Comments on: Question of the Week: High School Secrets http://litpark.com/2006/10/30/question-of-the-week-high-school-secrets/ where writers come to play Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:14:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2 By: Shelley Marlow http://litpark.com/2006/10/30/question-of-the-week-high-school-secrets/#comment-946 Shelley Marlow Fri, 03 Nov 2006 19:35:53 +0000 http://litpark.com/2006/10/30/question-of-the-week-high-school-secrets/#comment-946 In honor of mercury retrograde, I posted my answer in the weekly wrap. Cool to read about your teen selves here! In honor of mercury retrograde, I posted my answer in the weekly wrap. Cool to read about your teen selves here!

]]> By: n.l. belardes http://litpark.com/2006/10/30/question-of-the-week-high-school-secrets/#comment-928 n.l. belardes Thu, 02 Nov 2006 22:35:55 +0000 http://litpark.com/2006/10/30/question-of-the-week-high-school-secrets/#comment-928 High School. Burp. I enjoyed reading other folks stories... High School. Burp. I enjoyed reading other folks stories…

]]> By: J Erwine http://litpark.com/2006/10/30/question-of-the-week-high-school-secrets/#comment-926 J Erwine Thu, 02 Nov 2006 20:12:14 +0000 http://litpark.com/2006/10/30/question-of-the-week-high-school-secrets/#comment-926 I was very much like I am today...tall, skinny, kind of geekish. I wasn't necessarily one of the popular kids, but I wasn't unpopular either. I was the one everyone wanted to know because they always hoped that I could help them with their homework. I was very much like I am today…tall, skinny, kind of geekish. I wasn’t necessarily one of the popular kids, but I wasn’t unpopular either. I was the one everyone wanted to know because they always hoped that I could help them with their homework.

]]> By: Kasper http://litpark.com/2006/10/30/question-of-the-week-high-school-secrets/#comment-925 Kasper Thu, 02 Nov 2006 20:07:08 +0000 http://litpark.com/2006/10/30/question-of-the-week-high-school-secrets/#comment-925 Dear Susan: I worked on the school newspaper and organized secret cabals. I was in love with songleaders like all the other guys. I suffered near- terminal acne ( fortunately I survived) and was so tall and thin that the school nurse wanted to put me on a milk diet. I fiendishly won awards for art, creating some lifelong enemies I didn't even know about until my 20th high school reunion when a woman ( actually an old secret love of mine) walked up with a martini in her hand and said: "It's great to see you again. You were the person I hated most in school." ( she had been an art "rival." To gauge my effect ( and lack of same) on women, I must tell a secret, one my wife makes me tell today at parties. My date for the senior prom ( in 1963) was J.S.-- a very nice, very tall ( about 6 feet-- enormous for 1963) young lady who was very shy and wore "Batgirl" black plastic glasses. At the 20th high school reunion, I re-met "J" and all the group of us with our drinks fell to talking of the senior prom. In the midst of the discussion, "J" turned to me, took a sip of her drink and asked, "Well, who did YOU take, anyway?" --K Dear Susan:

I worked on the school newspaper and organized secret cabals. I was in love with songleaders like all the other guys. I suffered near- terminal acne ( fortunately I survived) and was so tall and thin that the school nurse wanted to put me on a milk diet.

I fiendishly won awards for art, creating some lifelong enemies I didn’t even know about until my 20th high school reunion when a woman
( actually an old secret love of mine) walked up with a martini in her hand and said:

“It’s great to see you again. You were the person I hated most in school.” ( she had been an art “rival.”

To gauge my effect ( and lack of same) on women, I must tell a secret, one my wife makes me tell today at parties.

My date for the senior prom ( in 1963) was J.S.– a very nice, very tall ( about 6 feet– enormous for 1963) young lady who was very shy and wore “Batgirl” black plastic glasses.

At the 20th high school reunion, I re-met “J” and all the group of us with our drinks fell to talking of the senior prom.

In the midst of the discussion, “J” turned to me, took a sip of her drink and asked, “Well, who did YOU take, anyway?”

–K

]]> By: mikel k poet http://litpark.com/2006/10/30/question-of-the-week-high-school-secrets/#comment-919 mikel k poet Thu, 02 Nov 2006 13:24:31 +0000 http://litpark.com/2006/10/30/question-of-the-week-high-school-secrets/#comment-919 I was so skinny that I could put my fingers around my thighs. I was so skinny that I could put my fingers around my thighs.

]]> By: Teresa of CityLights http://litpark.com/2006/10/30/question-of-the-week-high-school-secrets/#comment-912 Teresa of CityLights Wed, 01 Nov 2006 21:54:56 +0000 http://litpark.com/2006/10/30/question-of-the-week-high-school-secrets/#comment-912 I was a Floater and could move from the popular kids, to the geeks, to the total outcasts and back with no repercussions. I went to a Catholic Girl's School and was routinely given detention for disrupting my English class (Sorry Sister Vincentine). I freed the lab animals before Biology class (Sorry Sister Augustine) and accidentally set my Physics experiment board on fire. (Sorry Sister Coniscious)I was too cool to go to my Senior Prom and spent the evening smoking on a street corner with members of The Spanish Cobras streetgang. (Sorry mom)(and sorry Gilberto for not going all the way) I was a Floater and could move from the popular kids, to the geeks, to the total outcasts and back with no repercussions. I went to a Catholic Girl’s School and was routinely given detention for disrupting my English class (Sorry Sister Vincentine). I freed the lab animals before Biology class (Sorry Sister Augustine) and accidentally set my Physics experiment board on fire. (Sorry Sister Coniscious)I was too cool to go to my Senior Prom and spent the evening smoking on a street corner with members of The Spanish Cobras streetgang. (Sorry mom)(and sorry Gilberto for not going all the way)

