By Regina McMenamin Lloyd
In Stoner & Spaz, Ron Koertge gives voice to an "other" I had never heard from. Admittedly, I have tried to be a person who thinks about others. As a tween, I remember shying away from anyone with a disability. We don't admit that. We like to pretend we were born empathetic and self-actualized. But I distinctly remember, not looking. You know what I mean, that hole you put in your own field of vision for the person who is different. Parents tell their kids not to stare and kids learn somehow not to see. I shouldn't admit that it took me years to get passed a place of fear-- to seeing a human, an equal. What if I had read Stoner & Spaz when I was young? What different choices would I have personally made?
Right from the title, Koertge is setting the reader up for a story that defies popular notions and cliches. There is something innately feminine about the term 'spaz.' We picture a drama filled girl who freaks out over everything. Admittedly, my sisters would have pictured the teen me. I fell down the steps daily, got myself looped up in 'he said, she said,' and more than once locked myself in my room blasting Everybody Hurts by R.E.M., because it was that kind of day. When I hear stoner, I think of a long haired, pimply-faced, wearing-a-band-shirt-and-jean- in- summer, kind of boy. What Koertge gives us is a self-deprecating, smart and sensitive boy, paired with a mouthy, drug addict, hot, girl.
In Ben, the spaz, Koertge developed a boy who feels unlovable, both because of his Cerebral Palsy and the desertion of his mother. Ben has protected himself by building a distance between himself and others. He seems afraid and excited by Colleen's refusal to ignore him, while the rest of the world, save his grandmother, has let him just pass by. Ben's Voice: |
Colleen, the stoner, provides Ben with both the friend he needs and a major life complication. She is perhaps, the least didactic character ever written. Colleen will bust Ben's chops, she will call him a "gimp" or worse. She will call him out for the wall he has placed around himself. The adult in me, wants to tell Ben not to get messed up with her, much like his grandmother does. However, whether she can do it the right way or not, Colleen offers Ben the love and acceptance he isn't getting elsewhere. Why does Colleen like Ben? He has brought her into a world of experiences that make her uncomfortable but challenge her. |
Colleen's Voice
I loved the story, but even more importantly, as a writer, I felt like the succinct story showed me how I should be writing. I believe well written diverse books not only depict a different narrative than the one we are used to hearing, they can lead us to challenge the narrative we have created for those we see as 'others.' Koertge is able to show us, while Ben is a bit of a self-hater. Colleen who is gorgeous is also a self-hater. And in the end, the humanity of both of those characters links to the part of all of us, that fear we are not good enough.