Something felt different back then. I look at kids today and they just seem so fake. I was a total tomboy, loved ice hockey, played a lot of soccer. I think I would be laughed out of the 5th grade if I was in school today. My parents were relentless about me buying what I needed, and not always what I wanted. My clothes were two seasons out of style when I was in middle school. I hated them for it back then, but once I got to be a teenager, all I bought was thrift stuff, and there weren't too many arguments (maybe besides the jeans ripped in the knee- as Grampa Simpson would say, "that was the style at the time"). In my observation it seems like so many children are so concerned with being an adult when they are tweens that they are losing their innocence. And parents are not helping this when they dress their children like mini-adults. I saw a child, under 7, the other week wearing a skirt that barely covered her behind, tight little princess top, talking on a cell phone. I couldn't believe it. Her mother must think it is adorable. I don't think she'll think it is so adorable when her daughter starts going to rainbow parties at age 12. Girls are giving blow jobs in the 7th grade, I didn't even know what one was until high school. The Clap was a sound effect used on cheesy songs, not a real threat I should be worried about in 8th grade.
We always wanted to be cool, but we didn't really emulate teenagers sexually when I grew up. If you ever watched Degrassi Jr. High, which was a favorite of mine, still is, there was a character named Stephanie K. She dressed pretty much in nothing back then, today, don't know that anyone would give it another look (except maybe for the pink lipstick and blue eye shadow). And the boys with their J-Crew and baggie jeans, metrosexual 100% in 9th grade. Don't get me wrong, we had our fair share of preppies, but these kids being this fashion conscious is over the top. I remember when I was in 7th grade I would still wear a sweatshirt with a cuddly bear skiing. Now there 10 year olds wearing letter pants and throat gonorrhea for your tween. I'm sure there is tons of stigma for kids who want to be kids, not little big people and I think it's sad. I know I would not have survived the bullshit if I had to do it all over again now.
It seems like violence is spreading lately and regardless of where people live, they will see it and they will touch it. Statistically it's probably gone down from the early 80's, when shit was really bad, anyone say Crack Epidemic, but to me, crime seems to be spreading all over the place and it seems more heartless and random. People getting shot for one dollar, women raped so a teenager can brag to his buddies, copper wire being stolen from a Habitat for Humanity House so a junky can get their fix, it makes me insane. I wish people could learn to leave each other alone. I have a really strong emotion around crime. When I was in middle school I was really paranoid and anxious all the time. A lot of it had to do with growing up outside DC and watching the news. Murder, rape, fire, armed theft, drug crime, crack, crack, crack, assaults, every night, like clockwork. When you live close to a city, but are so isolated from all that, sometimes your imagination takes control and you think it is coming towards you. My middle school was also pretty rough. Was a mix of crowds that hadn't been mixed before and we would have a lot of fights. I even got punched in the face once for bouncing my feet on the back of this girl's desk in front of me IN CLASS! Isn't it hard enough to be in middle school, but to be in middle school and worry about your safety all the time? Once I actually started going into DC and hanging out there, I calmed down a lot.
The trend I notice here lately is the decline of neighborhoods that were once safe. It seems like in so many cities you have older residents living in crime-infested neighborhoods because they've lived there all their lives, and they weren't always full of crime. Gang members and the like are moving in and taking away their concept of safety. It really makes me sad to hear of an older person being robbed at gunpoint. I can't imagine how mentally f'd up you'd have to be to hurt an older person. To attack an innocent person who can't fight back means that you are a freakin' psychopath, at least in my definition.
Even the music in the 80's was more edgy and real. Some of you probably think I'm totally out of my mind, but it's all about what you listen to. The punk/hardcore music of the 80's was like nothing else. From what I know you could get nothing harder than a Black Flag show in 1983. These bands starved, they didn't sleep in hotels and have super-plush buses, they played balls out every night and toured in vans. The DC scene especially inspires me everytime I listen to something from that era. The music was so honest, so real. The vocals weren't 5 tracks deep, it was raw and pure. Now singers use so many vocal tracks to hide their weak voices and albums are so mixed it's a struggle for some artists to tour because they are so musically weak they would embarrass themselves live, and believe me, some do.
Oh, the TV shows. My Saturday was complete if I got to watch Pee-Wee's Playhouse and then maybe some Gummi Bears. Talk about low-tech. I didn't have cable so didn't get to watch The Snorks as often as I'd like. The Smurfs were pretty good. Also had a hankering for Family Ties, Growing Pains, Mr. Belvedere, Silver Spoons, Rags to Riches, Small Wonder and the Wonder Years. I had crushes on Kirk Cameron, Balthazar Getty (who just made a comeback), Michael J and of course Fred Savage. I look at the TV on today, and besides Spongebob, Kenny the Shark and Oswald (who is voiced by Mr. Savage himself), I don't really get it. A lot of the cartoons make me curious why people wonder more kids have autism now. It's like non-stop complete non-reality. Not like the Transformers were really realistic, but the action wasn't nearly as fast.
I feel like the future is just totally scary. I know the past and feel safer in the past. The future is this black hole. Everything has become so commercial, so full of bullshit I don't know what will happen to us. I guess when all our resources are gone and some country pissed off at us unleashes some killer anthrax (ed note: I wrote this in 1999 before the anthrax, so good call on me!) I'll be in my underground shelter rocking out to Black Flag, drinking a coke and watching repeats of Degrassi Jr. High. Full fucking circle.