Jolie is a girl who has Tourette’s Syndrome Jolie writes regarding her experience with the article “How Teens Recovered From the ‘TikTok Tics’.”
Aidan, 18, developed involuntary tics after watching videos on TikTok posted by teenagers claiming to have Tourette’s syndrome. “It looked like Aidan was going crazy,” recalled their mother, Rhonda.Credit…Amber Bracken for The New York Times
Every year, our Summer Reading Contest invites teenagers across the globe to share with us what New York Times pieces get their interest and the reasons. In this week eight of our 10-week contest, we received 1,163 submissions. We thank everyone who participated and congrats to our prize winner, Jolie, and to the honorable mentions and runners-up we recognize below.
Scroll down for a look at the array of subjects that caught the interest of our readers, which included July’s record-breaking heat gender, old Judaism and how to avoid the risks of juggling multiple tasks, data science at schools, and the passing of Sinead O’Connor. The work of all our 2017 winners on this article.
Be sure to take part through August. 18. You can look at the upper part of our competition announcement to locate the correct address to post your entry.
(Note to students: If you are one of this week’s winners and would like your last name published, please have a parent or guardian complete our permission form [PDF] and send it to us at LNFeedback@nytimes.com. )
Winner
Jolie Jolie Long Island, N.Y., chose an article from the section on Health with the headline “How Teens Recovered From the ‘TikTok Tics’” and wrote:
As I read about teenagers whose tics arose and disappeared within a year, I was struck by a sense of isolation that was as strong as a snap in my neck.
I’ve suffered from Tourette’s syndrome for over 3 years. As with other people, my involuntary rants that were both audible and physical occurred during the outbreak. Despite my late-night screams and exasperated exclamations, and in spite of my peers’ silly imitations and mocking remarks, I was able to overcome my initial fear. I’ve gotten more used to my behavior: they’re only annoyances I can live with. They’re an entirely new part of me.
While I’ve gotten used to these tics, they fuel my desire to better understand my situation. I try to discern conclusions from the erratic sounds as well as flailing limbs and flashing blinks that are rapid. I’m trying to understand an illness that is fundamentally unintelligible.
In my constant rereading the book, I could not help but compare myself with these teenagers in the hope of figuring out what caused their tics to slip off and mine persist. When I read about their brief “bout with tics,” I felt jealous and felt resentful for not being able to overcome the diagnosis. This self-consciousness familiar to me pricked my skin. I’d never felt that like that in a long time.
The article I searched for answers only reiterated an old fear that left me perplexed than when I began. However, more important, it hid my real-life experience and left readers without the full image.
Similar to my Tourette’s disorder my constant search to find answers continues.