A day ago I left a note for my wife:
Our son is graduating. How OLD are we??? FML
I know one thing for certain: She had to show the note to our 14-year-old daughter and ask her what FML means.
People who know me will tell you I never cuss, which is true. I can sure sling shit when I write, though. I guess I'm, like, living proof that thwarts the knee-jerkism that if you read those words, you'll end up saying them.
I hate people with jerky knees.
So, last night, our sixteen-year-old son graduated. I got to watch the ceremony from up on the stage, where all the graduates came to receive their diplomas.
I know thousands of people, but in that graduating class of 2011 I think there are some of the best people I've ever gotten to know. Despite all the crap we've done to them with standardized tests, stripping bare their curricular choices, de-emphasizing creativity and critical thinking in favor of conformist/follow-along mathandsciencemathandsciencemathandscience, and imposing on them for the most essential decade of their young development a gospel in which the rest of the world is our enemy, to be feared, walled-out, fought against... despite all that, these kids have stayed remarkably cool in ways I could never have imagined my generation being able to do.
Lots of these kids were writers that were part of my Young Writers Group. A lot of people out there already know how talented these writers are, and, if you're a reader, I can promise you'll be hearing from some of them in the future. Just wait.
During the ceremony, some kids tweeted with their cellphones. They do that. I tweeted back.
And, at the end, all 500-plus of these kids broke out in a choreographed flash mob dance. Unbelievable.
2 comments:
The reason you know all these idioms of the youth is that you actually get to hang out with them, not because you're immature (I think).
The one cool thing about being a teen parent is that when my youngest graduates from high school, I'll only be 40. Which is the new 20. Or it will be then, because I'll make it.
congrats on your son graduating early, that's awesome! I just graduated last week! I have to agree that 2011 is an amazing class, that flash mob dance must have been pretty cool :)
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