UA Student’s Essay Appears in New York Times

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alexandra Franklin’s willingness to share some of her deepest thoughts and feelings about her life, her commitment to feminism and a supportive boyfriend led her to write a Modern Love essay published Sunday, Sept. 11, in The New York Times.

Franklin, a University of Alabama sophomore majoring in English with a specialty in creative writing, received the $300 free-lance fee from the Times. The essay, “Part of a Whole, but Still Me,” deals frankly with how she reconciles her long-term relationship with Dan, a high school football player now at the University of Mississippi, with other issues in her life, including her budding feminism.

“I was really nervous about how it would be received,” said Franklin, 20, who is from Madison, Miss. “I spent a lot of time thinking about whether this was something I wanted to share with the entire readership of the Times, and I discussed it with Dan extensively. In the end, I just decided that there’s nothing in my life that I’m ashamed about, and it makes a pretty good story, and I don’t mind telling that story. Creativity sometimes requires courage.”

She shared the contents of the essay with her family as well as her boyfriend to ensure everyone knew what was coming.

I shared it with everyone who might be affected by it, just because I wanted to make sure no one was hurt or surprised or offended,” Franklin said. “My parents were a little uncertain at first, but they’ve been really amazing about it; they’ve been proud of me and supported me unconditionally.”

To write the essay, Franklin tried to figure out what the judges were seeking and dipped into her own personal life and talents for material.

“The editors do have certain things they were looking for, and I read through some of the past columns in the feature to get an idea of what sort of thing might fit well with their vision of what the feature should be,” she said. “In the end, though, I just had to write what I know, and it worked out.”

As a high school senior, Franklin won the gold writing portfolio award from the Scholastic Art and Writing competition. During summer 2011, she returned to New York to help edit Scholastic’s “Best Teen Writing of 2011,” volume, which will publish this month.