I've been out of high school for a few years now, but I know what you mean. When I was in high school it was so unheard of to stretch your ears. There was one boy who stretched his to over an inch(not sure exactly how big) and everyone thought he was so weird.
He also pierced his septum, which was also so strange back then. Now nearly everyone has stretched ears and septum piercings. It's just a fad.
Give it a few years and people will find something new to do to their bodies that we think is weird now.
Haha I had the same problem as you. I graduated last year and i've been stretching since before high school started and before stretching was popular. I was very close to taking my earrings out but then I realized that they make me happy with how I look and that I did it for the art not the fad so in a year when everyone starts takin them out and they arent popular anymore i'll still have mine.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.