]]> By: LaurenBaratz-Logsted http://litpark.com/2006/10/30/question-of-the-week-high-school-secrets/#comment-898 LaurenBaratz-Logsted Wed, 01 Nov 2006 13:58:41 +0000 http://litpark.com/2006/10/30/question-of-the-week-high-school-secrets/#comment-898 Late to the party, so late. I rode the Wheel of Fortune so many times, I feel like I know all the highs and lows of popularity. In freshman year, which was also the last in my small private school, I was top of the food chain. A year later, in a much larger public school, I was...who knows where I was? I was so out of it with the insane social structure of everything that when a cute guy who I enjoyed talking to asked me out someone else had to tell me he played on the football team. I just thought he liked wearing jerseys! So there I was, first date, looking for something to say. Me (in acerbic mode): "I hear you play football. What do you do, warm the bench?" Him: "I'm the quarterback." That's me in a nutshell: Don't know who I'm with, status-wise, and don't much care. Or you could just say I'm clueless. I was also, am still, friendly to everyone until given a reason to behave otherwise. This enables me to feel good about myself and also means that when people start shooting, there's a chance I'll still be standing. Late to the party, so late.

I rode the Wheel of Fortune so many times, I feel like I know all the highs and lows of popularity. In freshman year, which was also the last in my small private school, I was top of the food chain. A year later, in a much larger public school, I was…who knows where I was? I was so out of it with the insane social structure of everything that when a cute guy who I enjoyed talking to asked me out someone else had to tell me he played on the football team. I just thought he liked wearing jerseys! So there I was, first date, looking for something to say. Me (in acerbic mode): “I hear you play football. What do you do, warm the bench?” Him: “I’m the quarterback.” That’s me in a nutshell: Don’t know who I’m with, status-wise, and don’t much care. Or you could just say I’m clueless.

I was also, am still, friendly to everyone until given a reason to behave otherwise. This enables me to feel good about myself and also means that when people start shooting, there’s a chance I’ll still be standing.

]]> By: Susan Henderson http://litpark.com/2006/10/30/question-of-the-week-high-school-secrets/#comment-888 Susan Henderson Wed, 01 Nov 2006 02:01:08 +0000 http://litpark.com/2006/10/30/question-of-the-week-high-school-secrets/#comment-888 Wow, I'm fascinated by every one of these stories. I'll respond individually on Friday's Weekly Wrap. Wow, I’m fascinated by every one of these stories. I’ll respond individually on Friday’s Weekly Wrap.

]]> By: Juliet http://litpark.com/2006/10/30/question-of-the-week-high-school-secrets/#comment-879 Juliet Tue, 31 Oct 2006 21:01:47 +0000 http://litpark.com/2006/10/30/question-of-the-week-high-school-secrets/#comment-879 Back to respond to this (didn't have space yesterday). Highschool for me was a mixed bag. One part rebellion (the Chelsea girl, the tart, the gum snapping red-lipped, heavy lashed self) and then the desperate attempt at preppiness (oh, for the love of a boy) followed quickly by the Dramarama look, and lastly, ended with a Beatnik senior year. Is there any more cruel punishment for children who are at a stage of life where they want desperately to fit in and to find that they are "normal" than to stick us all into a meat market where the only way to win is to become either a) normal to the point of being the All-American dream, or b) so abnormal as to be an icon. Back to respond to this (didn’t have space yesterday).
Highschool for me was a mixed bag. One part rebellion (the Chelsea girl, the tart, the gum snapping red-lipped, heavy lashed self) and then the desperate attempt at preppiness (oh, for the love of a boy) followed quickly by the Dramarama look, and lastly, ended with a Beatnik senior year.

Is there any more cruel punishment for children who are at a stage of life where they want desperately to fit in and to find that they are “normal” than to stick us all into a meat market where the only way to win is to become either a) normal to the point of being the All-American dream, or b) so abnormal as to be an icon.

]]> By: Ellen Meister http://litpark.com/2006/10/30/question-of-the-week-high-school-secrets/#comment-873 Ellen Meister Tue, 31 Oct 2006 16:16:51 +0000 http://litpark.com/2006/10/30/question-of-the-week-high-school-secrets/#comment-873 I was a rebel without a cause. My tiny fringe group and I hated everything that had to do with our high school. We shunned the kids, the clubs, the teachers, the whole damn town. (What a great defense mechanism for kids who don't fit in!) We decided we were artistes, and would to skip school to go into The City so we could visit art museums and see Woody Allen movies. We loved Monty Python and Charlie Chaplin and The Marx Brothers. We read about the Algonquin Round Table and thought we were just about as smart and witty as they were. Judging from what we wrote in each others' yearbooks, we were not. But we got through it together. I was a rebel without a cause. My tiny fringe group and I hated everything that had to do with our high school. We shunned the kids, the clubs, the teachers, the whole damn town. (What a great defense mechanism for kids who don’t fit in!) We decided we were artistes, and would to skip school to go into The City so we could visit art museums and see Woody Allen movies. We loved Monty Python and Charlie Chaplin and The Marx Brothers. We read about the Algonquin Round Table and thought we were just about as smart and witty as they were. Judging from what we wrote in each others’ yearbooks, we were not. But we got through it together.

]]>