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. .
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. .
