Two decades ago...
I don't talk about high school much and that's because I wasn't really present those four years. I went to school, made good grades, was in advanced placement(except for math) but my best friend and I were in our own little world. I remember that world well and have blogged about it. I wish I had kept the notes we would pass between classes. We hated being there, we wished we lived in a city so we could go to concerts and meet cute, cool guys. We didn't go to a single pep rally, not one the entire time we were in high school. I went to one football game and was so bored I went home before halftime. We weren't involved in any clubs or organizations. Drama was my elective but I don't remember actually being in any plays. Seems we auditioned, rehearsed but nothing ever got off the ground. Claudia and I hung out with the thespians but even then, no parties or anything. I did attend two proms, escorted both times by good friends. Either we didn't stay long or I just can't remember anything after the free professional photo. That's it, that pretty much sums up my memories of DRHS.
I remember the library, the librarian and going there during lunch with Claudia. I'd look at magazines because their holdings were slim pickings. Claudia spent several months reading Of Human Bondage. I can't remember what year this was though. We went through high school without any drama at all. No girly cat fights, no crushed hearts, nothing. Sort of boring I guess. I do remember seeing fights, one girl put a fork into another girl's head during lunch. We'd hang out with our friends and mostly talk about music and movies and everything was about New Wave.
When Pretty in Pink came out we were 15 and the movie could not have been more perfect for Claudia and I. We identified with Andie's taste in clothing, music and friends. In our school there was a rather large group of kids who were the "richies" the sons and daughters of the well to do Mexican and American ranchers, the great-grandchildren of the families who had settled the town. These kids were the cheerleaders, the football players, the antagonists in every teen movie. I used to wonder how they felt when they watched a John Hughes film, did they see themselves and feel ugly or ridiculous? For the first time we saw a movie that reflected the dynamic in our own school, the class difference.
Every school has them but I think the eighties was a particularly record breaking decade for the mean spirited, rich, popular teen stereotype, a result of the Reagan years. Prior to that you had the mean bully, the rich snob or the distant yet popular co-ed. In the eighties you had these stereotypes rolled into one (the John Hughes teen terrorist)and that's who you could find at my school. That character was not too far fetched.
It's been twenty years since I left high school and I remember very little compared to what I remember before the 9th grade or just the town itself at the time. I do remember all the fun Claudia, Cecilia and I had. I remember we snuck out of school to watch Dirty Dancing , have a submarine sandwich and drink these fizzy,sugary Koala sodas. We would check out old foreign films from the library, dance to our mix tapes and listen to The Clash, The Cure, The Smith's. Saturday mornings were spent at the old warehouse buying vintage clothing at 10 cents a pound. Wish I had kept all those clothes. On Friday nights we'd sit on her roof top and talk about what we wanted to do and where we wanted to live how there wasn't a decent guy in school to swoon over, no one remotely like Blane or cute like Duckie. This is where the story failed us, no cute, cool guy out of a John Hughes film ever enrolled at DRHS. Years after I graduated though, my sister, saw Anthony Michael Hall at Bealls.
I won't be going to the 20th DRHS Reunion because if old tv show episodes and movies like Come Back to the Five and Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean and even Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (guilty pleasure)have taught me anything it's that those events aren't real cool. At the very least it's an evening filled with awkward social interaction. Just about all the people I hung out with live here in Austin and I run into them from time to time. Claudia was maid-of-honor at my wedding. If anyone really wants to catch up with me, I'm a Google search away.
I remember the library, the librarian and going there during lunch with Claudia. I'd look at magazines because their holdings were slim pickings. Claudia spent several months reading Of Human Bondage. I can't remember what year this was though. We went through high school without any drama at all. No girly cat fights, no crushed hearts, nothing. Sort of boring I guess. I do remember seeing fights, one girl put a fork into another girl's head during lunch. We'd hang out with our friends and mostly talk about music and movies and everything was about New Wave.
When Pretty in Pink came out we were 15 and the movie could not have been more perfect for Claudia and I. We identified with Andie's taste in clothing, music and friends. In our school there was a rather large group of kids who were the "richies" the sons and daughters of the well to do Mexican and American ranchers, the great-grandchildren of the families who had settled the town. These kids were the cheerleaders, the football players, the antagonists in every teen movie. I used to wonder how they felt when they watched a John Hughes film, did they see themselves and feel ugly or ridiculous? For the first time we saw a movie that reflected the dynamic in our own school, the class difference.
Every school has them but I think the eighties was a particularly record breaking decade for the mean spirited, rich, popular teen stereotype, a result of the Reagan years. Prior to that you had the mean bully, the rich snob or the distant yet popular co-ed. In the eighties you had these stereotypes rolled into one (the John Hughes teen terrorist)and that's who you could find at my school. That character was not too far fetched.
It's been twenty years since I left high school and I remember very little compared to what I remember before the 9th grade or just the town itself at the time. I do remember all the fun Claudia, Cecilia and I had. I remember we snuck out of school to watch Dirty Dancing , have a submarine sandwich and drink these fizzy,sugary Koala sodas. We would check out old foreign films from the library, dance to our mix tapes and listen to The Clash, The Cure, The Smith's. Saturday mornings were spent at the old warehouse buying vintage clothing at 10 cents a pound. Wish I had kept all those clothes. On Friday nights we'd sit on her roof top and talk about what we wanted to do and where we wanted to live how there wasn't a decent guy in school to swoon over, no one remotely like Blane or cute like Duckie. This is where the story failed us, no cute, cool guy out of a John Hughes film ever enrolled at DRHS. Years after I graduated though, my sister, saw Anthony Michael Hall at Bealls.
I won't be going to the 20th DRHS Reunion because if old tv show episodes and movies like Come Back to the Five and Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean and even Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (guilty pleasure)have taught me anything it's that those events aren't real cool. At the very least it's an evening filled with awkward social interaction. Just about all the people I hung out with live here in Austin and I run into them from time to time. Claudia was maid-of-honor at my wedding. If anyone really wants to catch up with me, I'm a Google search away.
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