Writing Aeropostal-what? [This is an essay thing. Or something.]

[Sara]

[SIZE=1][b]I wrote this later last night. It's been proofed since then, so hopefully the more glaring errors you see have been taken care of in the final copy. I don't know how satisfied I am with it; lots of it seems rather awkward writing..and I think I overdid it a tad on the italics. :toothy: Oh well.[/b]

The teenagers I know consider themselves rather elite. [I]We?re not like everyone else; we don?t conform to their standards[/I], is a common sentiment. At one point in time, this might have been enough to claim one?s uniqueness. Now, at least for me, it isn?t.

Who wants to be like ?everyone else?? No one I know. Maybe mine is an isolated situation, but I doubt it. There are teens across the country with the vague idea that being ?normal? or ?popular? is something to be shunned. This refrain ends up with us ?enlightened? ones exhibiting the same sort of prejudice we abhor in others, but after all, ours is justified, is it not? After all, we don?t conform to anyone else?s standards. Only [I]popular[/I] people do that.

Do we wear the latest trends? Of course not. Do we go tanning three times a week? Puh-lease. We mock Aéropostale, attempting to pronounce it in the most ridiculous ways possible, and refer to American Eagle?s AE as ?the mark of the Devil.? We abhor organized sports, refuse to participate in Pep Rallies, and scribble out letters in ?School Spirit,? leaving our flyers adorned with ?School Sp it.? Ditzes are automatically classified as [I]cheerleaders[/I], despite the fact many of us were cheerleaders in grade school. [I]Hush, don?t tell anyone. [/I] We loathe our school, gossiping among ourselves about teachers and students, and never admitting we?d rather be here than a public school. We ever had a choice; we had to come here. At least, that?s what we say.

We call ourselves the Outcasts, and band together at lunch. There?s strength in numbers, and besides, we don?t want any other people sitting by us. We rank our clan as the lowest rung on the social ladder; there are others below us, the ones we have rejected, but we don?t talk about them. If you get kicked out of our group, boy?you [I]must[/I] be a loser.

[I]We don?t conform, [/I] that?s our anthem. That?s what makes us better. [I]We are ourselves. [/I] But are we?

Well, no. If I showed up tomorrow wearing an Abercrombie shirt, the school would have a collective heart attack, and my friends would rib me to death. I wore a Christian parody last year: Abreadcrumb and Fish [A bread crumb and fish, referencing one of Jesus? miracles], and I could hear the conversation died down as I walked through the halls. [I]Did you see Sara Martin? She?s wearing an Abercrombie shirt! I didn?t even know she owned one! [/I] It made me think.

Why don?t I wear brand names? Part of it is my dad. He says he ?refuses to be a walking billboard,? and I generally agree with that sentiment. I?d also feel ridiculous walking down the hall wearing a shirt that didn?t?well, that didn?t fit me. I?ve gone shopping at Target and Kmart most of my life, and my general style has evolved from years of mixing and matching their clothes. Why bother spending extra money for clothes I don?t even like? I don?t.

This is where the problem creeps in. We don?t wear ?popular? clothes because we don?t like them. Okay, that makes sense. But too often, it ends up switching around a little bit. We don?t like ?popular? clothes because other people like popular clothes. What? How does that work?

We pride ourselves on being unique. [I]We have a sense of style, and everyone else?s clothes are just so far below our taste. [/I] That?s a flat-out lie. In general, we don?t mind the clothes themselves. It?s the people inside them that have suddenly made them taboo. [I] If I wear that, I?ll have the same outfit as [/I]*shudder* [I]Ashley Smith.[/I]

We?re so wrapped up in not acting like the masses that we lose the one thing we pride ourselves in. If I like a shirt, I should wear it?not fret about how many others have the exact same item. If what I?ve been telling myself for five years is true, it doesn?t matter if anyone else has a component of my outfit: I am my own person, and I can where whatever the heck I want and still be me. That?s the premise we?ve been working with from Day One, but it?s become so corrupted that we don?t even realize it anymore.

If our way of not conforming is simply to go against anything we see more than 15% of the student body doing, we?re not [I]being ourselves[/I]. All our energy has become focused on [I]not being everyone else. [/I]

?And if we?re not ourselves, who are we?

[B]Anyway....that's it. Not that great, but I could polish it some time.. Let me know if you think it's worth the bother. :toothy:[/B]
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[Mnemolth]

I sent my comments on an attached Word doc file to your cynic email address..:)

[Mitch]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Sara [/i]
[SIZE=1]We [strike]ever[/strike] [u][b]never?[/u][/b] had a choice; we had to come here. At least, that?s what we say.

I am my own person, and I can [strike]where[/strike] [b][u]wear[/u][/b] whatever the heck I want and still be me. That?s the premise we?ve been working with from Day One, but it?s become so corrupted that we don?t even realize it anymore.

[/SIZE] [/QUOTE]

[color=red] Up ahead I posted the two errors I noticed and fixed them to as closely as I could guess you may have wanted them.

Now, that was actually not too bad. But I think you could've gone deeper into what you were saying, though. But otherwise, that's just a major gripe, because this was actually pretty good.

So, yes, I do believe you should polish it more. Very good job, though.[/color]

[Sara]

[size=1]Yes, I got rid of those. The version you see was prior to any proofing, heh.

I do mean to go..."deeper into it," like you said... I just had to pound something out last night. It sort of...died, towards the end. I ran out of energy..[/size]