Meet Julianna, a highly self-conscious and more-than-slightly-awkward high school student looking for love. It’s a story that may at first seem cliché, particularly as the narrative scaffolds on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet while also containing Palahniuk-style rules that serve as calls to action and reflections of lessons learned. However, writer Ace Baker has succeeded in crafting a tale that brings the reader inside Julianna’s world, capturing the reader’s attention and heart in a way that is fresh and exciting.
Julianna is on a mission to find a boyfriend, which takes on an element of finding herself first—through challenging herself to try something new. In this case, her first call to action is, “JOIN A SCHOOL SPORTS TEAM.” (16) The reader is then taken on a wild ride as she decides to join the school’s swim team, which also entails finding appropriate attire, learning to swim (or at least survive in water), and so much more! And yes, there is indeed a romantic interest in the form of, “Swim God Grade Twelve Guy.” (18) Does it work out? Read it and see!
As this piece is narrated in a frank “Dear Diary” fashion, the reader experiences all the mishaps and adventures through Julianna’s eyes. Whereas a female writer may have chosen to fixate on the realistic perils of shaving pubic hair and inserting tampons in this swim team scenario, Baker chose to feature lighter scenes by employing classic humour-writing tools: toilet and fart jokes. Body talk sells. In so doing, Baker takes the audience into more unisex, albeit juvenile, territory with a charming storyline that any reader can enjoy. The audience sees the world through the eyes of this quirky and somewhat neurotic teen and becomes entirely immersed. The plot twists, turns, and finally leaves the reader wanting more with, “…but that’s another story.” (20) Well done—thanks for the laugh, Ace Baker. I’m looking forward to reading more from you.
Wanna read this story for yourself? Find it here: Blank Spaces June 2023
Source: Baker, Ace. “Not Julie… Yet.” Blank Spaces: Filling the Gap with Story & Colour, vol. 7, is. 4, June 2023, pp. 15-20.
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Pauline Shen 