School's Out For the Summer

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I have just spent the last week writing about my high school reunion, which I had a completely perfect time at. Did you go to yours? Will you go to the next one? Why or why not?

-- Kymm Zuckert (hedgehog@hedgehog.net), October 15, 2000

Answers

If my high school has one, and I'm switched on enough to find out about it, I *have* to go. The high school itself was demolished a few years ago to make way for a housing estate. I need that tangible reminder that I actually attended high school. I mean, *I* know I attended, but everyone else has to take my word for it. "Honest, there WAS a school here once!!" But I'd go, just to show my bitchy classmates a thing or two. I'm no longer the pimply nerdy kid they all picked on. Hmmm..that sounds a bit psycho..I mean, I'd go, just so's they could see I am no longer an emotional retard. Really.

jacqueline

-- jacqueline (admin@anv.com.au), October 15, 2000.


Actually I just bailed out on my ten-year reunion a few weeks ago. I think I wasn't ready to deal with these people that I so disliked all those years ago. That and the fact that I feel that I haven't really accomplished anything of note. My book's not written, I haven't quite gotten that $80K / year computer job that I'm looking for, no kids, no serious woman. Ahh, I'll just wait 'til the twenty-year and throw some stuff in their face then. That and I called my best friend from high school and she missed it because of a business trip. I don't feel so bad, then.

-- B.Mooney (ruiner@ruined.net), October 16, 2000.

Obviously I was just at -my- 18th high school reunion 'cause Kymmie just wrote about our hellacious road trip to get there. I've been to all the previous ones, and plan to continue going as long as I'm physically able.

Why do I go back? Because in the two years I spent at Interlochen I started to become more of a person and less of a fearful blob in front of the TV. Heading back is a touchstone for me, a reminder that I've come a long way from where I was. This time, though, it was also a reminder that, artistically, I haven't achieved much . . . and I'd better get off my ass and get busy!

I also observed that I'm still too nervous, unsure, whatever to be cool. There were times during the reunion that I felt like the hugest geek.

I wish more people I knew had been there (Tony, are you reading this?), but I was pleasantly surprised to become acquainted with people who had the same experience I did before I got there.

/Robert

-- Robert (rbdimmick@earthlink.net), October 16, 2000.


God no. For the most part, we had nothing to say to each other during the years we were in school together. So no reason to "catch up" now.

The above refers to the people I went to high school with, as opposed to the people who were my friends during high school (who went to a bunch of other schools). Those people have a reunion every year or two and I've gone to most of them. However, we don't have a campus or special place, we just meet in a restaurant or something. And for this reason I am madly jealous of Kymm, who has a place as well as people to feel sentimental about and revisit at intervals. Even if they do keep tearing stuff down and moving it around.

-- Diana (diana@alum.mit.edu), October 16, 2000.


I missed my fifth, attended my tenth, and plan never to go to another one. None of my friends attended, and nobody had changed much (that's not a good thing).

-- Catherine (catcoicrit@earthlink.net), October 16, 2000.


Nope. Not in the budget to travel halfway across the country to socialize with people I didn't socialize with in high school.

However, I'm gladly experiencing a vicarious reunion-buzz from Kymm; I was at Interlochen for the summer seasons, 1979-1981, and the past few entries have been fantastic for bringing back memories of some of the most terrific summers of my life. Thanks, Kymm!

-- Colin (ethilrist@prodigy.net), October 16, 2000.


I passed on my ten-year like a plate full of finely aged spam.

I would like to attend my ten year _college_ reunion, at which I would expect to find a few people with whom I'd have the wherewithal to be civil. That'll occur in four years. Those years, from the community college through to the final school, Willamette University, were truly my formative years. They were the time I became who I am. And I'll always want to remember them. Hell, I'd like to relive them, or most at any rate.

Jason

-- Jason Packer (jpacker@us.ibm.com), October 16, 2000.


i went to my 10th reunion. i was 8 months pregnant, which made an interesting conversation starter, especially since my husband didn't come with me.

i missed my 20th this past spring. i don't feel like i missed to much actually...

-- nicole (nicolemrw@go.com), October 16, 2000.


Well, I went to my high school reunion, as Kymm has so kindly and superbly documented. I was quite nerve-wracked (but also excited) about returning because I was an unpretty mess when I was at Interlochen and I was a little embarrassed.

I contemplated wearing a sticker on my forehead that announced "I am no longer a tortured adolescent!" but I sucked it up and ventured forth without a disclaimer.

For me visiting the PLACE was as important as seeing the people. I hadn't seen the campus in almost twenty years and I take great comfort in knowing that so much of it is the same.

Being able to go back as a happy adult was really a great gift.

I can't believe I missed Mr. Holland! -

-- Andi Ackerman (zanmarmom@mindspring.com), October 16, 2000.


I wasn't at the reunion you wrote about, I graduated from IAA in 84 (a four-year "lifer"). However, I did go to my 10th and plan to get to my 20th. Interlochen was an amazing place and every minute of my 10th reunion was wonderful. I can't wait to go back, and bring my son, who is now almost three years old. Reading about your reunion brought back so many wonderful memories -- of Grunow Theatre (my theatre, too), of improptu improv sessions, of late night "deep" conversations in front of the fireplace in the dorm, and walking outside the Whippy Dip in a light snow with those great green light fixtures that point the light into the sky. On a totally black night, you'd have this triangle of brilliant light with snow swirling down -- so beautiful. Even if we called it the "bubble," Interlochen stays with you over the years. Thanks for the memories by association, Kymm!

-- Kathryn A. L. Lambert (kathrynlambert@earthlink.net), July 09, 2001.


I haven't been to any reunions yet, as I only finished school a year ago. But High school was the most amazing experience I have ever had- I went to a small and young school, and in our final year there were only 70 kids in our grade, which is small compared to most. I had know all of these people since kindergarten, and there is nothing compared to going through a challenging period in your life with people you have known forever. It was wonderful. However, since school finished, I have noticed that we have lost this bond, due to the dividing paths that we have all taken. Perhaps it is inevitable that we would never see eachother again, but I hope that we can reconnect the bond at our reunions, if only for a few hours. :)

-- Grant Leis (thelastgoony@hotmail.com), January 15, 2002.

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