June 2, 2008

Ugly Betty's America Ferrera on Acceptance in High School

"My high school days were definitely not the best days of my life. I think everything you learn in high school, you have to spend the rest of your life unlearning. A lot of what high school was about for me was not being myself. It was about hiding all the things that made me different and trying to fit in somewhere. I didn't know who I was. The pretty and popular girls just reminded me that I wasn't pretty and popular, and the nerdy and studious ones reminded me that I wasn't smart enough. I didn't conform in high school, wear all the right clothes, or fit in. But I think the truth is that whatever you're wearing on the outside doesn't change the fact that most people--even beautiful girls--feel the same doubt, fears and insecurities on the inside."

-Actress America Ferrera from TV's Ugly Betty (Cosmo Girl, February 2007)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 2:25 PM

March 14, 2006

Jon Heder on Napoleon Dynamite

“Napoleon is about embracing the awkwardness of youth and dealing with people of the opposite sex and trying to be cool.”

-Actor Jon Heder who played Napoleon Dynamite (Time, Sept. 19, 2005)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 4:29 PM

August 21, 2005

Usher and Acne

"Acne was one of the hardest things I dealt with in high school. I still deal with it. But you have to learn to love who you are instead of trying to change everything."

-R&B singer Usher (Cosmo Girl, June/July 2005).

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 10:06 PM

April 11, 2005

Sandra Bullock on Cheerleading

"The day that I got chosen for the squad, I came to school and the gates of heaven opened. Everyone's opinion of me changed overnight. And it's sad. I started conforming and got really preppy."

-Actress Sandra Bullock talking about the changes to her social standing when she became a cheerleader in high school (Teen People, April 2005)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:32 PM

June 3, 2004

Avril Lavigne on Growing Up

"When you're younger, you're growing faster, and you're changing your mind all the time. You feel this way one day, and you feel a different way another day. You're trying to figure out who you are and you're becoming who you're going to be."

-Avril Lavigne, who just released her sophomore album, Under My Skin. (Source: MTV.com, April 30, 2004)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 9:03 AM | Comments (1)

George Parker on the Raging Sea of Teenhood

"I've always thought childhood was like an idyllic cruise on a luxury liner across a tranquil ocean, but when we cross that imaginary dateline into the teenage years, it's akin to being thrown overboard into a raging sea of uncertainty."

-Author George Parker (Source: PRNewswire, May 12, 2004)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:57 AM

Morrissey on Being a Teen

"I think [being a teenager] is a time in your life when you gravitate toward a somewhat dark realism, and you want people to stop talking to you as if you were a child. You want people to give it to you straight."

-Morrissey (Source: Spin, May 2004)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:48 AM

Michelle Wie on Being a Teen

"Everyone is saying that your teenage years are really hard, but they're actually really easy. You're not working, you're not paying taxes, you just have to go to school."

-14-year-old golfer Michelle Wie (Source: Sports Illustrated, May 3, 2004)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:46 AM

August 29, 2003

Nikki Reed on Healing

"I'm only 15. I'm not finished and healed and all better. You don't really land at a certain spot and say, 'Okay, I'm fine now!' I'm just trying to accept myself."

-Nikki Reed, co-writer and co-star of the movie Thirteen, a semi-autobiographical film about the destructive patterns of teens. (Source: Seventeen, September 2003)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 10:31 PM