"Normal was cool" - A Short Interview with C

G: Has the social atmosphere of being in school affected you in any way?

C: I think back to a lot of times of how the social atmosphere of educational settings has shaped a lot of my thoughts when I was younger. I remember thinking to myself not to do this, not to do that or I must do this, I must do that because of the social context and pressures. In a way, I was almost reproducing this idea: the idea to be like everyone else and be this normal person, because if you weren't, you were always talked about. I was not supportive of this idea, but I felt pressured to do so "or else."

G: Or else.. what would happen?

C: Or else what? I know that most people would never liked to be talked about for whatever reason. We hate being talked about behind our backs, or gossiped about, or rumored about. I was so scared of this that I kind of lost myself in the process. But is not a part of our lives to find out who we are? I know that sounds really cliche and overused, but we forget to realize that we keep trying to be this normal character in school and felt that we had no authority to overcome that. 

Or else, there's also the fact that we might look back and regret being different and not being normal because apparently "normal was cool." And why stand out differently or be different even if it was you? Why stick out? Well, I wonder why we were so scared of that and how long it took me to realize that.

G: Do you have any personal experiences with this or anything that you think applied to you a lot?

C: Hmm, I don't know if this is applicable or not but maybe it is. I found that a lot of  times I never could dress the way I wanted to. I would go look for clothes, which I do enjoy very much, and would probably put it down even if I liked it because it was "too crazy" for what people wore. I know it does not seem like a big deal to most people, but I know that to me it did and to some other people too. It was all about being the same, you know? I just kept thinking to get the thing that everyone else wanted/had, and then I would be cool. It was a weird paradox. People complimented you on what everybody else has. Luckily, I don't think that anymore.

G: I see. I did not think that clothes would come up.. Why do you not think like that now? Has school changed for you?

C: Well for one thing, I grew up. Haha, yup again cliche but it has made me realize a lot of things. Another thing is that I became a street fashion enthusiast. I became more concerned with what I wanted to wear rather than what people were going to say. I was not going to live in the paradox of where dressing like what everyone else wanted was how to be noticed. I became really involved at looking at clothes that I wanted to wear, and although I did look at trends, I knew that if I was going to wear this at school people might be like "wow, that is really out there." And it was kind of great after getting noticed for wearing what I wanted. I wanted to be that person who could throw something on that could be completely crazy in most people's eyes but have people accept that I could rock it. I mean, fashion to me is art. We tend to forget that some garments talk a lot of design work, a lot of artistic work. And yes, sometimes they may be expensive but people nowadays want to creativity but don't want to pay for it? What kind of deal is that? It's a skill that sometimes goes unnoticed. As for school, I guess once I got to university I didn't think so much about trying to be normal. I was kind of resisting just staying behind the sidelines with what I wore. I wore what I wanted to and hey, people did notice this time. And it felt better because I was just trying to be me. This might not make total sense, but to me it does.

G: No, it does make sense, it is definitely worth talking about. Thank you for talking about this with me today. Do you have any last piece of advice for anyone or any last comments?

C: Not a problem! If I was going to say one thing, it is that don't be so caught up trying to conform to the social pressures. Just do you, people will notice, and it will make all the difference. Recognize that things don't always have to be the same!