Is there anything more heartbreaking than seeing a lonely figure in the middle of a hormone smorgasbord? High school was a bitch if you cared and weren’t included and if fellow students considered you a nerd. . . No matter what you did, no matter how hard you tried….being a loser was rough stuff. Just ask Frasier Crane or any of the other sit com regulars who made a career out of playing the outsider.
People were mean. There waslittle or no regard for anyone else’s feelings. After all teenagers have the compassion and manners of Neanderthals. No one was out to look after anyone else’s feelings. If you could dart under the radar…that was about all you could do.
There are urban legends about teenagers who went out of their way to be nice to the new girl (especially if she was hot). But come on….we all know it didn’t happen very often. There’s a pecking order…a food chain if you will and we all knew our place. If you are at the bottom …each hellish day was a marathon of self preservation.
The good news is that losers often become winner in real life and nerds become bright successful and take the world by the storm. Do they ever forgive and forget? Doubt it. We are, after all just mortals. Hats off to the success stories…there’s some magic there.
April 27, 2008. Tags: American icon, Geeks, high school, losers, nerds, unpopular. Uncategorized. .
God we love those bad boys. Mmm……mmm . Our fathers hated them, the school cliques scorned them and we would deny to the death that we were attracted. But the truth is we were. Those misunderstood greasers, J.D.’s, bad boys, playas, no matter what you called them. They were exciting and they were HOT, even when we didn’t know what that meant. That’s why bad boys traipse through life thrilling us in many, many ways.
Some, like Mick Jagger, never grow up. Some turn into the soccer coach. And them some, like in Grease, end up with Olivia Newton John. But those memories in high school of the secret trips to building behind the school , all that cigarette smoke, well that was good stuff. No one told us about second hand smoke then, so it was a first hand experience of tasting the forbidden fruit. And it was fantastic. Who didn’t have a secret crush on James Dean? That’s why he’s still a male icon.
The girls that were in that group usually didn’t have the same effects on guys. Most of the time the handsome jocks would turn away from the girls in the tight sweaters that hung around with the greasers. They were tough talking and hard living. Rizzo knew her place….but Sandy….well she just couldn’t resists a little Travolta on the side. Let’s face it — the bad boys have always had their following . That misunderstood rebel with dreamy eyes and the tight jeans…he’ll always have a following. .
We love the bad boys.
April 9, 2008. Tags: American icon, Bad boys, cliques, greaaser, high school, James Dean, juvinile delinquents. Uncategorized. .
She wasn’t always the most drop-dead gorgeous girl. But she always looked like she deserved it…the Prom Queen…the teenage American Princess. The legend lives on whether you graduated in 1950 or fifty years later. Every girl in that room wanted to be her…and every guy wanted to nail her.
She was the girl of the hour…the girl of many teenage longing…the girl most likely to be envied and hated. High school life depended on her: for the drama and the back story. There may have been other girls that were cooler, smarter or more va-va-voom….but the Prom Queen ruled .
If you were the Prom Queen chances are you were in the best sorority in college and had the pick of the litter when it came to husbands. But it didn’t guarantee life was going to be perfect. That karma has it’s own little way of working it’s way out. In writing this book and screenplay we ran in to Prom Queens who became strippers and abused wives. Those tiaras are tough to live up to.
But back in high school it was heaven Everyone the Prom Queen touched carried a little bit of the aura with them. If you were the Prom Queen’s best friend or boyfriend or rival…you had a little brush with the glow that went with the title. It was no secret that she was treated a little better by the English teacher…or got the better chicken salad in the cafeteria. .
After all rank has its privileges.
April 6, 2008. Tags: American beauty, American icon, cliques, high school, popular, Prom, Prom Queens. American culture, Prom Queens, high school. .
When you say you were in a band most people see sweaty musicians, guitars and soulful groupies. That is, until they figure out the band was in high school and the genre was marching band. Playing in the band in high school was a calling. You absolutely had to be really into music to don a uniform that screamed “UNCOOL” and parade in front of the jocks, prom queens and cool kids. But if you did you probably were either great with music, which will come in handy for the rest of your life. Or you’re good with your hands, equally useful…especially if you end up being a surgeon or a great artist or have a regular gig…say on the Letterman show or with Emeril.
