I. getting the phone call:
when i finally got the phone call from the producers of the reality tv show "the coolest kid in school" telling me i had been accepted as a part of the show's final cast, you’d think that my mom would’ve been happy about it—even proud. i’d shown more initiative in applying for the show than i’d ever shown in trying to improve my grade point average: i’d made an awesome audition tape, filled out a huge 15 page application (including four and done five different stressful interviews before a panel of producers in order to make the final cut. the phone call informing me that i was on the show was a dream come true for me. but for my mom? no way. she immediately changed her tune from supporting my dream of starring on a reality tv show to doing nothing but questioning it. it’s not so much that she’s opposed to this reality show (focusing on pitting teenagers against one another in a televised popularity contest), it’s all reality shows that she thinks are, in her words, “hate-filled, degrading, and wicked.” she could not be more wrong, though.

if donatavious tindell were to compose a letter to his mother, trying to persuade her that it was a good thing for him to be on a reality show, which statement from that letter would be a fact?
a) millions of people love reality shows, so they cannot possibly be immoral or wrong.
b) let’s just face it, mom. people who hate reality shows are really just old, humorless sourpusses.
c) reality shows are one of the most popular and successful types of television shows being produced today.
d) without reality shows, young people would be even more aggressive and rude because they wouldn’t have a legitimate outlet for their anti-social impulses.