"Whether Magic Johnson AIDS or just HIV"

"It happened to be Colin's first day in fifth grade. Before class began, there was a lot of horsing around, but there were also a lot of conversations about whether Magic Johnson had AIDS or just HIV and whether someone falling in a pool of blood from a cut of his would get the disease. These jolts of sobriety in the midst of rank goofiness are a ten-year-old's specialty. Each one comes as a fresh, hard surprise, like finding a razor blade in a candy apple. One day, Colin and I had been discussing horses or dogs or something, and out of the blue he said, "What do you think is better, to dump garbage in the ocean, to dump it on land, or to burn it?" Another time, he asked me if I planned to have children. I had just spent an evening with him and his friend Japeth, during which they put every small, movable object in the house into Japeth's slingshot and fired it at me, so I told him I wanted children but that I hoped they would all be girls, and he said, "Will you have an abortion if you find out you have a boy?"

This whole piece brought back memories of fourth and fifth grade for me, but especially this paragraph.  I really relate and remember the same "jolts of sobriety" and having a mixture of conversations about serious and trivial things.  I remember having the same kinds of questions on my mind-- the one Colin asks about garbage-- these things are important but also not really the "every day" thoughts of an adult.  

As far as Susan Orlean's writing techniques I think she does an amazing job with symbolic imagery.  One phrase in particular is "finding a razor blade in a candy apple," which illustrates the jolt that she talks about.  She uses particular words like "blood," "cut," and "disease," that solidify the serious issues and problems of growing up.  The scenery at the end of two boys playfully picking on a girl and then asking about abortion is another perfect example of the flip flop between being young and innocent versus growing up and dealing with "grown up" problems.

I don't know if it's worth mentioning, but last night (before I read the story) I had a dream about my fifth grade classmates so while reading the profile I sort of had this nostalgia in the back of my mind. I think my dream made it easier to remember and relate my own life with Susan Orlean and Colin Duffy.  I definitely had similar situations growing up, and I enjoyed reading about Colin.