One Mountain

Professor J Wicker

English 1010-014

February 11, 2008

Bearing Your Heart to the Audience

Most people who have spent some time in writing classes have probably had a few papers where they attempted to
spill their very essence out on a paper only to have it handed back to them and told that it needs more work. How is it
that after bearing your soul in words that someone else could dare say that it’s not good enough? Recently, I took part in an essay contest held by Campus Life’s “Ignite Your Faith,” a magazine for Christian Teens in college. The essay was supposed to be about addressing the temptations of homosexuality as a Christian. My essay was titled "Two Guys on Fire for Jesus." In my essay, I shared an intimate account of two Christians struggling with temptations of the flesh, here’s an excerpt:

“I don’t know about this,” I told Billy. “You know what the pastor wouldn’t agree with it.” Billy let out a small chuckle as if here were about to address an innocent child, “If you still think it’s wrong, afterwards you can always ask forgiveness" Although what I was considering partaking in threw up a big red flag of sin for me, I knew that in our religion, no matter what, forgiveness was always right around the corner. “You’re right,” I said. I thought to myself, “I probably won’t even like it, why not just get it out of the way, that way I can end these fantasies that I find myself in many times a day?” I was beginning to rationalize my temptations and let me tell you, as a Christian, when you begin rationalizing, you begin to sin. “God, I don’t know about this,” I said sheepishly. Billy took me by the shoulders, the same way the pastor did when he would address me one on one. Looking at me with that same look the pastor would give me, he smirked, “You’re a total bottom.” “What’s that mean?” I was feeling more child like as we went along. “Don’t worry, you’ll find out soon enough,” he said.

This submission was not selected as the winner. Instead the article chosen was one titled: “Am I Gay?” Which can be found here (*1). Well let me tell you, after reading it, the answer is yes, yes you are gay, and not just because you love tickling sausage down your gullet so much but because you can’t write an honest article that really addresses the struggles of homosexuality within Christianity.

Why would Ignite choose this tripe that didn’t even sound like an actual human being over a sincere article that really took the time to address the mental processes of an actual homosexual encounter so that potentially gay Christians could better arm themselves? I’m not exactly sure, but I imagine it has something to do with audience. So for my proposal I will attempt to learn all I can about Ignite and addressing the issue of how to write an article directly for them and their readers while attempting to stay within true expression. After gathering information on this specific audience, and studying what the scholars have to say about expressing yourself, I will rewrite the article to better fit my audience and perhaps we’ll see if maybe, just maybe, my submission will be fit to print in their quaint little magazine. Here’s a timetable I’ll hold myself to get the job done:

Works cited: *1: Anonymous, “Am I Gay?” 2006, Christianitytoday.com, Feb. 9, 2008 <http://www.christianitytoday.com/cl/2006/001/7.58.html>