True Notebooks: A Writer's Year at Juvenile Hall

Following his cello performance, Mark enjoys newfound celebrity with both his students and the other inmates at Central Juvenile Hall. Mr. Sills calls Mark in to commend him personally on not just his playing, but the sincerity of his comments before and after. At the same meeting, Mr. Sills calls in Kevin Jackson, to commend his writing in front of Mark. With this and other milestones, Mark grows more comfortable with his students, but as a result, he grows more lax with how he runs his classes. At the same time, as his students feel more comfortable with him, discipline starts to slip. The arrival of a new High Risk Offender, Benny Wong, amplifies these negative dynamics: Benny is small, bookish, and contrarian; he fits in poorly and is often picked on. Benny's outsider status leads to more indirect challenges to Mark's authority: "[Nathaniel] reached into my bag and helped himself to a pencil and paper, a clear challenge to my authority" (133). Nathaniel finds more ways to cause trouble until Mr. Sills drops in on one class, strongly reprimanding him. Mark spends an inordinate amount of time wanting to protect Benny, while failing to control his class.