I didn’t like my friend Jennifer much. I didn’t like that she did all the talking in a phone conversation, and I didn’t like that she was my best friend Glenda’s “other” best friend. I always felt like I was in some kind of tug of war with her, always trying for a bigger piece of the conversation pie, always trying for a bigger piece of Glenda’s attention. Little did I know that I would ever get burned in such…
My pre-school teacher announced to the entire class that she liked my drawings because they told a story. To be honest, I think that had more to do with how talkative I was and less to do with the etchings themselves. I’d stand at her desk, point at my mysteriously enigmatic scribbles, and feed her some gourmet cockamamy bologne sandwiches, with lemonade, about how this diamond family were on their way home from the ever so exciting diamond fair, et…
I used to have terrible skin. Terrible enough to kill my teenage self-esteem. Terrible enough to warrant trips to the dermatologist. I tried all of the basic treatments, everything they offered over the counter and maybe half the things made available to doctors. I watched my diet and washed my face regularly. I used hypoallergenic products, and I was moderate with the make-up and the cover-up creams. Nothing worked. I got everything from blackheads to whiteheads, from big red painful…
I admit it. I kept a sketch diary that chronicled my lame adventures during my high school years. They were nothing special, just quickly doodled comic strips full of inside you-had-to-be-there jokes. For instance, look at the third page—that bubble with the cotton swab after Annalisa called me a dweeb? Yes, I know that doesn’t make sense, but I honestly thought it was funny back then; every time I heard the word “dweeb,” I would think of Q-tip cotton swabs,…
Griff’s recent post about theft of his artwork made me think of the one and only time I ever took an art class. It was back in the 7th grade, and it was a quarter-long course, part of what was then called the wheel program… in which you were made to take four electives you would have otherwise never chosen for yourself. I was by that time already doodling little toons on every available blank piece of paper, a habit…