The Reverse Snowball

In 6th grade, our gifted class decided to put out a magazine for our grade. Whether it was the Fall semester's magazine or the Spring semester's, it always had the same content to me: top ten lists, shallow interviews with teachers, word puzzles, horoscopes. We called it "Stuff."

Now, the people in those classes have accomplished some great things. They are nurses, PhD students, marketers/publicists, chefs, engineers, photographers, husbands and wives. So why didn't we notice that what we were printing and distributing wasn't even tripe. It was imitation tripe. It was what we thought everyone wanted to read.

I admit to buying Tiger Beat for the Hanson posters, and listening to the Q102 top ten songs of the day before bed. I remember trying to read thick books that I didn't have the discipline to fully uncover. We had shop and home economics classes, where we learned to saw wood and make pillows.

Maybe it was just me, but my world seemed so small back then. The only goal was to get out of the small town we were in, but no one knew how. No one told us that as we continue on with our lives, as the outside world gets bigger, and our options in life get smaller. Let me explain the "Reverse Snowball"...

In 6th grade, we made decisions that effected what classes and activities we took in high school. The "required electives" (i.e art, computers, music, etc.) became something we did because we wanted to. If we didn't want to take the highest possible math class offered, we didn't have to. AP classes, varsity sports, drama, volunteering. To have a part-time job or to not? Many options in a closed, nurturing environment, surrounded by people who want us to succeed. Big snowball of possibility.

Those decisions and abilities honed in high school carry us onto college, where we have to pick one or maybe two things to major in. Ninety percent of the college catalog was useless to you, because you pretty much already knew what you're good at and chosen a major before stepping foot on campus. We trim down our realm of possibilities from the beginning, and if one is a responsible student, you'd have about one and half years to change your mind or you're stuck. Pressure (parental, financial or otherwise) will tell you that four years of undergrad is expected, five years is pushing it, and six years is being a slacker. By the time we graduate with what we want, or what we think we want, we've cornholed ourselves into a profession that, let's face it, will determine our early to late 20's. Little snowball.

Sixth grade in Mt. Holly, NJ was a long time ago. I didn't know anything about marketing, but I was good in math, and literature, and every other subject I studied. I had a foundation to go in any direction I wanted. How great would it be to feel that way again?

Our expectations that young weren't that high. Keeping up with gossip, being valedictorian, and staying out of Detention were my goals. Maybe that's why we didn't have much to write about.

Imagine what we could write about now, now that we no longer have an audience...