Siobhan Casey

The session began with hugs as Remiel, a minister at Wirt High School, greeted artist-photographer Jackson and Key Club president Siobhan Casey, 17, both seniors at Valparaiso High School.

Soon Horace Mann sophomore Jameshea Alexander, 15, joined the din as students warmed up to each other with chatter and pizza.

Scenes from the movie version of "Lesson" sobered the tone, as they looked at the TV, each other and deep inside themselves for what revelations Gaines' story had brought them.

One doesn't fit all

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Siobhan said she tries to speak up and stop prejudiced statements, but often the weight of custom and peers is too much.

"It's easy to stand up if you know a person, but if you don't know them, you don't take the effort.Whenever I don't speak up, though, I always get very upset with myself," Siobhan said.

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As another example, Siobhan said teen girls are role-blocked based on their relationship to boys: "Girls are put in two categories: The prudes and the girls who are going to do anything.You are pushed into a certain role depending on how you relate to guys in school.If you don't act like that, people are surprised."

And while Remiel admits some people might stereotype him because he's from Gary, he says he believes that if you're taught who you are by parents and community, you don't care.

"A lot of it has to do with spirituality and how your parents raise you.
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"You can't define yourself and be an individual until you break free from titles and labels," Siobhan said, reflecting on modern teens as well as Jefferson's predicament.

From hog to human

In a "Lesson Before Dying," Jefferson was suddenly faced with the need to define himself after his attorney likened him to the inglorious, grunting farm beast, stripping him of his humanity.

Society, Christina and Siobhan pointed out, once had - and perhaps still does have - a tradition of equating blacks to emotionless machines.
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"By how Jefferson is treated, you can tell people did not think he had emotions because he was black," Siobhan interjected."He was not like a white person with personality and feeling, he was behind a wall."

But students admit Jefferson wasn't just a victim in the novel.Although his associates really murdered the white shopkeeper whose death put Jefferson on Death Row, Jefferson made mistakes that dehumanized himself.

He associated with criminals.
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"Those shows help teens relate to people who are different," Matoyia said, as Christina and Siobhan nodded agreement.
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Siobhan agreed, saying disabled people are dehumanized, too.

"People who are mentally handicapped are human beings.People would rather not deal with them and treat them as animals because they can't express themselves well.But they are people, too; they have personalities and feelings," Siobhan said.

By making Jefferson flawed, with his questionable morality, choice of friends and personal defects, students agree that the author suggests "perfect" people aren't alone in deserving respect as human beings.

"I'm glad Jefferson wasn't completely innocent.