Class-M Exile question

I figured I'd start up a discussion question.

This novella was such a joy to write. It began during the Locus Writers' Workshop whose teachers were Science Fiction Grand Master Connie Willis and Christopher Barzak. Both of them and the other 12 writers in the room loved the juxtaposition of Eerl's southern accent with his being quite alien. It was the unexpected and hooked them.

Several early readers have asked where I got the idea for this novel. During that workshop, we were to think about an event that emotionally impacted us when we were young.

I went to middle school in the Bible belt and firmly remember a particular new student who almost caused a stampede. Peoples reactions astounded me. The way they so completely ostracized someone who was very different from everyone else. That's were the roots of the story came from that day in the writers' workshop.

I wrote this at their encouragement with a strong focus on the prejudices and biases evident in everyone, including possible alien species.

I love stories that focus on the worldbuilding (like my fantasy novel, Amaskan's Blood, does, but I also like stories that are more thematic. Sometimes I don't care what every minor character and space ship looks like. Sometimes it's about the lesson or a bigger picture than that, which is something I wanted to express with this novella. In the way that Mel is the complete antithesis from the other characters (and yet, so similar), this novella is the complete antithesis to Amaskan's Blood, at least in some ways.

What other stories have you enjoyed that focus on themes and lessons? What about instances in your life that even after years remain frozen in your memory?