I have been toying with an idea for my blog. Since I am a bit of an attention whore, I love writing about myself, but I also love the idea of incorporating other people into more of an article setting.
I’m the daughter of a newspaper man. He was good at his job, he seemed to know everyone and he’s been quoted in The New York Times (He’s the last paragraph. His name is Robert and it is completely normal for him to have the word ‘Ersatz’ in his vernacular.) He would also probably drop dead and die at my utter lack of editing or attention to grammar on this blog. When he retired he was city editor of one of the large dailies in Salt Lake City and I always thought that one day I would be a reporter. I used to love hanging out in the news room and listening to snatches of conversation going on between the other reporters and editors. I love talking to people, interviewing them and hearing their stories.
So?
I’d like to interview you all.
About what?
PROM.
Everyone has a story regarding prom, even if they never went to one. A friend of mine wrote something that has stuck with me for several years entitled, “Prom is a four letter word: A series of Haiku’s by Karen B.”
I loved that title.
It totally struck a chord with me because I had the most wretched prom. Truly, it was so pathetically heartbreaking. I know people with completely opposite stories, nights so perfect and magical that it STILL brings a smile to their face when they are well into their 30’s and 40’s.
Why does one event when you are 17 stay with you for so long?
It’s something that I would like to explore a bit more.
SO?
I want to do a three-part article series titled: Prom is a four letter word: The good, the bad, and the ugly.
I want to hear your stories about prom.
Your most memorable experiences.
The good, the bad and the ugly.
Do you think prom is the stupidest thing on the planet? A trite, overblown social ritual that should be scourged from the face of the planet? Or do you think prom was magical, necessary and validating?
I also want to hear from people who didn’t attend prom. What did you do instead? Did it end up being ok? Do you regret it?
If you have written previously about prom on your blog, send me a link. If you have read an post on another blog that you find memorable, let me know about it. If you have a great story, leave me a comment (Hopefully, with an interesting hook line to drag me in.) and maybe we can set up an interview. If this inspires you to go and write your own post about prom, let me know about it.
I’m not totally sure how all of this is going to go…It really depends on the responses I get. I know that I can’t use every story in my actual article, and even the things I do use may only be one line out of an entire post, but thanks to Mr. Linky, I can certainly links to people who have contributed or link to individual posts about their own experiences.
Talk to me.
Stumble it!
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bridgy and i have a funny prom story. if she’s down..i’ll share my version of events and she can share hers…
For my senior prom I made my dress out of duck tape. It’s more popular now than it was back then, but everyone at my prom was very impressed. I guess my story has more to do with the bonding that my friend (who helped me make it) and I had before the actual prom, but the prom was great too!
I went to prom both my junior and senior year. Junior year was HORRIBLE. I felt super ugly (dress, hair, shoes – all bad) and my date (a good friend of mine and someone I’d had a crush on for years) had just broken up with his girlfriend and had asked me (I felt then, and now, that it was more to get back at her). They sort of made up before Prom (she lived out of state) and I saw that he’d written on her blog the morning of Prom that “he wished he was going with her and would be thinking of her all night.” So yeah, mine was bad before it even began.
Senior year, though, I had a great dress, great shoes, great hair, etc. I went with a guy I’d recently started dating and we went with my two best friends, who had also recently started dating. The whole night was just perfect.
I had a thought about prom the other day. The kids going to prom this year were infants when I went to prom. This makes me feel old!
As you well know ;) I did a prom post last week:
http://slackermama.com/2008/02/19/forever-young-prom-night-1994/
In my opinion, prom falls somewhere in between. It’s not the end all-be all, but it’s something I felt I wanted to at least experience. For me, it was mostly about having fun with my friends.
I had a HORRIBLE prom.
Shudder. I’ll think about it. Maybe. Email ya. Maybe. It’s just a night of bad memories…
I guess I’m finally going to de-lurk for this, because my senior prom is one of my very favorite memories. Long story short, I wasn’t asked to the dance after expecting (for quite some time) to go. The day before the prom, a friend of a friend found out I wasn’t going. He called me up that night– sorry for the short notice, but did I want to go? I knew from previous conversations that he hated dances, but didn’t want me to spend my senior prom at home, alone, and he worked hard to make it a lovely night. Sprung for a nice dinner, made me feel beautiful, and really went out of his way to make sure I enjoyed myself because he didn’t think it was right for me to miss out.
It was a great date, though nothing magical– not a spectacular story. But what he did was so sweet and decent and good that I will never forget it. We need more people like that.
I’ll post about prom ASAP and send you the link. I have an interesting one…
I can’t say that my proms were either wonderful or horrible, but somewhere in between.
One of the most memorable things is that my mom made all of my dresses. Unfortunately, everything in the ‘junior’s’ department was for the size 00’s and the ‘women’s’ looked like something Bea Arthur would wear.
