Your Fall 1981 Fredonia Hillbillies JV cheerleading squad. I have not reviewed permission from anyone to post this. Too bad. And yes, extremely cringe to be called the Hillbillies. Still haven’t changed the name.

I’m a little late with this post but August always makes me think of back-to-school shopping. Approximately nineteen years of education, and then about thirty one years in the classroom makes it hard to shake old patterns. The thing I probably loved the most about being in education was back to school shopping. I know, I should have said working with kids, right? Oh, well.

Back to school shopping was always an all day adventure whenI was a kid. We’d leave for the mall early in the morning, spend the day shopping, get lunch, get treats, shop some more, and stop for ice cream on the way home. We lived about an hour in either direction, north or south, from a mall, so shopping was an event. I loved back-to-school shopping. I basically got a whole new wardrobe every year. At the time, and for many decades after, I was unaware that excessive shopping was an unhealthy coping mechanism and way of dealing with, well, I guess life and stuff. I just thought it was what people did. I have learned since I’ve retired that maybe it wasn’t such a good thing. Oh well. I got some cool stuff. New shoes from Kinney or Thom McAnn. Sweaters from The Limited. Remember Outback Red? Yes you do if you are a Gen X gal of a certain age. And The Gap. Remember when The Gap sold Levi’s, and Lee jeans before they started selling their own brand? That’s when The Gap was rad. And how about a Swatch Watch? Benetton, Esprit. Acid washed and overdyed jeans? When my friends and I were a bit older we loved to scavenge the Salvation Army for what we thought were non-conforming outfits- things no one would find at a mall. If you lived here on the edge of Lake Erie, you also shopped at Syms or Valu City for last season’s designer clothes that probably came from chichi department stores and didn’t sell. Finding a good deal on a designer brand was a thrill.

I have also always loved school supplies. The smell of Crayola crayons, sharpened Ticonderoga pencils, a binder or folder. I get excited about a new package of loose leaf paper to this day, lol. And pens! Love a good supply of various kinds of pens. The more colors the better.

Exactly forty five years ago I was so freaking excited to be going back to school as a cheerleader. Bette Davis Eyes, Jesse’s Girl, Air Supply, Juice Newton and Tom Petty were on the radio. The 80s were just getting started and I thought I was so fucking cool in my saddle shoes and black and orange pleated skirt. I know I’ve referenced this before. At that time it was a big freaking deal to be a cheerleader. I wanted to be like all the upper class girls that I basically had girl crushes on. You know, the girls with clear skin, good hair and beloved by boys. You had to try out. It was like two weeks of practicing and performing in front of the advisors and judges as well as all the other girls vying for a coveted spot. Looking back on it now, what a crock. Why the hell couldn’t everyone who wanted to be on the squad be on the squad? Why did it have to be so fucking exclusive? I guess that’s part of what made it so alluring. From the outside anyway. I ended up hating it. I wanted to be a cheerleader so desperately and then the next year before I could even start the football season as a varsity cheerleader I quit. I never regretted it. I joined the cross-country team instead. And believe me, I was no runner, lol.

Tenth grade was such an awkward year. You weren’t a wide eyed freshman, you had some experience under your belt, but you’re not quite cool yet either. Unless you are friends with upperclassmen. That was the real cachet’-having older friends. That gave you entree’ to parties. And parties were where it was at. Partying was basically a hobby in my little town. You went to school, participated in clubs or a sport. Back then sports weren’t the BEHEMOTH they have become now. No travel teams. Only a few girls’ sports. At least at the school I attended. You played localized sports as a kid, the Rec department soccer, or Little League or Babe Ruth baseball, Chadakoin football, but nothing like the sports-industrial complex that exists today. So school, a club or two, maybe a sport, and partying. And when you were sixteen or seventeen you might have a job at Burger King or McDonalds or Tops. And that got you beer money. I had a friend who worked at a gas station just long enough to earn enough money to buy a waterbed! LOL. But in this small town, that was it. Partying was a major part of the teen experience here in Bubbledonia. I was not into sports, except for the cross-country thing and that was only really for the boys. Plus, I had major hang-ups about my hair and playing sports messes with your hair, so no-go for me. I hated gym class and swim class cuz of the whole messing up the hair thing.

The cheerleading thing. If you were in any way insecure or anxious, this was painful. Looking back on it now it was so freaking patriarchically sexist. Each cheerleader had the name of one or two of the football players for the sound off- the cheer where you announced the names of the players on the team. And you were supposed to ask a player to wear their jersey to school on Fridays. And you had to carry around a bag of change and a box of donuts from Mister Donut to sell on Fridays. For popular, secure cheerleaders this was probably fun. You got rid of your donuts quickly. For those of us who were not, it sucked.

But being a Gen X girl, I just put up with this stuff. When I look back, and compare my teen experiences to the teen existence today I am shocked and amazed at what we dealt with and put up with that today’s kiddos would never. And we never talked about it. We didn’t complain about our circumstances. They just were what they were. We put on our invisible coats of armor, dealt with bullshit and moved along. Good or bad? I don’t know but I suppose it’s one of the reasons we were just able to persevere and didn’t take things too personally.

Anyway….enough rambling. Wishing everyone who has to go back to school a fabulous year. Only two and a half months until Thanksgiving vacation!