Response to Ethan Hightower's "Spanish Moss"

            Ethan’s story follows a young teenager named Trig and his two friends Blake and Tommy.  The boys decide that one summer they should at least experience smoking marijuana for the first time.  They ultimately acquire the drugs where they rolled joints by the river and proceeded to smoke.  After their first impressions of the altered state, the boys discover a black trash bag, which contains a dead body.  Trig and his friends are startled by the discovery.  While Tommy and Blake never returned to the river, Trig likes to go back every once and a while and reflect of the frailty of life.

            I liked the story for its naïve perspective of young teenagers.  Their obsessions with drugs, partying, and skipping school is very relatable and hilarious to read.  This also goes along with why I enjoyed the dialogue so much.  There are, however, a few things that I would change.  For instance, the characters don’t seem to be as vibrant as I wish they could be.  I liked some of the details about the friend’s different character traits but they still seemed like they needed more personality.  I also feel like one of the parents should make an appearance just to contrast the parental roles with the kid’s.  I also wish that the setting were more integrated into the story.  To me, I was envisioning a lot of Southern elements.  Maybe establishing a setting could help connect the story better with the audience.  I would also change the title.  “Spanish Moss” doesn’t really hold any special continuity in the story.

            Overall, I like the story a lot and I believe it has a lot of potential.  The narrative sort of had a “Sand Lot” feel and is very relatable to a lot of people.  I enjoyed this one.  Thanks for sharing.