I think I may even have them in my basement…
I went to 5 proms. Isn’t that ridiculous? I wore a white tuxedo to one of them. It was awesome. I also got dumped after one. That wasn’t so awesome.
Here you go.
http://broadwaybaby6.blogspot.com/2008/02/prom-for-loralee.html
Thanks for making me think of the memories.
My sister and good friend and I boycotted the prom our senior year. Not sure why – we just weren’t in to it. We stayed home and made a video instead.
I am married to my senior prom date! ;)
He was a much younger man….a sophomore. Heh! Robbin’ the cradle. Oh yeah.
I’m so old, my prom hair and dress would be better suited for a post ridiculing myself.
No pictures of me and my date, just me in my dopey dress. I prefer to remember how good I looked naked back then. Oh, wait. It was prom. I did get naked. Which picture would you prefer?
I had a horrible, horrible prom. My long time boyfriend broke up with me about 3 weeks before prom because we got caught doing *something*, by my parents! I can understand why he dumped me. He never wanted to see my parents again! So prom sucked because I took a junior who I was friends with and thought he would be excited to go to a SENIOR prom. Nope, not at all. We were stuck with a group of couples who spent less than five minutes at prom because they wanted to start the after party, i.e. make-out session.
Oh and my dress and hair sucked! My mom picked out my dress, but I guess my boobs grew drastically in two weeks because by the time prom came around I was busting out. I am sure my date appreciated the boobs in his face the whole night. Didn’t help with the awkwardness. The whole night was so so bad.
Here you go:
http://fluentbrittish.wordpress.com/2008/02/26/the-tale-of-dusty-rivers/
Men ultimately prom for only one reason … to wear flowers without being beaten up. Ok, NOT.
(I will say that I did look abso-friggin-lutely SPANKIN’ in my powder blue tux with the dark blue velvet bow tie! Bring back the Seventies!)
I’m going to email you my prom story… it is too long for a comment.
My “grad” as we call it was soo lame and understated that it’s not really worth talking about. I’m looking forward to reading the stories, though.
I actually have a prom post sitting in my drafts folder that I’ve been too chicken to publish. But maybe I’ll reconsider. Is guest posting it here a possibility? (I’m reluctant to post it on my site because I’m not sure who IRL is reading.)
Rimrama: You can email me the post and we can talk about what I could or couldn’t use. I totally understand being freaked about posting. Hello, I have my FULL NAME associated with this thing and live in a fairly small town.
My mother dies a little death every time I say things like “I want to throw my panties on stage to show my undying love for Gilbert Blythe.”
Sigh.
I slept with my prom date, but never kissed him! No, it’s not as kinky as all that! We actually did sleep! We ended up kissing a few weeks later, and I ended up also kissing his best friend who we doubled with for prom. I’ll have to do a prom/ school dance posting on my blog! It’s a great idea~
I wrote a couple of prom stories on my blog if you want to look at them. I don’t know how to tell you to get there, except to go to HSF’s blog and she has a link to “It’s Good To Be Queen”. (That’s me, BTW). Thanks for the fun idea to write prom stories – I had a great time remembering things I hadn’t thought about for years!
OH! I have a good one….at least I think so. I am going to e mail it, it is too long to leave as a comment. I was actually just thinking about prom the other day….it was horrid.
I never actually went to prom. But I was asked by a foreign exchange student that sat next to me in Art class. The entire year we had always joked with each other about different things so when he asked if I wanted to go to prom with him I figured that he was joking and said no. I found out later that he really did want to go with me and I would have loved to have gone with him. We are still friends to this day and I’ve even been to Rome to visit him. But I do regret not going to the dance with him.
This isn’t really a prom story but a dance story. I did go to our Senior Ball but while on the date my twin sister was having her baby (I didn’t know at the time) but in the middle of the date I told my boyfriend that my sister just had her baby. He asked how I knew and I was like I don’t know I just have this feeling. It’s not like we are “connected” that way but it was just weird that I knew she had her baby even though I didn’t even know she was in labor.
I didn’t have a prom, because I went to a super religious all-girls Jewish high school. Instead, we had parties around major holidays, wherein a man with a Casio would play songs behind a curtain (you know, for modesty’s sake) while we danced holding hands in circles beneath lame decorations and ate stale potato chips. Did I mention the limbo bar? Because there was one.
Um, yes. I’m guessing you don’t want to hear anything more about this EVER AGAIN.
