The first time Jacob began protesting he was eight years old.

On Monday, Jacob insisted on wearing the paper bag to school, and when Carol refused, he hid it in his backpack. The next day, Carol was called in for a conference.

PROTEST BY MEL REDDISH 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 20

The first time Jacob began protesting, he was eight years old.

Later, his mother Carol felt she should have documented that first day to put in a scrapbook—photographs, a lyrical quote, and a pressed flower next to My First Words or My First Day of School. My First Protest.

But Carol’s immediate reaction was one of quiet horror. On the downstairs television, she could hear the newscasters reporting the details of the Columbine shooting on an endless loop. Carol had been trying to figure out how to explain the unexplainable, how to reassure her son about Monday’s approach when she was already considering keeping him home for the day, the week, the month—hell, homeschooling was starting to seem like a viable option. 

When she finally came downstairs, her son was sitting on th…