Since the beginning of the Glacier Peak ASB program, the members have littered the school walls with glitter painted posters that contain cheesy anonymously written quotes found on Pinterest. I realize that deep in their Gold Creek-loving hearts, ASB kids truly believe that someone will glance up at a sign that says “Treat Everybody Like It’s Their Birthday” and upon such reflection decide to refrain from calling the freshman in their 4th period class gay slurs. But unfortunately, such hope is wasted and the student body is forced to continue looking upon a series of rejected lyrics from The Greatest Showman.

In attempts to propel an unnecessary and inconvenient counterculture movement, I put up my own poster on Tuesday, April 17th. I followed every unspoken rule: the butcher paper, the bubbly handwriting, the calligraphy; everything except the message.

Because my poster said, “You Can’t Spell Grizzlies Without Lies”.

The main purpose was to get a few laughs from my fellow pessimists, but there were several underlying experiments within my anti-happiness revolt. I admit, I thought it would be quite entertaining to witness a mutiny in ASB, but my main objective was not to impeach Elijah Beals. Rather, I wanted to test the extent of our free speech. And that was revealed when my poster was taken down in less than three hours.

But it wasn’t all for naught, as it captured the eye of many before its confiscation. Nathan Axford, a Glacier Peak senior who shared a photo of the poster on his Snapchat story, agreed to share his impressions. “I thought it was edgy,” Axford said, “And cool because it stood out”. Perhaps ASB should start taking some notes.

I’m not saying I’m the next Banksy, but I’m the next Banksy. That is, if Banksy were a seventeen-year-old girl on a depressive spiral.

Given, I love a good satirical piece as much as the next dispirited individual who despises cheerfulness because they never fully allowed themselves to feel real emotions, yet I would have preferred not be expelled because of one. But hey, I was innocent until proven grizzly.

And then, the next day I was warned by an inside source that Darlene, a member of our school security, searched the cameras and was on an active hunt for me.

According to the 2017-2018 Snohomish School District Student/Parent Handbook, I had not violated any of the terms. There was no profanity, bullying, or destruction of property. The “lies” is simply a linguistic fact. I could easily have written that Grizzlies could not be spelled without “grizz”. While that may have caused some confusion for all involved, I doubt it would be banished from school grounds.

This all begs the question of whether or not GP is truly a place of critical thinking. Are the inspirational posters not biased? And what was so wrong with throwing in some depressing ones to level the playing field?

I had been preparing my pretentious rebuttal for over a week, yet Darlene had never come to scold me. It was one hell of a monologue and I was determined to give it, so if I wasn’t going to be approached I decided to do the approaching. When I found Darlene she refused to speak on the matter.

For the time being, I’ll consider it a victory for free speech. Either that or I now have a record.