Growing up in the crazy eighties.

I started ninth grade right at the very end of punk and the very beginning of new wave fashion era. I had been sheltered prior to this and walking into high school for the first time was a real eye opener for me. There were no dress codes to speak of. People chewed tobacco, dipped snuff and rolled joints in class. There was a smoking area outside by the industrial arts building where large groups of stoners in concert shirts, Kickers with their FFA jackets and roper boots, puffed away between classes.

All this was very foreign to me. I had never done any of these things and had no desire to. All my life from every direction I was told drugs are bad, smoking will kill, chewing tobacco will make your lower jaw fall off etc.. The stuff kids were wearing threw me for a loop as well. Black trench coats, guys with black lipstick, painted nails and eyeliner. Some kids spiked their hair in every direction and had painted their faces a sickly white color. To be honest, this shit kind of scared me. Who were these weirdos? Why in the hell would anyone come to school dressed like that?

Come to find out many of these kids were copying what they saw in music magazines and on MTV. Boy George was all the rage and there were guys actually dressing like this flaming fruitcake and for the most part getting away with it.

My main question was: do parents actually see what their kids are wearing? Do mothers pick up their makeup for their sons at the cosmetic counter? Do the adults really purchase all these crazy get ups for their 14 and 15 year olds? I felt as if the school bus transported me through time and space and landed on some fucked up gay zombie clown planet each morning.

Don't get me wrong there were some fairly normal kids too. But I have to say most everyone belonged to some category, nerds, jocks, losers, heads, kickers, punks, new wave, prep etc..

I really didn't fit into any category so I hung out with the nerds and protected them from getting their teeth kicked in. Every once in a while someone from another group would try to recruit me but anyone that has known me for more than five minutes knows I'm not a joiner. I do not participate. Ever. I wasn't as smart or as dorky as the nerds but they were about the least harmless of all the groups and the most eager to please.

High school was a blur for the most part. In the mornings before class I would hang out with stinky Gary but most of the time I stuck to myself. I was shy, introverted and reclusive. When some adult would tell me that these were going to be the best years of my life they had no idea how awful that sounded to me.

I never understood why all the freaking idiot adults asked each other what High school they went to when meeting for the first time. My god that is pathetic. People basing the rest of their lives on what they did in ninth through twelfth grade?


For me it was a big worthless fashion show mixed with a lopsided caste system that valued athletic ability above all else. Other than a few good teachers I am drawing a blank on most of the time I spent in that place.

Maybe it's for the best.