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Never Can Be Sure

They try to make adequates out of inadequates, súccesses out of failures, or, to twist a saying from the days of prison rockpiles, big ones out of little ones.

These men-criminals at law, no matter how sick they

are the state of California hopes to transform into useful citizens.

Half will readjust successfully on parole. But nobody, not even the psychiatrists, can be sure which half will make it and which half won't.

Any thinking parent can read between the lines of the following article by Associated Press Columnist HAL BOYLE and read the writing on the wall: Novelist John Farris has hit a nail on the head when he says grownups forget what it was like when they were young. Furthermore, this all too prevalent lack of understanding may contribute much to the aberrant and "delinquent” behavior attributed to the teenagers of today.

Novelist's View

Why Teens Find Parents Disinterested

NEW YORK (AP) Do

-ME

you resent teenagers because they are uncomfortably like yourself?

Do you turn your back on all adolescents and their problems because you don't want to be reminded of the hidden horrors of your own growing-up time?

John Farris believes you probably do. Farris, one of the literary surprises of the 1959 season, is the author of a controversial novel of high school life, "Harrison High," that is being alternately bombed and praised for its realism.

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AUTHOR YOUNG

Said Farris, who at 22 still has a few scars himself:

"Adolescence is the most wounding period of life for

many.

"What many an adult resents is to be reminded that kids of 17 have the same thoughts, feelings and even experiences he does.

"He resents this because it doesn't confirm to his own memories.

"At 17 a kid can be astonishingly mature in some ways, almost infantile in others. He is as changeable and unpredictable as the weather.

"Grownups forget what they really were like in high school. When they look back they select the memories they want and reject the others. It makes them uncomfortable to be reminded what they really were like."

TORMENT OF YOUTH

That is why Farris, a graduate student in English literature at the University of

mattachine REVIEW

Τ

i

(AP Wirephoto.)

א.

JOHN FARRIS Missouri, wrote his novel of high school life as he felt it really was, full of the tor-

ment of young love and young dreams. He said:

་

"Most older writers can't give an accurate picture because they don't know the language of kids that age and have forgotten their feelings.

"Even now at 22, if I started another high school novel, I couldn't do as well. It would be a mess. You lose touch fast."

But Hollywood has taken an option on his story, and a Broadway producer is interested in having him do a high school play.

The slender young author isn't dazzled by the acclaim that has greeted his first serious work. He said:

"I'm not greedy about success. If it comes, fineif not, I won't sweat it. I just want enough money to keep writing."

LOOKING AHEAD

Coming in the OCTOBER issue...

Complete Report on the 6th Annual Convention of the Mattachine Society Being Held in Denver, Colorado, September 4-7

Plus: Articles, Letters, Book Reviews, Calling Shots and

Other Important Features.

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