Did the boys (and girls) in the band get a rough deal? Probably not. You were surrounded with people just like you and you didn’t have to go to all the trouble of finding them. They were right there with a big “something high school ” on their chest. Bandies were usually the kids who could conform, were disciplined and had a higher purpose. Their parents usually left them alone. How much trouble could you get in with a trombone?
You had built in friends that you spent a lot of time with and you all looked alike. (A concept applauded in most schools today so that everyone starts off the same and the pesky rich kid can’t always have the coolest clothes.) And you’ve got to admit that school spirit and the cheerleaders were nothing without that band. So whether you were a lone drummer or a hip band worthy of Drumroll. Music made it happen.
April 2, 2008. Tags: American icon, Band, cliques, high school, popular, prom queen. Uncategorized. .
If you compare high school to being in a Royal Kingdom then cheerleaders have to be the ladies-in-waiting. And they were waiting for it …and they expected it. This small pool of carefully selected women were the queens to be, the future girlfriends of the jocks and the girls who broke your heart or left you with permanent self esteem scars. They were glossy…they were bossy and they knew a thing or two about shaking their pompoms.
It may have been Game Night for the jocks…but it was center stage for the cheerleaders, and they knew it. They had the bouncy curls , the little-girl hair ribbons and the neatly pressed shorter-than-short pleated skirts. Nothing, however, could disguise the display of Lolita-esque hormones in the sanctity of the organized sport arena. Sort of like being a pole dancer without the guilt.. It was catnip for teenage boys.
Being a cheerleader now isn’t the same. Cheerleading is a sport…….it’s all about being a gymnast, a precision dancer, a perfectionist. Back-in-the-day it was about being popular,, being competitive in the social arena and being part of the privileged crowd. Short on skills…long on attitude. That’s why every teen movie shows the mean girls as cheerleaders.
I have to confess that I was a cheerleader all through high school. I took what was handed to me. Great jock boyfriends and the self confidence to take my rightful place on the school newspaper, the yearbook anything I wanted. I’ve had my share of successes and failures….but I never lack the courage to go for anything I want.
There’s a lot to be said for the mindless dancing tributes to high school athletes on a field or court surrounded by screaming fans. And when you’re chanting “we’ve got the fever…we’re hot…we can’t be stopped..”…..It was just way too easy to think it included you.
March 30, 2008. Tags: American icon, Cheerleader, cliques, mean girls, popular, prom queen. American culture, American icon, Cheerleaders, high school, popular. .
Did you sit at the cool kids table in high school surrounded by the popular kids?…or did you sit alone wondering when the prom queen or hunky jock was finally going to recognize you? You have to admit you knew exactly who you were in high school. You knew your place. It’s prom season once again and for many that’s equivalent to sticking a knitting needle in your eye socket and going to bed with a migraine.
We all know that maneuvering within the social confines of a high school society is a little like penetrating a secret cult. Chances are that prom queen never did see beyond the metal mouth and the slight brush of acne. The question I pose is this….do you ever leave high school? Are you doomed for a life of quite desperation and acceptance… or a life of “what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-these-people….I was in the popular clique?”
I’ve been asking this question for years and have gotten the most incredible answers. Some people are true professional successes who never feel good enough and others are still waiting for life to hand them the prizes they feel entitled to. I’m a television journalist who has been posing this question with my writing partner following a summer of watching teen movies as a background for a screenplay. We had to ask the question What the hell happens to all the mean bitchy prom queens in the movies? And why is everyone so obsessed with high school? We made up a questionnaire, passed it around, and were blown away by the answers. High School is pretty much a common experience. But can you leave it behind and get on with your life? I thought I did. I loved high school until my Air Force dad brought us from England to the Bible Belt. So I can see both sides. We want to know your deepest secrets about high school. We want to know those stories of glory and heartache. Anonymous, of course. E -mail us directly at promqueenforever@aol.com or give us an answer here. (Be sure and give your first name only and the year you graduated) I will be taking a look at the common groups that our survey designated. You know, the cheerleaders, the jocks, the bad boys, the bandies….and of course, the prom queens. So brush off those tiaras and football trophies , clarinets and leather jackets. This is your time.
March 19, 2008. Tags: American icon, Band, Cheerleaders, cliques, high school, mean girls, nerds, pupular. American culture, American icons, Cheerleaders, Geeks, Prom Queens, high school, popular. .
