"Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic."
Today's question on the YA Highway Road Trip is:
"It's almost prom season, and since we love to read and write about teenagers, we want to hear your prom stories!"
I have this theory that whether or not your high school cohort utilized the article in referring to this dance says a lot about the importance placed on it. If the dance we're talking about was referred to as "prom," it was a big deal. If you called it "the prom," it was not as major an event, as compared to the article-less. Anyone carry to weigh in?
As for my personal prom stories: I don't know that I have any that are fit for public consumption. My prom experiences were a mixture of illicit behavior and boredom, so they're probably best kept to myself.
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It was the first time I got to pick out a fairly expensive garment on my own, and it felt like a test. What I chose would mean something about who I was. I had to confront my feelings about my appearance and how weirded out I was by the stereotypical Pretty Prom Princess role that even Sassy (at right) assumed I wanted to play.
Now, I've never been accused of under-thinking things, so my reaction to picking out a dress was probably a little over the top. But if you can't be dramatic when you're a teenager, when can you be?
My senior prom picture (already shared here) is at left. If I could tell the girl in that picture one thing, it would be to go ahead and do all the things she was afraid of or thought she shouldn't. In the fifteen or so years since my first prom, the vast majority of things that I regret are the ones I didn't do.
Picking a dress can be like making a statement but sometimes I wonder, if we shouldn´t worry about the statement and just have fun with it :D (yes I am an overthinker as well :D) and by the way, you got me totally intrigued with your stories you don´t want to share on the blog (you got my email address...)
ReplyDeleteOh, I totally agree! I think maybe the having fun with it is something you get better at as you get older? But some people are able to not take things seriously while they're teenagers, lucky souls.
DeleteAbout the stories--I may take you up on that! They're nothing really exciting; just your run of the mill teenage rule breaking ;)
The dress was such a big deal. I called it 'The Prom,' with the ambivalence described above, and yet--the dress was still a big deal to me. Both years I went, it was pretty much the only thing I took super-seriously, lol.
ReplyDeleteI know, me too! It's funny how we can be so ambivalent about an event and yet so fixated on getting the dress "right."
DeleteI never really noticed if it was called Prom or The Prom. Huh I'll have to think about this some more later. Yes the dresses are hard and when you A) never wear a dress, and B) still can't believe proms cost that much, it is serious.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure why I noticed the difference. It happened in high school, that's all I remember. I never wore dresses either! But since they're the default female dressy clothes, it had to be a dress. It is a little crazy to spend that much on one night, just like with a wedding. But it's tradition (or something)!
DeleteProm or the prom? Interesting. I would think "The Prom" would be more important than prom not the other way around. The dress mattered a lot to me, too. It's funny how much my style changed from junior to senior year. Thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteI wish I could think of other examples where the use of an article says something about the way people think about what they're speaking about, but I'm drawing a blank.
DeleteMy style really didn't change at all, I don't think. But somehow the junior year pictures got misplaced along the way! It is funny how much the dress matters.