Now that social media has become a full-fledged ecosystem, with its own distinctive fauna, it seems useful to offer a taxonomy of its more common denizens. The catalogue has an American inflection, but can easily be adapted so as to apply wherever you find yourself,...
Out of Time It took us about a half hour to get back to school. We passed by the front, where the buses were starting to line up, and then circled around the building to the backlot. As we pulled in, I noticed that there was a guard in the booth at the entrance, and...
A Strange Encounter I don’t really know how to start this, but I have to do it fast. It’s almost midnight, and I don’t think I can keep myself awake much longer. I’ve got to get it all down before I fall asleep, because I’m afraid that tomorrow morning, I might not...
Last Day May 1, 2011, 12:00PM PST A KABC News Special Report with John Stacy reporting from the news desk. John Stacy: In an extraordinary series of events, State and County Police raided the New Ridgemont High campus at about 10am this morning after a brief staging...
Planning the Senior Party April 17, 2011, 7:30pm Will Friedman and Chloe Gold are in Friedman’s rooms at New Ridgemont High putting the final touches on their plans for the Senior Party. They are sitting on the floor, flanking a large piece of posterboard on which...
Many silly ideas are born of frustration, desperation, wishful thinking or some combination of the three. One of the most enduring of these is the widespread belief that there is some authority “out there,” poised to right wrongs. The grandest -- and silliest --...
Will and Sal and Chloe and Tom March 15, 2011 It’s Spring Break and school is out for the week. William Friedman and Sal Levy are drinking scotch and hanging out in Will’s rooms at New Ridgemont High. Sal: I like it when the building’s empty like this. It’s so quiet...
For normal people, immortality is one of those inchoate, unearnest desires born of negative feelings -- loss, fear, regret, and the like -- that is readily discarded in our more sober moments. Putting aside those who believe that we survive death as souls, spirits,...
March 10, 2011 Location: The NRH auditorium at 5:45 pm. There is a steady stream of students and faculty filing in for the inaugural NRH Stage Night. Kevin Reilly and Jon Baron: [To Sean Albertson] Yo! Yo! Yo! Sean: What’s up Kev? Jon? Kevin: Looking to win mucho...
March 6, 2011 Location: William Friedman’s rooms at NRH at around 7pm. The members of NRH’s Executive Council -- Will, Sal Levy, Mitch Bennett, Tom Rosen, Chloe Gold, Kevin Reilly, and Jaime Cohen -- are engaged in an intense discussion of statewide political...