Documenting My Adolescence (Issue #60)
Revisiting my life as a teenage director/actor/writer/editor extraordinaire!!!
Hi friends!
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I’m ~obsessed~ with this trend on TikTok. Set to a slow cover of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy,” the trend features people sharing old videos and posts they made in attempts to impress their crushes. Personally, this one and this one are two of my favorites. I love these videos because they remind me of my adolescence – a time when I was clumsily trying to find myself and my place in the world. The trend is also very of my generation, a group of kids posting on the internet before we realized that what we posted was forever.
I secretly got a Facebook account at 13 under the pseudonym Cece Stayer. This was back in the day when Farmville was king, and every status update started with “Cece Stayer is…”. As a little theater and choir kid, the internet also provided me a place to showcase my creative pursuits. Hangouts with my friends were like media boot camps, where we’d write songs, develop original scripts, and record it all on point and shoots, and later, my iPod touch.
Music videos, though, were my bread and butter. My friend and I once made an entire stop-motion interpretation of “Baby” by Justin Bieber. It was a big undertaking that required taking hundreds of Photo Booth pictures on her family’s iMac before editing them to the music. And, of course, we used a heavy dose of props to really tie everything together. Another time, we made a music video called “So What? (cow verzin).” In it, I dressed up in a cow costume and danced to our custom parody of Pink’s hit song.
By high school, we were writing our own full-length original songs. And let me tell you, “The Stalker Song” did numbers on Facebook (which by 2011 standards meant 6 likes and 5 comments, lmao). My friend played guitar, and we even wrote + sang harmonies for the chorus!
Here are the complete and official lyrics, published for the first time ever!!
[VERSE 1]
I’m peering through your window and you don’t know I’m there
I’ve got my eyes on you
You look so cute when you’re sleeping in your room
Still peering through the window
I’m climbing through your window and you don’t hear a sound
I’m cold and I want a snuggle
[CHORUS]
I’ve got a lock of your hair
It’s creepy but I don’t really care
I have a shrine for you
I keep records of the things you do
[VERSE 1]
I see you and I can’t help but sniff your hair
Mmmm that smells good
I look through the trash and find a your piece of chewed-up gum
but then I drop it because that’s kind of nasty
I have a voodoo doll that I made of your girlfriend
I like to stick pins in her eyes
[CHORUS]
I’ve got a lock of your hair
it’s creepy but I don’t really care
I have a shrine for you
I keep records of the things you do
[OUTRO]
oooooooo
I’m watching you
oooooooo
I’m in your bushes
oooooooo
I’m a stalker
The song was very much a parody, but my friend and I staged a bonus joke before and after the video to boost engagement. Before we began, I declared that my friend had written the song based on a boy she really liked at her church. When we finished, I reminded the audience the song was truthful, as my friend yelled at me and we pretended to struggle over the camera before it abruptly turned off. We were both in on the joke, but it was convincing enough that people were in the comments guessing about who my friend was crushing on. 😂
This same friend and I later developed an elaborate fictional reality TV show, which followed the constructed marriage and subsequent divorce of two high schoolers. To build anticipation for the show, I posted teaser trailers on Facebook and regularly had friends asking me when the next episode would drop. I hosted each episode, and even directed mock commercials (we endorsed Tampax, ASPCA, and more!). At the peak of the season, we staged a fake fight between two main characters and actually got yelled at by a teacher who came out to the hallway and thought a real fight had broken out. I recorded everything on my iPod touch, edited it together in iMovie, and dutifully uploaded each episode to Facebook.
There’s magic in having an underdeveloped brain, constant access to your friends, endless creativity, and just enough free time to bring all your ideas to life.
So, in the spirit of these wonderful mems, this week’s theme is revisiting adolescence – the ways we document, look back, and reflect on this key era in our lives!
A round-up of things to watch, read, and listen to as you head into the weekend.
Amazon Prime: Class of '07
This new Australian show, available on Amazon Prime, looks like such a fun watch. The show follows a group of women at their 10-year high school reunion when a tidal wave hits, forcing them to survive on the island tip of their high school campus. The trailer looks funny, heartfelt, and wonderfully chaotic. If you've seen it already, let me know what you think!!
Netflix: The Program: Cons, Cults, and Kidnapping
This documentary follows Katherine Kubler, whose time in disciplinary school as a teen still haunts her. In an attempt to untangle her own experience, she revisits the program to uncover the abuse and corruption of the troubled teen industry. Kubler narrates throughout, giving the documentary a really personal and self-made style. It’s definitely a difficult watch, but one I highly recommend!
Substack: Caitlin Clark's Not-So-Surprising Childhood in
byI became a basketball and Caitlin Clark fan this year, and this piece is a great examination of why Caitlin is so fun to watch.
puts Caitlin’s background in conversation with mounting research showing that a more diverse range of activities outside of sports actually increases positive outcomes for athletes.
Playlists to add to your music library.
This week, the playlist title says it all!
Things to try + share in the group chat.
This kid has big dreams, and I loved her confidence and determination!!
This viral video saga started with a young woman playing a voicemail her sister received the day before an exam 4 years ago. The woman leaving the voicemail left a really encouraging and uplifting message, and it’s truly the sweetest listen! But that’s not even the best part! Through the power of the internet, people found the voicemail lady, and her reaction to her newfound virality is the best. 💖
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In case you missed it, my bonus P.S. issues are now monthly and will feature stories, articles, podcasts, products, and other bits to round out the previous month. This month, I shared the juicy drama that made my move an absolute headache, as well as my June 2024 favorites! Check it out here!
Have a great weekend!
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