Essays, Interviews, Observations, Pop Culture, Stories, and other Dodginess

Posts by Liffey

Lost in The High School Cafeteria (Part Two)

Posted on February 23, 2013

Redeye, which I took to calling him (not to his face), didn’t  follow up on his threat. Thus, I lived to endure the few months of first semester lunch. Redeye and his band of Lager louts accepted me, as if that was a compliment. You see, if there was one talent that got me through high school, it was that I got along with everybody – jocks, geeks, gays, stoners, princesses, and detention room criminals. As far as my new lunch room compatriots,  yes they were thugs, but lazy thugs. Maybe it was the early lunch hour. Nobody had energy. A sad excuse for a food fight ended as soon as it started. “I’m just too tired” one of Redeye’s gang said. The only time…

Lost in The High School Cafeteria (Part One)

Posted on February 18, 2013

After watching The Perks of Being A Wallflower and the obligatory high school lunch room scenes, I got to thinking about my own school cafeteria. I don’t think I’ve ever had a lunch room experience quite like any I’ve seen in the movies. Even if we tried to re-create something it never came out quite right. I certainly never had lunch outside like those featured in most of the movies – at least the ones taking place in California. And lockers outside? Can you imagine that in the UK or Chicago? My high school lunch room resembled a prison cafeteria (think Oz). I was sentenced to it for four years. Freshman year, I’d just arrived from a small Catholic school that I’d attended for…

The Perks of Knowing a Bowie Song

Posted on February 16, 2013

Despite Emma Watson’s ungodly short hair, I was rather enjoying the newly-released (to the Web) movie The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Then came the scene where the film’s trio is riding in pick-up truck through a tunnel after a party. On the radio came what Sam (Emma Watson) called “the perfect tunnel” song where she stands in the bed of the pick-up with the tune blaring while what little hair she has blows in the wind. Sam had an “omg” moment when the song came on. She didn’t know it. She asked her step-brother, Patrick, and he didn’t know it. She asked Charlie, the film’s protagonist,  who said “I never heard this before.” The song was “Heroes” by David Bowie. And I refuse to…