Teachers actively engaged in responding to their students' written narratives should be mindful of the many influences on their students' writing, including the abuses of the language by government bureaucracies and the media. Examples of these abuses are (1) the lack of density and direction or purpose in bureaucratic writing, (2) the disjointed, stream-of-consciousness writing in much news reporting, and (3) the manipulation of reality and endless repetition of trivia by the "24-hour drama" of the electronic media. The personal drama and tensions of students' experiences also affect their written narratives, and teachers must be willing to accept the despair and ugliness that often appear in student writing, particularly in that of older adolescents. Written narrative allows young writers to uncover personal voices that might say clearly who they are and to discover who they can become in the context of their community. (AEA)