On the other hand, I don't think I'm completely unoriginal either. Judging from the looks I get after I say pretty much ANYTHING, I think I might be kind of weird. Kind of weird = Completely unoriginal? I don't think so. Unless everyone's kind of weird...
Point is, I'm just a person.
Keeping that in mind, Kate is writing a memoir of her Jewish experience for a memoir writing class that she's taking. She's been sending me excerpts and they're really good!
Well now, all of a sudden, or because I'm kind of unoriginal and tend to copy people without meaning to, I am getting drawn to my memories. I want to write my memoirs too!
So, let me continue a series I started a while ago called 'memories'.
Memories, Pt. 3: Stamford High School.
I have a lot of memories of Stamford High School. It was right down the street from my house. A walk up the HUGE and down the STEEP hill led you to the football field. A walk across the field, through some creaky/never open all the way gates and you were there. Or at least partially there...
Surprisingly enough, I wasn't a big fan of 'walking to school' so I got a ride in the mornings. Thinking back, since I work for an "environmental organization" now, I feel a little embarrassed that I had an adult drive me the .01 miles...
But I was a kid and kids make mistakes. OK?! OK?! Get off my back! No seriously, what are you doing up there?
The school itself was pretty diverse. You had the Jews (what up yo?!), the WASPS (popped collars anyone?), the Haitians (David Desrosiers, for example), the girls who would sit and talk about being pregnant in the bathroom (um, make better choices?), the pale kids who ran tech crew (and had sex on this ONE particular mattress back stage), the jocks, the Polish girls (one of whom apparently looked like my friend Liz), the Asian crew with the COOLEST hello kitty stuff (I was in Asian club! holla at ya girl!), the Bible pushers (bible club bake sale...$.50 gets you a brownie and a copy of the new testament! what a deal!), the baby pushers (so many pregant girls! for serioussssss), the drug users (I have my suspicions...), the poop pushers (that kid who took a @#$% in the hallway freshman year, for example), and ME.
Looking back on it, I don't know how I made it through high school. It was really hard. Like, I had to wake up super early (5:30 am senior year...why does it take me so long to get ready?), and sometimes I didn't have anything to wear (my mom used to buy my clothes for me and well...despite the kind things Erin had to say on her blog today www.erinelan.blogspot.com...she wasn't the best fashion stylist for me as a teenager), and it was really hot in there (no air conditioning in 95 degrees! I MEAN, COME ON!), and kids were mean (where to even begin...?) and teachers were demanding ( "Oh class, remember how we've been randomly watching, out of order, two different film versions of 'Hamlet' and how we HAVEN'T been reading the book? Well tomorrow you're having a quotes test on the play!", "In four days you'll need to have a 6 page rough draft, with 10 sources ready and on my desk", "Tonight I want you to solve all the problems on pages 401, 402 and 403 and write your own new math textbook while you're at it!", "I would give you the answers to the problems but your text book is called "Discovering Geometry" and I think that discovering is something you should do on your own")...
But somehow, I pulled through. I mean, it wasn't all bad. There were sleepovers, and chorus field trips (on the short bus...what's up with that?), and inside jokes (spag h. etti, anyone?, is he wearing a thong? skittles and dupont together!), and trips (to the Cape and to the MALL and to...the city!), and movies, and crushes and making fun of people. It was fun...making fun of people I mean. The other stuff was just 'alright'.That is all.
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