"Just a Day": Eric or Dylan's?

Does anyone have an opinion on this? Is "Just a Day" the work of Eric or the work of Dylan?

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The last page of the above .PDF contains the short piece.

[Edit: This is from a censored blog. I see the Admins have censored their name. You'll have to Google it to see it.]

In their opinion, it's actually Dylan's piece. They make a convincing argument.

I'm wondering if there are other ways to settle this. "Just a Day" mentions the family having a 74 Ram. Does anyone know, or can someone confirm, if either Dylan or Eric's family had a 74 Ram? Are there any other elements of "Just a Day" that might suggest one over the other?

Just do a Google search of the following:

"Just a Day" "Dylan Klebold"

And you'll come upon the blog post I tried posting.

If "Just a Day" was found on Dylan's computer, why would JeffCo claim it was Eric's?

Also, I vaguely remember someone saying that a family member of Dylan's said that "Just a Day" does not look like something he would have written. Is this true?

I never met Dylan... but "Just a Day" sounds like something Dylan would write. There was once a blog that broke it down. I am pretty sure the word halcyon comes up... and Dylan's writing comes across as more sophisticated (as sophisticated as a teenage boy can be) than Eric.

Eric had a penchant for naturalism in his writings, though. This is from a school paper:

Quote :

The woods behind my house were vast, empty, and old. It smelled of a musty tree or maybe of pine trees most of the time in there. Those woods left so many memories in the mind it's amazing. Such as how scary they looked during hard rain storms or how dark they were at night. I was even afraid of going into the woods at nighttime, for fear of the unknown. For the most part, however, my memories are fond ones... countless missions in those woods.

From another school paper of Eric's, where he talks about his home in Oscoda, MI:

Quote :

The first home I lived in was located in a largely wooded area, so we didn't have many neighbors. Oscoda is a very, very small town. Of the three close neighbors I had, two of them had children my age. Every day we would play in the woods, or at our houses. We would make forts in the woods or make them out of snow, we would ride around on our bikes, or just explore the woods. It was probably the most fun I ever had in my childhood.

Recall, also, that question he asked the girl in his chat, about gazing at the stars:

Quote :

What do you think about when you look at the sky at night, when there are no clouds out and you can see all the stars?

Then there's his empathy for animals. He writes in his poem, "I Am," that he cries when he sees or hears a dog die. And in his journal of 9 May 1998, Eric makes these remarks:

Quote :

It has been confirmed, after getting my yearbook and watching people... the human race isn't worth fighting for, only worth killing. Give the Earth back to the animals, they deserve it infinitely more than we do.

Screamingophelia wrote:

I never met Dylan... but "Just a Day" sounds like something Dylan would write. There was once a blog that broke it down. I am pretty sure the word halcyon comes up... and Dylan's writing comes across as more sophisticated (as sophisticated as a teenage boy can be) than Eric.

Dylan did use the word halcyon quite a bit in his writings. It seems to be a word he was fond of. He refers to halcyon a lot when talking about the dream girl he writes of.

Screamingophelia wrote:

I never met Dylan... but "Just a Day" sounds like something Dylan would write. There was once a blog that broke it down. I am pretty sure the word halcyon comes up... and Dylan's writing comes across as more sophisticated (as sophisticated as a teenage boy can be) than Eric.

So you knew Eric? Did you know him from school or another context?

About "Just a Day": Yes, that blog post you mention is still up. For some reason, the blog name is blocked here. But that's what they argue in it. The use of 'halcyon' is one of several reasons they give for the piece belonging to Dylan. Another is that "Just a Day" was actually found on Dylan's computer/server.

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I didn't know either of them, but full disclosure I DO know people who knew them, i know it is hard to believe on line but I live in Denver and lived in Littleton for work when I first moved here.

Screamingophelia wrote:

I never met Dylan... but "Just a Day" sounds like something Dylan would write. There was once a blog that broke it down. I am pretty sure the word halcyon comes up... and Dylan's writing comes across as more sophisticated (as sophisticated as a teenage boy can be) than Eric.

