who were you at 17?

[Sparrow]

in honor of this momentous year, i’m curious what y’all’s’ coming of ages were like. here’s my experience as a rural Appalachian.

i was 17 in 2002. the War on Terror was in hot debate; the lie of WMDs. i tried out and made the school’s dance team bc i felt the marching band uniforms were ugly. as a newly deflowered virgin i was feeling sexy.

i was slow to pick up choreography, Movement isn’t really my mode of thinking, but i had a real knack for behind the scenes production stuff. i remember very vividly a few of us launching a basketball season dance team. i went to Coach with what i felt was the right jam. Higher Ground performed by the Red Hot Chili Peppers wasn’t a popular choice among my teammates; it was the Right choice and Coach trusted me. it fucking ruled. that’s the moment i fell in love with the Stage.

swung straight A’s in all my gifted classes. had a few solos in honor band #humblebrag #flautist #basicallyLizzo never bullied.

on the weekends i was smoking meth. my boyfriend’s mom died of heart failure leaving him homeless. she was the first dead body i ever seen. i learned a lot that year about deep poverty, slipping through the cracks, and the luxury of indoor plumbing and access to hot water and food. if you feel safe when you sleep you’re lucky.

here’s a popular song i enjoyed at the time and my junior prom picture. he was only able to rent a tux and get us breadsticks at Pizza Hut, but i’m pretty sure his Mom was alive to see it.

[Sparrow]

to be clear, i did not win Prom Queen. i wore my own motherfucking tiara. aaaaaand it was also April 20th that year and EVERYBODY was stoned.

[Apia resurrected]

- I was in school and living with my parents
- I know I had sex for the first time at 17
- with my boyfriend I had met at school. I liked him, i don’t think I was in love with him. It was a friendship like relationship. We were together for 5 months I think.

[Apia resurrected]

[IMG][/IMG]


Sorry that the pic looks so bad. I swear it’s not from the 60 ties.
That’s me and my friends in Spain, in the cheapest hotel possible.

[Sparrow]

look at this confident critter! note the ultra low rise jean as was custom at the time; studded belt bc obviously i was Hard; middle part, hair down my back. Gen Z can only try to be this Y2K bitch. they don’t even know about my teenage thong game. thong th thong thong thong. #sweetreference



did my dance team have a routine for this throwback? we sure did. it involved knee pads and sliding across the basketball court pussy first.



fun fact: i lost my virginity to the DefTones album White Pony.

[Sparrow]

this was my Madonna

[Sparrow]

17 was also the age i was first sexually assaulted.

i met a Marine online. what can i say, it was the Wild West of the internet era. my friend Ashley and i pulled the classic ‘i’m staying over at so-and-so’s house’ weekend switcheroo on our parents and my boyfriend. what we actually did was drive up to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina to meet this guy and his friend; one of us for each of them. they took us to another one of their buddy’s sparsely furnished off base apartment. we watched Full Metal Jacket and i got drunk for the first time on this awful blue stuff called Hypnotiq.

the last thing i remember was being led into the kitchen by the friend i didn’t know. he picked me up, put me on the counter, kissed me.

i woke up the next morning naked on a bare mattress in the living room. there was a large hole in the drywall where apparently this guy threw my friend into when she ran in to see why i was screaming. she almost stranded me there. she was mad i slept with the guy she was there for. i may have also thrown up…everywhere.

[Sparrow]

the fucked up part of this comes later

(golly, what, Bird?!)

yeah.

the guy who assaulted me asks me to a ball. you heard right. the annual Marine birthday ball. and i went. i consented to the sex, but he hastily took a lot of Polaroids beforehand. told me a bunch of war stories. and that he was on track for a dishonorable discharge. crazy shit. sometimes i’m shocked i wasn’t murdered, like, a bunch of times.