Oh how I hated the idea of prom. But that sure didn’t stop me from wanting to go! The guy I had hoped would ask, would so never ask. So I knew I wouldn’t be going and end up sitting at home sulking all night instead. Not exactly… ended up hanging out with the guy I wanted to go with and we (as well as the rest of the group we were with) went and toilet papered our friends’ house while they were there having their after-prom party. In my mind? WAY more fun than going to a stupid dance :)
Fluent Brittish pointed me in your direction. I love prom stories so here’s mine!
http://hotfromthefurnace.blogspot.com/2008/02/1998.html
I think prom can be an important and magical rite of passage. But it wasn’t for me. Mostly because I was socially retarded in high school. My junior year, I didn’t even go to my own prom. Instead, I went to my best friend’s prom, with a whole school full of people I didn’t know. Because I was more comfortable with that than with going to my own prom. And it was fun, but seriously? Bah.
Senior year I tried *casually* asking a guy friend of mine on whom I’d been harboring a massive crush. His immediate answer was “We’ll see.” Then we went on spring break for a week and didn’t talk. Didn’t talk for a whole week after school started again either, until I finally sucked it up and asked him about it again. Supposedly, earlier on the day I originally asked him, his ex-girlfriend had talked to him about going together. So he went with his ex-girlfriend and I went with my best girl friend, who decided late in the game that while she loved me, she didn’t want to go on a date with me. So she invited a bunch of girls along who I didn’t really know and didn’t really like. I spent most of the night trying to be exceptionally fun and pretty to make the guy I’d asked wish he’d said yes. How painful. At least we were able to remain friends after that. But again, bah.
Ok, I posted a blog with all my dance stories… so there!
http://iluverin.blogspot.com
I was writing this ridiculously long comment to you, but then erased it and figured this would just be something good for me to blog about and I’ll send you the link to the entry when I’m done. I don’t have fond memories of prom. =)
In other news-I get to meet you at Blogher!!!!! WOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Worst date of my life until that point. Okay the only date of my life until that point.
My first date was the Jr. Prom my senior year and the guy only asked me because he had tickets and had just broken up with his girlfriend. THe whole time he was trying to get back at her. What else? Oh I nearly puked at dinner because I’d been too nervous to eat all day, then dumped ice in my lap accidentally.
Never went out with him again–I saw him working at Costco several years ago but I don’t know what’s happened since. I’ve wondered if he thought the whole thing was as horrific as I did.
Loralee,
I’ve posted my prom story on my blog. First time I’ve written anything in a long time. I don’t know how to link anymore–forgotten how–but you can find it at CrustyProfessor.
What a good topic! You inspired me to write about it on my new blog:
http://keepingthedreamalive.blogspot.com/2008/02/my-prom-that-didnt-happen.html
at my first prom – my date (my brother) got drunk and hit on all the girls and made a fool of himself. that was the year that all the girls decided to bring relatives as their dates.
at my second prom – i ended up dancing all night with my best friend’s date (her ex-boyfriend). her words to me – “take him. i don’t want him, and he likes you more.” i had just met the dude.
In Canada (or at least at my high school) we don’t have prom. However, we did have a big party at graduation.
I didn’t have a boyfriend, so I asked my dad to be my date to walk me down the aisle of the gym as we were announced. He cried when I asked him. It was really special to have my dad escort me – I’m a daddy’s little girl, so he was the perfect date to the ceremony.
For the after-grad party, our class went on a cruise, which was a lot of fun. I hung out with my small group of friends. It was pretty low-key for us – we just had fun talking, eating and dancing. None of us were dating anyone at the time, so there was none of the pressure – we were just there to have a fun, relaxed time, which we did.
Besides someone dying, I may have one of the saddest prom stories and it has never been told.
Okay, this is so funny to me, because today as I drove around town feeling guilty about not blogging lately (and being a total commenting loser) I thought about doing a prom post. Or two. Or three. I’m in!
I’m going to try to be as fab a commenter as you are…I read you faithfully. I suck at commenting. You know that.
Hi,
We do not have a PROM in The Netherlands. I do not know why, but we just don’t. We always laugh about it (if we see it in the movies). The clothing is ridiculous: strange dresses, weird hair and the corsages (is this an English word?, I mean the flowers)…. And the mother who makes a picture of the couple… Also strange: the gym at school is decorated and the teachers attend and it seems there is always a very crappy band. I did see a lot of movies with proms in it, but it is always very pitiful. Probably part of the American Dream, but we just don’t get it over here.
In Canada, we do not have prom. We have “grad.”
The end.
I think prom is like New Year’s Eve….just a lot hype. I did love my proms but the amount of effort I put into the date, the dress, the plans is embarassing.
Okay I posted about my dance experiences. None of them really involved prom but the idea did help bring up some interesting dance stories.
I know that I went to prom my Junior and Senior years, becasue I have the 2 pictures to prove it.
But, for the life of me, I can’t remember anything about either of them. Not because I was wasted or high or drunk or anything. It was just something I did cuz that’s what high school kids do. I have no feelings about prom one way or the other.
