Privilege. Burden. There rarely seems to be one without the other, in this profession. We get so many of them (students) battered and bruised, surviving things that I can't even comprehend and yet, they are resilient. While I am sure that we will all agree that some of the language in Aaron's email was not appropriate for school, I have a hard time dealing with those that only focus on the language and not the message. There was no disrespectful intent (towards the teacher) behind Aaron's words, nor were they used for shock value...I'd say in Aaron's situation, he has every right and it could have been much worse. We are molding young adults, and we have to treat them as such. We want them to be passionate about what they are writing and we have to realize that with passion comes raw emotion...you can tell when a student is just trying to get away with profanity as opposed to profanity being the only avenue to express his emotion.
Kudos to you Penny for reaching this young man...there is no doubt that he will always remember and appreciate you.

Oh, my...poor Aaron...who can't help but be more mentally/emotionally healthy for this writing assignment. The old-school teacher in me would have frowned as I read those "no-no" words...but that "old" teacher might never have known who Aaron really was either. Sometimes we are simply more than an English/writing/reading teacher...sometimes we are the counselor they cannot get in to see. I have a student in yearbook who is so gifted! A gift I really cherish (for that class is a monster that eats up all my free time!), and with her gift, she saves me hours of work. I have noticed, though, as we go to workshops/camps or out in the community to see ads that she dresses less Gothic, for I preach "It's all in your presentation." In all that we do, we need to prepare students for the "real world," and in this case, those hiring our young people, more often than not, have an ideal of how professionals should dress. I know...I digressed into a non-writing example! The point is, though, that Penny was there when Aaron needed her. And that's a grand reminder to us all!