Interpretations...

So apparently schools are only now finding out about this whole iPods as tools to cheat by, thing? Hm, talk about behind the times. You see, technology will always be beneficial to the masses, but it will also prove a cornerstone in new methods to get lazier. Ever since a boombox was no longer as portable as they came, and rather portable audio devices like the Walkman came out, there have been means to cheat.
The walkman posed, and probably still poses, the greatest threat, as it is easiest to just pop a tape in a cassett recorder, and just well...record. With an iPod, well, I don't even want to start, because I am about as knowledgable on those as probably the 40year olds that are just discovering them as a threat. I plan on eventually procuring enough money to afford one, but as of yet, I have been saving my money for the unattainable dream of going on vacation "anywhere but here". But as unknowledgable on them as I am, I still am aware that they, like most forms of technology today, pose both a positive (a new marvel with the ability to hold so many songs, and some play video, too, etc...) and a negative (their misuse as a means to cheat).
Neither are all too hard to see. And while the younger generation seems to have an uncanny ability to see only the positives, the older sees it fit to do nothing but see negative. There is this wide age gap of middle, but that ever lessens.
Now, the older generation, and the plain old naive out there, may find this difficult to conceive, but there are far more prominent ways to cheat than the iPod method. Now, if I were to list them I would fear for my life, so please, just trust me on that. You were all kids once, I am sure that you are at least aware of the techniques, even if having never done them yourself.

In terms of literature, and basically the point of the title...
There is a news story about a boy that was in some serious shit for writing some pretty seriously disturbing shit in a class. They were told to write, no holds barred, all that shit. Well, this kid wrote some pretty gratuitous shit, and the tone was unnerving as well. It did not seem like some Stephen King (yes, an all too used reference...hm...)...Dean Koontz-ish artistic twisted disturbed, it came across more serious since it lacked any artistic taste.
With the Virginia Tech tragedy, Cho's writings were analysed, and the fact that he was an English major was discussed on a redundant basis. There was no doubt this kid was disturbed, but such insanity, andsuch illness cannot necessarily trancend onto the paper. Yes, he wrote about death, and yes, he wrote about sexual assults. But he is but one out of...too many to even surmise.
In English, you deal with death in various forms. Many philosophical discussions on the topic transpire, and at times, the discussions are about justification of death and/or killing. About the cruelties of the human heart. The imperfection. Unattainability of dreams. Injustice, religion, and so forth. In someone that is messed up already, these such talks can easily get to them. One would hope that it would make them simply drop the course, but evidently, in extremely rare cases, it leads to much more.
However, English to many, allows an outlet to otherwise unacceptable and outrageous behaviour, or morally unacceptable thoughts.
It is hard to tell if that is all that this individual who got in shit in Idaho was doing; letting lose on some wild side or whether he was disturbed. But one thing is for sure, you have to look at other factors, and neither the press, the school, nor us, the viewers through the looking glass, can judge too quickly without reflecting on our own writings/ artistic inclinations. I know that I haven't necessarily written about killing a bunch of people and then dreaming of performing necrophelia, then claiming that it would be humerous...But, my art wasn't all hobbits and butterflies, either.
My art teacher once referred to my friend and I as the twisted sisters (yes, unoriginal in light of the band, but you had to know the situation/ him). And My friend and I had written some pretty...interesting things... during our math class out of the deepest depths of boredom. Not to mention, Edge, your novel!
Look at some of the best writers in time: From Poe, Dostoevsky, Sartre, all the way to currently, the two already mentioned, King and Koontz ...
This kid is apparently a straight-A student (which I don't think really tells much. I am not a straight-A student, and I still did all that shit and never killed anybody), and he has never been in trouble at school or in any grand scale, outside of it.
So, cool your jets people, in light of the V.T. tragedy perhaps the authorities, and his parents should talk to him, and explain that what was written was extremely volatile and insensative, and wounds have to heal a bit. But also understand on your part, that the assignment was free writing. Not associative writing, and that the tragedy doesn't make us all psychologists. Writing is an outlet. It is supposed to be a personal, unrestrained place to do so.
Anyway, that is my opinion on those two topics in the news, I will leave it at that.
Good Night.