Usage of the term "halcyon" points to Dylan, however there are some parts that point to Eric:

- "I went with a lour" - That spelling mistake of lour instead of lure sounds like Eric.
- "the armies of Pine trees" - A non-sequitur military term thrown in - sounds like Eric again.
- "Time to go!. Done. Back to society. No regrets, though." - That whole series of ultra-short sentences with the incorrect punctuation, again feels a bit like Eric.

All in all, Eric and Dylan were influencing each other and if you look at their writings you could see they started borrowing terms and ideas from one another. So, perhaps "halcyon" is just a word Eric picked up from Dylan and used it to make the paper sound more fancy?

Also, the whole outdoorsy-feel to it, could be both but I think it was a bigger thing for Eric than for Dylan.

That is an excellent point!!

Sabratha wrote:

Usage of the term "halcyon" points to Dylan, however there are some parts that point to Eric:

- "I went with a lour" - That spelling mistake of lour instead of lure sounds like
- "the armies of Pine trees" - A non-sequitur military term thrown in - sounds like Eric again.
- "Time to go!. Done. Back to society. No regrets, though." - That whole series of ultra-short sentences with the incorrect punctuation, again feels a bit like Eric.

All in all, Eric and Dylan were influencing each other and if you look at their writings you could see they started borrowing terms and ideas from one another. So, perhaps "halcyon" is just a word Eric picked up from Dylan and used it to make the paper sound more fancy?

Also, the whole outdoorsy-feel to it, could be both but I think it was a bigger thing for Eric than for Dylan.

Great analysis and points. I tried to thank you but someone beat me to it. Succinctly written and very convincing counter-argument.

The blog post (everlasting... can't write the rest, because of a name block) makes some interesting points, but I still feel this is Eric's.

Your point about the outdoorsy feel being a bigger thing for Eric fits perfectly with my post above, where I quote Eric several times in other papers.

Eric had more of a naturalistic bent. His fascination with natural selection is an extension of this.

Eric seemed to genuinely love the forest of his childhood in Oscoda, Michigan. Granted, he plants bullets in trees in the shooting range in available video footage, but that's neither here nor there. The woods of his home from his childhood are connected in memory to friendships, as well. All those things are entangled, in the same way that "Just a Day" is not an isolated venture but linked to his family.

The blog owner seems to have a weird grasp of who Dylan was and talks about him in a way that bothers me. It gives me a similar feeling to the way that Cullen talks about Columbine. They were extremely popular on tumblr and all of the fan girls loved their blog and considered them to be one of the top researchers so they were really put on a pedestal. But they've been wrong about multiple things and I wouldn't take everything on their blog as fact.
I'm pretty sure that Eric is the real author of this paper, for several of the same reasons stated above.

Hm, i always thought it was Eric's essay, but to be the devil's advocate:
1. Why would Eric's essay be on Dylan's computer?
2. Author of the essay sounds really unimpressed with his family. I can't imagine Eric didn't giving a damn about impressing his father. On the other hand, maybe it' s his bitterness about being unable to impress people around him.

I guess it was on Dylan's school server files. He wiped his hard drive before the massacre. I hadn't read the paper in at least a year and after giving it another read, which I really should have done before I so hastily posted my response, it does sound a lot like Dylan's writing. I stand by what I said about the blog though.

Interestingly, this site, or maybe I should say Dr. Langman, puts "Just a Day" with Eric's [other] school writings.

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Scroll down to "Eric Harris: Writings on His Childhood."

Ligeya wrote:

Hm, i always thought it was Eric's essay, but to be the devil's advocate:
1. Why would Eric's essay be on Dylan's computer?
2. Author of the essay sounds really unimpressed with his family. I can't imagine Eric didn't giving a damn about impressing his father. On the other hand, maybe it' s his bitterness about being unable to impress people around him.

Yeah, I forgot to mention that par about some negativity towards the author's brother. That sounds more like something Dylan would write rather than Eric.

