Here I am in sixth grade with some of my cousins. I'm the one in pigtails and we are all wearing our very best disco shirts - it must have been Christmas.I think I mentioned once on this blog that I didn't have any pictures of myself in junior high and just a few from high school. Since puberty has never been particuarly kind to my family, I figured it was just as well. Now that my daughters are in junior high and high school, they have asked me about what clothes I wore when I was their age or if we watch a movie from the sevenites, they ask me if I looked like that back then.
So, in the interest of answering their questions, I borrowed some of the pictures my aunt had and scanned them on my computer. Tonight I'm going to show you a few of the photos I reclaimed.
The funny thing about looking at these after so long, is rectifying what they are with what I thought they were. I always imagined that I was one of the scariest looking kids in junior high. I had bad hair and bad skin and bad teeth and my perception at the time was that I was just plain fugly. Back then I couldn't get over the fact that my hair was never going to feather like Farrah's, my teeth were never going to be as clean or straight as Kristy McNichol's, and I would never have the perfect, smooth skin of Valerie Bertinelli. Now when I look at my junior high self, the first two words that come to mind are still "bad hair", but after that, I don't think I looked much dorkier than any of the other kids my age in 1977/78.
The other thing I love about these photos is the glimpse of Southside Chicago working class decor in the late seventies. Just check out this room - the couch is red and gold velveteen, the walls are well pannelled and the TV trays are handy, so that everyone can eat and watch Happy Days at the same time.
I don't want to belabor the point, but we never really got into the subject of clothes. Just in case this photos is too blurry for you to make it out, that lovely sweater I'm wearing, happens to be a cowl neck. Now, you can go suck on that for a while.
9 comments:
time may passed and years may go...but na matter what nostalgic feeling that we get from past pictures...we are till the same person who may look diferent now from the past...
Cowl neck, mmm not so much, but the red T-shirt? That's very cool. There are very few photos of me during my teenage years though as I remember it, it involved a lot of hair, black jeans, army boots, band T-shirts and my black leather biker jacket with the logos for "Alice in Chains", "Pantera" and "Metallica" hand painted on it. The jacket I still have; mostly to scare friends with.
Major E Flat,
Man, I hope I'm not the same person I was in junior high. It's hard for me to even remember that person very well now.
Mr. Atrocity,
I still have my black motorcycle jacket too. I can't imagine getting rid of it.
Unfortunately, all of my jr. high and high school photos are exactly as bad as I remember them. Still, it's fun to look back.
And honestly, I don't even think your hair is that dorky. Of course, I had a frizzy helmet hairdo, so just about anything looks better to me.
Unfortunately, my hair in these photos isn't as bad as it got. When I'm feeling brave sometime, I'll post some photos of me with REALLY bad, frizzy hair.
I love the photos - the red couch really sets off a beautiful teen - and I don't understand the decor comment, have you seen my tv room? looks vaguely familiar -
Is your TV room pannelled as well? And do you have a rust colored recliner (not pictured, but there all the same) to go with the red and gold velvet couch? If so, I can't wait to see it.
I loved this post. Aren't we all the scariest-looking kid in junior high?
Kelly O.,
Thanks. And the ones that aren't scary in jr high, usually peak there and have nowhere else to go but down. I could only get better.
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