Nick's Diary: Home School to High School > Comments > "Review of Nick: Home School to High School"
Piece Comment
Commenter Profile
- Eric Nuzum
- Username: ericnuzum
- Location: Washington, District of Columbia
- Joined PRX: Sep 06, 2003
Piece Information
- "Nick's Diary: Home School to High School"
- Summary: 15-year-old Nick chronicles a turbulent year in his life. “If you could give me any advice or give me some potion that would make people my age start liking me, or, I don’t know… I just need to know how to socialize or I’m gonna go nuts." This story is part of the Teenage Diaries series produced by Radio Diaries for NPR.
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Review of Nick: Home School to High School
Eric Nuzum
Posted on June 30, 2004 at 04:14 AM
That said, this is a typical Richman piece: brilliant. It's an audio diary from a teenage boy that makes the transition from home schooling to public schools. The piece is slow to reveal itself, but the young man's observations are worth the wait.
The boy's teen angst is a common experience, which is both a plus and minus to the piece. Though amplified by his shyness and unfamiliarity with public schools, almost anyone who has suffered through their teens can relate to Nick's feelings of alienation and being a square peg. While this commonality with register with many listeners, so will the desire to see the piece explore a little uncharted territory. While far from predictable, the piece did not contain as many unexpected moments as a listener may expect from this series.
The piece's most powerful moments where the "audio yearbook" Nick kept at the end of the year. This section felt rushed and it would have been nice to wrap the piece with a few more of these anecdotes from Nick's new friends.