I don't know who wrote that paper, could be both but I think it sounds a bit more like Eric.
I have no idea why it was on Dylan's PC, other than maybe Eric gave it to him to print it out and Dylan being messy as he was forgot to delete the file.

As soon as I read extemporaneously I thought closed case, Dylan. I've always had the feeling he was much more sophisticated in his writing like ScreamingOphelia mentioned. And sure Eric could've used a thesaurus but I dont get that vibe from his other work, he uses "simple" language.

Re-reading Erics old essays he had a different flow, shorter sentences and very surface level musings while Dylan (who I think wrote this) would talk about how his brother was downing coffee he hadn't grown to like to impress their father.

I think of that picture of the Klebolds by the lake, and Dylan by the water when I read it. Also the word halcyon kinda settles it for me, I guess one could argue Eric got it from Dylan and liked it himself but I've never seen him use it other than here (if we assume he wrote it), while Dylan was as we know very fond of that word in writings and from music (But thinking back didn't they find an Orbital CD at Erics? Or was it Dylans too?)

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"Suburbinate assholes" could be from someone who does not live in the suburbs, like Dylan.

"I knew I would have to use eggs if I wanted any fish, but that didn't matter at the time" suggests Dylans type B personality, more laidback, while I can picture Eric wanting to impress his dad and brother by catching a big one. And to circle back to the coffee, Dylan didn't want to suck up to his dad, while I feel like Eric always was trying to be a man. Down the coffee even though you didn't like it, kinda like liquor.

He swore in other essays too, I think the Man in the black coat one

Also the Cocoa Puffs reminded me of that pic of him playing chess at home and there are wheat puffs on the table:

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Hair matches the fishing picture one so probably around the same time

I’m reading the book “The Strangeness of Columbine
An Interpretation” ... In that book they credit the essay to Eric stating
“Among the papers confiscated from Eric’s room by police after Columbine was a single sheet of computer-printed text in one continuous small-font paragraph.  Seven years later, on July 6, 2006, this paragraph, too, was made public by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, as page 870 (JC-001-026785) of the 946-page document release. The computer filename, “Fish.doc,” is in the upper left corner. The paragraph itself is called “Just A Day.”  No course name or date is given.  But its length of precisely 500 words (including title) suggests it was done for school.”

Meanwhile I am also reading The Writings of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, where the same paragraph is included under Dylan’s writings...

So no real answer here but I thought I would throw in a bit more information I had on the subject. ‍�

"The Strangeness of Columbine" by "Lear's Shadow" is a peculiar book. I enjoyed his relating of Eric's [presumably] "Just a Day" side by side with Rachel's poem on nature.

A blog I have been following recently included a "new" (to me) nature quote to Eric. This is from his series of chats with a girl: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Quote :

I am walking through this very deep forest at nighttime... Then I come out onto this beach that reminds me of one of those marine life posters with all the dolphins, whales, stars, oceans and everything. I look up into the stars and they are everywhere, like ten times as many stars as you have ever seen...

I'll keep an open mind about "Just a Day," but there sure are a lot of nature-related bits by Eric.

23september wrote:

As soon as I read extemporaneously I thought closed case, Dylan. I've always had the feeling he was much more sophisticated in his writing like ScreamingOphelia mentioned. And sure Eric could've used a thesaurus but I dont get that vibe from his other work, he uses "simple" language.

Re-reading Erics old essays he had a different flow, shorter sentences and very surface level musings while Dylan (who I think wrote this) would talk about how his brother was downing coffee he hadn't grown to like to impress their father.

I think your connections to the photos were very strong, the fishing one especially.

But I can't agree with you about Eric's writing, entirely. Look at the sampling of quotes I shared above: Especially those quotes about the forest.

You can even see in the .pdf scan of the school essay, he uses straightforward punctuation and grammar. He's articulate when he wants to be.

