Letter to the Weird Kids

Dear Weird Kids,

Growing up we're all convinced high school is the apex of our social standing, four years that seem like everything. Those four years are something so many share so it universally amplifies the pressure of owning your high school career. That period of time is romanticized in every set of entertainment media possible, so how could it not be of the utmost importance?

The ages of 13-18 are an awkward one for everyone, but there are those that already have it sorted out and run the school grounds. While you're trying to figure yourself out it feels even tougher to not be one of those that are put together, the 'weird kids.' We are not the jocks or the A-Listers and it looks so glamorous and you feel like a loser for being on the outside looking it. And Lord knows kids don't make it easy for those outside of the top cliques.

It isn't for lack of trying to climb the social ladder. I bleached my hair, and had no idea how to take care of it, so hello yellow hair that got me called mustard head. This was all inspired by the jocks with frosted tips. Abercrombie & Fitch, Aeropostal, PacSun, American Eagle, the armor of the famous ones, who didn't want those clothes? Puka Shell necklaces, which I could never fit in to and snapped around my neck, those dumb white stone necklaces and bracelets, I bought those. Hell, I got crap from my own friends for getting anklets of both because I thought they made me look cool.

Heaven forbid you aren't a fit kid either. All through middle school I was a butterball, and thank goodness for a growth spurt between freshman and sophomore year so I could even out. The top of the social food chain were the attractive ones and not looking like them, not being them made you feel lesser and you didn't let yourself forget it. Not being one of them comes with a certain level of self-loathing feeding that little voice in the back of your mind. Oh boy, do you become very familiar with the voice in the back of your head.

I liked Yugi-Oh and Pokemon, my friends and I talked about video games openly, all things that weren't the cool things to be in. You know what the truth of the matter is though? Nerd culture inevitably becomes popular culture. Emo sheek (skinny jeans, tats, piercings), gaming, style, music, attitude eventually wins out. No matter what it is it'll come around, just seemingly not at a time when it seems socially so much more important.

Wear the freak flag proud weird kids, because four years is just a blip in the snapshot of a lifetime. The funniest kids, the ones with the best stories are those ones that were the social outcasts. More important, the lesson we all learn much earlier is seems to own you and be who you wanna be. It may not even come right away, I didn't start painting my nails again or get my lip finally pierced until the last four years ironically enough, but it comes. More importantly, you become friends with all kinds of people and I think makes us the ones open to everyone around us. We're the interesting ones and that'll never change.

Love,

the Gamer, Band Nerd, who wishes he owned even more weirdness in the past