Part 2 of the Existentialist Homecoming
It isn't necessary. Nothing's totally necessary besides all the human essentials. You need food and water, now live. You need clothes too, it's necessary to be able to see clearly (save for those with glasses needs, which prove to be very fashionable). But it's not necessary. And that's what we rely on.
Let's walk through a high school hallway. Over there is one group, and over there's the lacrosse team, and over there are the drama kids, and over there are the kids who bring a boombox to school everyday and show off their skills. Near that window, you see, diagonal to the blast which you have now encountered are the really dorky kids, hands over ears, worried the skills of the BoomBoxers will run over their Fun Math Practice with loud compressed notes.The kids with the headphones resting on the collars of their thrift store bought denim oxford shirts scoff at the dorks and shake hands with the boombox ones. In the senior courtyard through the window are all of the Madly In Love So We Don't Care couples. Right there in between the lockers are the Outcasts in which you can't really box because they're too different anyway, but you notice for all of them have glasses.
This is High School in the movies. It's true there are groups that are stereotypes, but what the movies miss is that these groups have sub groups. The boombox kids likely have a division of those who prefer hip hop over indie rock, and those who identify as poets over those who are staunch rappers. And these kids might not exactly hang out together, but are in the same pool. High School is full of divisions, but it's not always East v. West.
Those dorky kids might have their own divisions. There is no limit to a division of dork. Dork does not mean doing math all day, or correcting another's grammar for reason of anxiety. Dork means obsession. Deep obsession entails dressing up for school. Not caring if people leave the table when you go on one of your unintelligible rants. Not really giving a hoot about what people think, but managing to stay at the bottom of the "social scale" (Which exists more in connotations than in actual life. Or not. It exists). Those dorky kids might all be loose friends, but really they're a group of allies, a country of small islands and a primary government of companionship. The same with the Drama kids. There is no limit to Drama, and likewise there is no limit to the obsessions over obscure play genres.
And each of these kids might hang out with each other, because it's not exactly necessary that there are any divisions at all. This is High School at face value.
Political Scientists don't need to poll the country. The census doesn't need to measure the state of the union. Political Scientists just need to go to High School. Those girls over there are the fault of modern feminism. That club right there is Feminism. That crowd right there is why there are marijuana laws, but those kids sitting at that table seem to be doing fine. Those four kids sitting at that corner are arguing about Obama's job in the presidency.
Let's go to lunch. There's promiscuity sitting by the window. A pregnant girl sits with another and discusses how her weekend fared. This school is has 3,000 students, the biggest in its county, and proves to be the most diverse. All of the Black kids are sitting there. All of the white kids, many in programs, sit over there. And those not in programs sit with each other still. And this is why programs shouldn't exist at all. That's self-segregation. Why America hasn't progressed in forty years.
It's all a bit biased. But High School is where it starts. There is nothing more accurate of an America than the American High School.
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| This is the United States. |
This is why I didn't very much like Homecoming Dance. I didn't like it because I didn't find that person across the room, and there wasn't cheesy blue wallpaper and lukewarm lights to remind me I'm Only Young Once and I've only got four chances to go to this particular dance and one day I'll find My One and Only and many other things I take for granted because I'm a teenager who doesn't care. This is what I find very comforting. I do care. I subscribe to cheesiness, but I'm afraid of cheese.
There wasn't any food at the Homecoming Dance. No cheese, no celebratory cake or crackers to ingest whilst feeling awkward but being mindful of calories (Crackers are the most convenient food. I eat many with humus, like I did today where I ate that which Stephanie bought for Juliette with nothing but a spoon. It was beautiful.)
The first time I started caring about Homecoming was in the Sixth Grade when I was in my Cold play and warm voices phase (Sinatra, Respectable Big Band People), and Kanye West had just come out with 808's and Heartbreak. That's why I'm so angry at him now. Homecoming is my reference song. It has everything.
All that wasn't necessary, because nothing really is. But in the end all that's unnecessary provides for all that which is abstruse, and often overlooked.
I went to homecoming in a very cute lace dress I had gotten the day before. It didn't have sleeves, and the lace veneer was see through to a peach cloth plate. It flowed at the ends, sort of like Monroe, but lazier. It was a virgin dress, so I wore a leather jacket with zippers, more zippers, and random belts which Julian Casablancas would approve. I wore my leather converse boots, and baby pink ballet tights. I wore actual make-up and much jewelry I put my hair in this spike poof (because I had to do it soon and it was looking a mess) in a bit of a controlled disaster. I looked Like a Virgin, a Madonna label canvased on my body. High Fashion of Costume Design.
My homecoming wasn't up to my standards.
These are the problems I had with Homecoming (This was a text message, I'm sorry for grammar):
It was really weird and awkward and I had a lot of issues to point out like:
1. It was really self segregated naturally so all the white kids were on the right side and all the black kids/Hispanic kids were on the left side and
2. I was too white for the Black side (sort of) and too black for the white side (sort of) so i was sort of stuck in the middle/outside.
3. Basically all of the kids I never see are really attractive and they all had people to grind with so they couldn't have been the Person Across the Room. It just reminded me of the CAP bubble.
4. Everyone was grinding and it was disgusting in all respects.
7. Everyone looked in need of an ambulance because of tight dresses and high heels.
8. I got to wear tennis shoes and a not tight dress which I'm sure I got judged for so I was OK.
9. Actually that wasn't a problem.
10. I can't dance and I'm really introverted but the kind that's also shy.
10. I can't dance and I'm really introverted but the kind that's also shy.
Perhaps the High School Hallway has lost in the race for America. The dance is what's really up. The dance is conspicuous. There's an East and West Side. There was the smell of sweat and other bodily fluids and alcohol in the air. There was a lot of drama I missed out on because as I was leaving this one guy was throwing up in a trash can. But these issues weren't sitting by the door, or in a group, or in separate countries. These issues were right there, literally hovering in the air. And that's America.
To recognize all that isn't necessary. Homecoming was a social observation for me, and that's what took place of fun, and fun is prioritizing the necessary. That's why I had so many issues at all Even the unnecessary necessary, but I'm still mad Homecoming didn't have human essentials like food, like cheese.
Lots and Lots of cheese with blue paper on the walls and spotlighted dancing.
Peace
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