High School Things

by Anne Helen Petersen

THINGS FROM MY HIGH SCHOOL YEARS THAT MY HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS ARE ODDLY OBSESSED WITH

My So-Called Life
Laura Ashley dresses
Lady Brett Ashley
Minesweeper
A Moveable Feast
Doc Martens
Making mixtapes from CDs
The Cranberries
Empire Records
Tupac, specifically “Dear Mama”
Overalls (shorts and full)
Cruel Intentions
Shaving the side/back of their hair
Nicktoons
Buffy
Sublime
Silk shirts (men’s and women’s)
Soundtrack to Romeo + Juliet
Bellybutton piercings
Clueless
Adidas Sambas
Boy Meets World
Nirvana’s “Nevermind”
Wearing as many flannels as possible
Young Leonardo DiCaprio
Riot Grrl and dreaming of moving to Olympia

THINGS FROM MY HIGH SCHOOL YEARS THAT MY HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS ODDLY CARE NOTHING ABOUT

Ani DiFranco, Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, Natalie Merchant
Reality Bites
Learning to play the soundtrack to Phantom of the Opera on the piano
Learning to play “Everything I Do, I Do It For You” on the piano
Blackstreet’s “No Diggity”
Mansfield Park
Bodysuits
Making mixtapes from the radio
Party of Five
Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw
Perms
Varsity Blues
Boyz II Men, “Water Runs Dry”
Staying up until 11 pm on a Thursday to watch ER
Britney Spears’ video for “Hit Me Baby One More Time”
Cheerleading
Pearl Jam’s “Ten”
Clarissa Explains It All
R. Kelly’s “I Believe I Can Fly” as the last slow dance at any school dance ever
Dawson’s Creek
Josh Hartnett
Alicia Silverstone in Aerosmith videos
Trouser socks with kilts
Calling your parents from a payphone to have them come pick you up

[Special thanks to Emily, Brendan, Clementine, Theo, Sylvie, Chava, and Michael.]

Anne Helen Petersen has the best high schoolers in the world.