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Sabrina Heise

Editorial Assistant

True confessions: * Not as politically aware as I should be. * I bite my nails. * I didn't love the Sex and the City movie. * I am actually, really addicted to sugar and should probably be in a 12-step program. * By addicted, I mean, I lash out at people and get grumpy when I haven't had my sug...

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Back to School

...it's that time again...

I just saw a back-to-school commercial yesterday and it brought several thoughts to mind. First of all, school’s starting already? Being a grown up and not having a summer vacation really makes time fly. When I was in school, summer vacation felt at first exhilarating, but then, into late July, it started to drag. There are only so many times you can ride your bike to the pool or play flashlight tag before it gets tedious. You kind of force yourself to have fun because your parent keep reminding you that “that’s what this time is for--when school starts, you’ll have to buckle down” as they trudge off to work.

Right in the midst of the late summer boredom, the back-to-school shopping ads would start filling the pages of the summer paper and I would FINALLY have something to do.

I can still remember the thrill of choosing a new backpack and filling it with unbent binders, fresh notebooks with coils intact and pencil cases full of unsharpened pencils and multi-colored pens. I mentioned in this post about my other dorky habit of studying class lists.

But the greatest thing about back-to-school season is the “first day of school” outfit. Even though I would be wearing things from the clearance racks, instead of items from the “new arrival” section of the stores, I would mix and match my new clothes with my favorite old items to achieve the perfect (in my mind) hip, but effortless, look that would perfectly define me to my classmates in whatever grade I was starting. I wish I had some of my first day of school photos to illustrate my bizarre fashion statements:

1st grade: white button-down, black (pleated) pants, red suspenders, bow clipped to the side of my hair, yellow Keds (probably the Kmart version of Keds).

3rd grade: turquoise and black-striped leggings under a black, ruffled skirt with turquoise trim and a black t-shirt. Scrunch socks were probably in there somewhere.

5th grade: Cream bodysuit (yes, you read this correctly) under a patterned vest and cuffed jean shorts.

Then, in 6th grade, I started private school. Horror of horrors. My wide range of colorful fashion choices were reduced to: red, white, or navy polo shirt with navy or khaki shorts or a knee-length, plaid skirt. Or, white oxford shirt with red SWEATER VEST and the above shorts or skirt options. When I got older, the red sweater vest was replaced with a REVERSIBLE vest--navy with gold puttons or plaid with gold buttons.

I learned that, in private school, the excessories are what matter--the school supplies were waaay nicer. The kids wrote with the kinds of pens my teachers graded tests with at my old school. Forget Bic--these kids had Uniball pens that glided across the page as they took notes. Plus, all the 7th graders used dayplanners. I remember trying to negotiate for better school supplies with my dad: $6 for one pen? What the heck do you need a dayplanner for? Your days are all the same--school, home, school, home. What’s to plan?

My personal accessories were carefully chosen so that I might express my individuality: kelly green Converses, weirdly patterned socks, dangly earrings, and so on.

Did anyone else have the back-to-school thrills that I did? A favorite first day of school outfit?