#tbt or, “Throwback Thursday” has taken Edina by storm. As students have flooded Twitter and Instagram with old photos, I decided it was time to reminisce on our greatest blast from the past: middle school. Below are the top five throwbacks of our glory days.
5. Photo Booth
Before we were responsible enough for cameras, we took advantage of the innovation and cunning that is Photo Booth. What was super cool about Photo Booth pictures was that you didn’t even have to try to look good in a picture; everybody knew that it was all about the effects that you used. Throw up a peace sign with your friends on the Thermal Camera? You know how to have fun. Take a solo shot at the end of a Light Tunnel? Genius. And where did all these masterpieces go? None other than…
4. Myspace
The quintessential domain of pre-teen rebellion. If you ever had one, you remember checking it every day against your parents’ wishes. Valley Viewers and South Viewers alike had Myspace down to a science: Names had to have character, so you’d spice up boring “Emily” with some superfluous symbols and punctuation, and maybe throw in a middle name to sound really sophisticated. Behold: “~~*eMiLy RoSe <3*~~. Next to alias and profile picture it was key to have a catchy saying like “Live. Laugh. Love.” or if you were a macho guy, “Jake is my homeboy”. Under that it would say that you were from New York City or Tokyo because you wanted people to know how worldly you were at 13. Your page’s background said everything about you, so it was important to hop onto Google every few weeks to find one that was cute/funny/clever enough to impress your 417 friends. Blog entries were life or death–literally: if you didn’t repost a survey, a clown would climb into your bed that same night! Finally, your interests and details were most important. Ideally:
General: DANCE<3
Music: Black Eyed Peas, Eminem, 101.3
Heroes: Mr. Anderson LOL
So witty.
3. Abercrombie and Hollister
About 90% of why middle school is known as the “awkward stage” is because we tried so hard to dress like those mannequins standing in front of a dimly lit Abercrombie store. Boys strode down the halls in cargo pants and moose-adorned polos, while girls competed for the cutest combination of distressed jeans and three to four layers of shirts that they could get their parents to buy them. As you progressed through middle school, you’d gradually swap out those moose tees for something a little more sophisticated: a seagull. Your parents would tell you that Hollister and Abercrombie are the same thing with a different logo, but you would insist, “NO, Hollister’s style is more California-y!”
2. Southdale
Imagine your perfect middle school Friday night: Get dropped off at Southdale with a few friends around 5, meet up with your crush, go see a scary movie, walk around the mall a little, snap a few pictures of you and your friends trying on dumb clothes, get questioned by a police man on a segway, meet your mom in the parking lot at 9. Those were the days!
1. AIM
AOL Instant Messenger, how did any other generation get by without you? Simply put, AIM was an outlet for our creativity. A screen name stuck with you for life (unless you just got a new one), so it was crucial to come up with a good one. No AshleyJohnson10 nonsense, it was SassyAshley44 or bust. Of course, if you weren’t blessed with a name that rhymed or rang with words like “cute”, “baller”, and “kitties”, then you could always show your hornet pride with EdinaBoi12 or EdinaFlirt94. Once you got the perfect name, it was time to spice up the profile. Think song lyrics, quotes, and a list of inside jokes between you and your AIM buddies, all topped off with a line that read “Kelsey is my BFFL <3” or “Mike is da bomb”. Ah, yes, AOL Instant Messenger let our creative minds thrive. That’s probably why every single conversation we had went a little like this:
1995Ballin: hey
HornetQT: hey
1995Ballin: sup?
HornetQT: nm u?
1995Ballin: nm
HornetQT: lol
1995Ballin: g2g text me
Literary genius.