Maybe some people go to their high school reunion with no motive other than to share a good time with old friends. Not me. I RSVP’d to show my former classmates I wasn’t the loser they remembered. Just to be on the safe side, I brought an entourage – my sister Joyce, husband John, and two friends. Sure, it practically screamed insecure, but at least I wouldn’t wind up sitting at a table by myself. I wore my favorite outfit – an ill-advised Evan Picon vested skirt suit that failed to stand the test of time.
I wanted people to think I transcended high school but in truth I was obsessed with it – so much so that at age 29 I posed as a high school student and returned to Wilcox as a student for a brief spell – but that’s another story.
Suffice to say, it’s no coincidence that well over half of my scripts and teleplays concern high school kids. It became my specialty. It was easy to channel adolescent minds, because my own mind was mired in adolescence. While I might be excessive, I’m not unique.
In Ralph Keyes’ excellent book Is There Life After High School, he distills his experience, research and interviews to three major points.
- These memories focus on comparison of status and
- High school is the source of indelible memories
- Status comparisons continue long after graduation, in a society shaped fundamentally by high school
On the outside, I’d travelled far since high school but on the inside the neurotic outsider I used to be ran the show. I drank too much, talked too much, got too giddy and too grandiose. The harder I tried to be one of the cool kids, the more I proved I was not.
Laura Bauer September 8, 2016 at 9:24 am
Thanks for sharing!! Rich and I still hold that honor! We will have been married 47 years on April 18th.
Ruthie Anderson Tompkins September 9, 2016 at 2:39 pm
Oh, Kathy! These pics bring back a memory of being so self-conscious and insecure at this 10yr reunion. I mean, I really wanted to go, but I felt all those feelings of inadequacy for the previous 10 yrs. I have grown so much since then! I mean, we have have actually LIVED and I, for one, have come out stronger, more confident and especially, more happy than I ever dreamed. YOU, need to know that during those years of high school, I had a very different picture of you. Yes, you were the quiet one. But you were so SMART and I so admired your writing. I guess we all had these inner ideas of who we were and how we were perceived by others. I have always bragged to others about you when the subject of high ever came up. And you are one we always wonder about. I especially appreciate you posting the pics. The one with me and, I believe, Ed Furlow in the middle is especially poignant for me since He died so very young. Your FB posting was great for me. I needed to remember some of those days and times that helped make me who I am today. Thanks.
skywhys September 9, 2016 at 10:36 pm
Thank you so much for writing, Ruth! I was very hesitant to write that blog – a little afraid, really – but your note makes me happy that I did and I’m happy to hear from you too. High school exerted a powerful influence on all of us! (I didn’t know about Ed Furlow.)
Sandra (Sandy) September 11, 2016 at 1:27 pm
I have to echo everything that Ruth said about you–being smart and so admired. I don’t know what I was thinking with that hair style…I should have taken a cue from yours and went ‘bigger.’ Oh well, none of us probably look back and say, “Wow – loved my hair!” Thanks so much for sharing!