A glimpse of an unpleasant part of my childhood just surfaced in a school alums group on the Internet. Only 33 seconds long, it evokes my whole junior high experience. If anything, it’s a little longer than it needs to be.
This must have been seventh grade—or eighth, at the latest. It’s not long after I had to beat up Jim D. in front of the whole school to earn the right to be outside with some of these boys, rather than hiding from them, in the cafeteria.
Even so, I’m (in opening frames with the blond hair and yellow shirt) standing with my back against the wall. The way I remember feeling then, I’m surprised to see myself at all.
This film should be titled, Most of the Boys Wistfully Watching a Few of the Boys, Who Are Getting More Attention Than They Deserve and Wondering How They Will Ever Get Any Attention Themselves (While the Girls Are Doing Whatever the Girls Are Doing, Off to the Side).
And it’s pretty much all a boy remembers of middle school. This boy, anyway.
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