Marianna pointed out that a printout of "Just a Day" was discovered by police in Eric's room. This could mean one of two things about "Just a Day":

1. It is Dylan's, but was printed out and given to (or left at the home of) Eric.

2. Eric electronically sent the file to Dylan to print out his school essay for him.

I always thought it's Dylan's piece, it really looks like his writing style: there are the "&" instead of "and", and of course there's a mention of the halcyon he loved so much, in it; plus, it's more refined than Eric's style.
Lastly, if I'm not wrong, Sue in her book talked about Dylan going fishing sometimes, and actually there are some photos.
There might be many reasons why this was in Eric's room.
Just my two cents.

Below, a summary of my fellow Columbiners in this thread. Thank you all! Seems to be evenly matched, for both:

Premises supporting the conclusion that "Just a Day" is Dylan's:

1. It was found on his computer server.
2. It incorporates words for which Dylan is noted (ex., 'halcyon,' a signature Dylan term).
3. It uses symbols Dylan is known to have used ('$').
4. It employs language Eric would likely not have used in a school paper (ex., 'a$$holes').
5. There are pictures of Dylan actually fishing with his brother and eating some sort of "... Puffs" (laughing at this).
6. The disparaging of "suburbanite a$$holes': Dylan did not live in the suburbs, so this makes sense.
7. The writing style is closer to Dylan, who was generally more articulate (although, my view is that Eric could be when he wanted).

Premises supporting the conclusion that "Just a Day" is Eric's:

1. Eric had a much more naturalistic bent than Dylan (forests of childhood, stars, fondness for animals, respect of non-human life).
2. Eric's naturalistic bent is expressed in several remarks in school papers, web logs, and his journal, as well as his regard for natural selection.
3. A printout of the file was found in Eric's room. Perhaps Eric sent Dylan the file, and had him print it out for him. (JeffCo, page 870, JC-001-026785).
4. It does incorporate some elements of style notable for Eric (occasional abrupt/short expressions, like "Time to go! Done. No regrets, though.").
5. It could be that Eric borrowed 'halcyon' from Dylan (another idea I had: Eric sent Dylan the file, asking him to help brush it up, adding extra elements).
6. Spelling mistakes (ex., 'lour' instead of 'lure') that, some here argue, point toward Eric more than Dylan.
7. Terms slipped in that Eric would have been more likely to use ("armies of pine trees").

TrimMeToenails wrote:

Premises supporting the conclusion that "Just a Day" is Eric's:

1. Eric had a much more naturalistic bent than Dylan (forests of childhood, stars, fondness for animals, respect of non-human life).
...
7. Terms slipped in that Eric would have been more likely to use ("armies of pine trees").

If I can kindly say this, I personally don't agree with these two points.
It's like to state that " The man dressed in black" essay (https://schoolshooters.info/sites/default/files/klebold_short_story.pdf) actually was written by Eric just because he was the one infatued with guns and violence, when we know well that was Dylan's work.
I mean, those two guys weren't monodimensional.
Personally, I have no doubt that "Just a day" is Dylan's piece as well, it fits perfectly with his writing style.

My_mondays wrote:

If I can kindly say this, I personally don't agree with these two points.
It's like to state that " The man dressed in black" essay (https://schoolshooters.info/sites/default/files/klebold_short_story.pdf) actually was written by Eric just because he was the one infatued with guns and violence, when we know well that was Dylan's work.
I mean, those two guys weren't monodimensional.
Personally, I have no doubt that "Just a day" is Dylan's piece as well, it fits perfectly with his writing style.

No, they weren't monodimensional. That's why I get annoyed with the labeling of Eric's school papers by police with the title, "Guns." Eric wrote about nature, friendships, family, and other things. Guns and imaginary fighting was just one aspect of the papers he wrote for school.

You're welcome!
To conclude, I want to take your attention on the famous "&" instead of the "and" that I have already mentioned before, and which are just typical of Dylan's writing, they are in "Just a Day" as well if you notice it; Eric never used them.
I noticed the "&" in Dylan's writings because one of my best friends always use them too when we chat online or send messages to each other (she know nothing about Columbine or Dylan).