Prom Interviews

In hindsight of my earlier post, maybe Prom isn't as much the the best night of a young person's life as it was played up to be in previous mentionings. For this project, I actually had a hard time finding someone who had actually attended a prom that was relatively my age. Most of my friends either opted out or were homeschool kids who didn't have access to proms. (One did and even then, the idea that your date matters and that you'll be judged on it still prevailed - "I mean, I wasn't about to go to prom with him." Him being some outcast boy who was, "too weird, even for me.") In the end, I wound up interviewing Dee (from the birth interviews) and Empire (from the death interviews) yet again as well as one of my friends I've been friends with since 6th grade,  Lady. In a nutshell, Empire attended both her own prom and the prom at her girlfriend's school, Lady will attend our prom and Dee attended a Junior and Senior Prom.

All three women admit to buying their own, special dress but their concerns for it were different. Empire wanted something that looked flattering, Lady went out shopping with her mother and wanted a strapless one but was ultimately vetoed, buying a shorter one instead, and Dee got hers from Saks on Fifth Avenue. "Rosie was doing word processing before anyone else knew how to," Dee explained as how such a dress could be afforded, "She couldn't stand the idea of me not having money for a dress." Both Dee and Empire got their hair done for the event but neither went to the salon. Empire's mother did it for her and the sister of Dee's boyfriend did hers. Neither saw the importance in going to the salon when they could get it done just as easily at home, especially Empire who just trimmed her hair some. Lady however, looked scandalized at the thought. "I can't handle hair. I don't know where I'll go but I cannot do it at home." No matter the generation, looking your best seemed to be the only option available. Neither of the women considered going without makeup and none of them considered showing up in street clothes. When pressed, each of them just answered that you just shouldn't do that because "it's prom."

Like in the other units, most predictably, most of what influenced their decisions. No one could name why there was an expectation of limos. The closet I got was Lady's, "It would be nice but we can't afford it. We're all coming in a van instead." As the one who is going to prom, I found her expectations of the party itself rather bland compared to the script we discussed in class. "I don't think there will be any drugs or alcohol. I mean, there are teachers and it's four hours. I have faith we can all behave." Are teenagers really expected or supposed to 'behave' on their prom night? People often talk about 'that prom experience' and even Dee noted she didn't remember much because of how much she drank - enough that when she spent the night at a friend's house, both girls took turns throwing up. Do we really have an experience if we don't get totally smashed?

Empire argued yes. "You don't need alcohol to have fun. Really."At both proms she attended, even the chances of spiking the drinks was impossible. "You couldn't bring outside drinks into mine. There was only canned soda. At her's, you weren't allowed unsealed water bottles and they searched you at both." She insists that at both, they had a blast. "I didn't sleep at all. I remember we came in at 3am and realized my bus back home left in a few hours so I had to rush to pack." As she insists, they danced the night away both times - enough so that when she later called me to keep her awake (so she wouldn't miss her bus stop) she couldn't stop complaining about her feet.

  Dee confirms that there was booze, as she did wind up getting sick, but both her and Empire's accounts were missing something very important- other people. For a night when we're supposed to dolled up for the world, neither of them could speak about what much of their peers were doing other than dancing and kissing. If this is the case, than why is there that rumored stigma against kids who don't dress well or don't want to go to prom? Do people who watch remember for only that first minute? Should we even care past impressimg ourselves and our dates?