I went to a a couple proms, and even crashed a few that my boyfriend and I happened on and had pictures taken and everything, but my most memorable prom experience is from my sophomore year when I said no to the one guy who asked me and my friends and I had a big bash to celebrate not going to the big dance. We changed the lyrics to “It’s Raining on Prom Night” to suit our mood.
It’s raining on prom night
my hair is a messsss
I hope she trips on her high heels
and ruins her dress
and I hope his tuxedo is Baby BLUE
with ruffles on the VESTTTTTT…..
It’s raining on prom night
and that’s the rest…
Lame, but hey–we were 15!
Amy:
You just described my eldest brother’s prom ensamble.
Heh, heh, heh…
wasn’t asked, did not go and got to listen to my Mom trying to make me feel better by saying that the girls who don’t date in high school date in college. Didn’t help then, but she was right. I did not miss a major or minor dance in college.
Colleges have dances?
I was little miss student council and actually did all the booking, planning, decorating, etc for the school dances. Unfortunately, I didn’t get asked to most of the events I spent hours and thousands of dollars of school money on. Well around senior prom season, I got asked by the school weirdo. I’m talking “girls-give-you-a-hug-of-pity-when-they-hear-you-actually-said-yes” weirdo. Some very magnanimous guy friends allowed him to join their group (again, out of pity) so I at least spent it with friends. We went on a picnic the day of and my date actually ate six packets of mayonnaise for a dare. Excellent dating etiquette. I spent the rest of the night trying not to stand too close to him, lest an obsession begin that could only end in a restraining order. All this in the name of having a “prom memory.”
I just posted my non-prom story. I guess my lack of prom balances out Craig’s 5.
Ok, well here goes… I haven’t talked about this in forever.
I went to a residential “boarding” school about 3 hours away from home for my junior and senior years of high school. The night of my junior prom, a friend of mine shot himself and died. We didn’t know until we got back to the dorms for the after-party. We were all ushered into a big room and held there until everyone could be rounded up. They told us about it. There had been a suicide pact and the other two hadn’t gone through with it. They were currently being sent home immediately (one of them killed himself later that summer.) After they told us, they released us to our dorm rooms where each and every one of us was on “suicide watch” by our floor counselors until our parents could pick us up the next day. We all slept that night (with our doors open – *mandatory*) to the sounds of weeping and sniffles.
Coming to you from Fluent Brittish’s site. First of all, I never went to a prom til my Senior year of highschool. How lame am I? So anyway, worst prom story, ALL my friends, guys and girls paired up and went to prom together my junior year. Unfortunately I was the odd man (girl) out. I was at one of my friends houses as she was getting ready for the prom (stupid move on my part) when she got picked up in somebody’s giant van. About 6 couples were together. I remember I just wanted to hide. That really sucked. Then when I finally went to a prom, I had recently gotten a perm and my hair was quite curly, overly curly. When I left my house, my hair was still a bit damp with gel in it. My hair was layered and came to my shoulders. It looked fine in it’s slightly damp state. But alas, as the night progressed, my hair dried thoroughly and it boofed out into a disastrous afro! I went to the bathroom and realized the state of my hair about 3/4’s the way through. Who knows how long I looked like that… yeah, I don’t think proms were really my thing. Ha haa haaa! :) In college I went to a dance with a guy who wore a gray suit and a coral pink tie, I wore a bright blue dress and then he chose this cheesey background with a bridge and pink silk flowers, it looked like a mix between a bad wedding and a cheap funeral. There were 2 other backgrounds to choose from, but we ended up with this awful get-up. Then, I realized that half-way through the dance he kept watching my room-mate, a gorgeous Texan girl with a smoldering southern accent. All the guys loved her. Anyway, apparently he had a giant crush on her that I only discovered at the dance. And later I found out that he asked me to go to the dance because he knew we were triple dating with my Texan roommate. He hardly said 2 words to me the entire night, walked ahead of me the entire time and skipped the dinner portion of our date and just picked me up for the dance. What was I thinking?! Needless to say, I was extra careful who I dated again or who I went to dances with.
I wrote a post about this just for you.
http://mamalang.blogspot.com/2008/03/prom.html
I almost forgot to come back to this! I’ll make the actual story my Monday post, but until then here is a link to a few pictures that I know you have seen before.
http://sparkliesunshine.net/2006/11/07/my-first-self-portrait-challenge/
We don’t do “prom” in Canada. At least not in Western Canada, anyway.
Part of me is sad. And even BIGGER part of me (that would be my inner thigh) is kind of relieved.
Ah yes, the prom. I wrote about my good, bad, and mixed experiences as a junior and senior trying to get the same guy:
Hamlet was my undoing, The Prom: Take Two
LOL… I’ll have jess write the post and i’ll put my $0.02 in.
Boy is our story funny.