Timely topic—I am deciding whether to attend my HS reunion. I went to the ten and twenty year, we did not have a thirty, and Covid stopped a planned forty.
I was and am a big nerd. I did well in school and tested well. I was curious and interested in all kinds of topics, mostly science and politics related. That made me weird in my small, red neck town. Girls didn’t do those things. I was often the only girl in a class or activity. Yet, I was undeterred, completely unself-conscious. In retrospect, I think I watched too many After School Specials and took their message to heart too much. I used to write angry letters to the editor of the local paper and not tell my folks, who would find out when they opened the paper in the morning. What a weird kid!
However, I was also blond and buxom and yes, on dance team and a cheerleader. I learned early the power of those traits and also the risks of possessing them. As bold as I was about my opinions, I was self conscious about my looks and awkward around other girls. Boys were easier to understand. Never popular, not sure I was even popular adjacent because I was so different, but I did go to proms and dances. I dropped out of cheer/dance my senior year and focused on nerdy pursuits. I was so happy to find girls like me when I went away to college.