great figure skater she says that she will teach the hockey team to skate better and then she can have all the free time she would like after. So really funny stuff happens and I laugh really hard. Then, Josh thinks that stuff is going on with Mike even though he really likes Hudson. The thing is Hudson WAS dating Mike, but she never felt that way about him. So she starts to see Josh for a real guy. Also, something really awesome, like saving lives happens, and yeah. I really liked this book.

Read the rest of the review here.

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