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In with the Out Crowd: Contrarians, Alone and Together
- oblib 8y agoThis is a great read. I was reminded of moving to Hollywood, CA from Rockford, Il, in the early 1970s. My first day of Jr. High school there the kids there were asking me if I was a "Surfer, Biker, Skater, BMX'r, Motocrosser, Freak" ect. I had never been or done any of those things growing up in Rockford so I had to answer "No" to all of them. They were shocked when they heard that and told me "You have choose one of them". When I told them "No, I don't" it just confounded them. Finally, one girl spoke up and said, "If you're not any of those then you're a GDI". I asked what they did and she said "they're God damned individuals". That made me laugh and I told them they could call me that if they wanted to but it struck me that they were so devoted to their cliques and their rivalries between them. Even back then I wondered what they'd be doing when they grew up. Would the "skaters" still be riding their skateboards to work? Would they still be racing their BMX bikes in their 20s and 30s? Since then I've observed that this is more of an large urban thing. Kids and adults in smaller cities and rural areas tend to be more broad in the activities they participate in and don't tend as much to make those a "lifestyle" per se.
- mathattack 8y agoThat must have been a shocking move. I think the tribes in small schools (150 students or less) are small enough to fit all the students. One the class size outgrows Dunbar’s Number (150) people specialize.
- oblib 8y agoYeah, it was shocking in ways. I managed to navigate it pretty well though. I laughed and made them laugh a lot.