And this is how I was a part of a hyper-local publication that incited a riot and mass arrest of my 6th grade class.

The situation would not diffuse as my police officer classmates ran out of paper tickets to accommodate the number of protestors in the fake grass. Next stop: arrest. The officers took the protesting students, who hated our newspaper, to jail. Where they didn't have room to lock up the whole class.

Calvin led a protest through the middle of Exchange City, where my classmates marched and chanted "This paper sucks!"
But we had Exchange City police. And a strict "no walking on the grass policy." Chaos was imminent. We begged the protestors to stop. We tried really hard! We yelled over screams.

All in all, we had about three hours to interview, regroup, and pull together the local stories. Once the papers were delivered, one of my classmates (named Calvin) thought what we wrote wasn't truthful about the business he was working for. He started chanting "This paper sucks!" Soon others joined

When the day came, us journalists set out to interview the local businesses (who were our classmates). We hand wrote our notes, then went to our newspaper building where we quickly typed up the stories and printed our Exchange City newspaper. Our paper delivery folks passed them out.

When I say little town, I mean that there was a warehouse dedicated to this. There was a mini town built on the inside of the building, complete with a courthouse, community park, and stores. This was the highlight of our 6th grade year and we all looked forward to it.

Marion was an immediate standout for how enthusiastically they embraced this contest. From local and regional newspapers to community organizations and even after-school clubs, the entire community banded together to celebrate their resilience and look to the future with hope.

Dirty Frank's is a classic!