I never seemed to know when it was school picture day. My hair was never done and I had to borrow a friend’s jacket to cover up the scrubs I was wearing (scrubs? to school? don’t ask). I was a disheveled, awkward, disorganized, weird, clumsy, misfit kid and I hated myself for it. The thing […]
I was SO proud of my purple Saturn planet shirt! (you can’t really tell they are Saturns in this photo here.) I was a socially awkward, weird, nerd girl who was poor and from a recently divorced home. I felt bad and shy for a while- but ultimately decided to retreat into my art and […]
My awkward years were from fourth grade until my sophomore year in high school. I never actually felt awkward/weird at the time, despite not being very popular. I was the typical band geek, anime enthusiast, who still collected action figures. I actually remember being mistaken for a girl, during school pictures. Despite the way my […]
8th grade was probably my worst year growing up. On top of not knowing how to tame my curly/frizzy hair and wearing braces, I also had to put up with a friend bullying me and pushing me out of our circle of friends (it had to do with jealousy, I was later told). Everyone around […]
Hi, I‘m Kaori. As you see in the picture, I hated my smile. When I was very young, my top teeth were behind my bottom teeth when I close them. (anterior crossbite?) So, my parents took me to the dentist (There weren’t orthodontists back then.) and I got a retainer like brace. After a while, my […]
I was quite large as a child and teenager. Raised in a classic Southern fast food family, my childhood environment included poor nutrition & low activity on a daily basis. At my heaviest, I weighed over 250 lbs and since I was always taller than most other kids (I was 5’8 by 6th grade), I […]
I wanted to submit my photo because it’s a sensitive issue for me. I was made fun of, and bullied in elementary school and by the kids in my neighborhood. Everything from being told I would “never be pretty”, “no one will love you”, and throwing food at my face. So I buried myself in my studies […]
My name is Athena and I was raised on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. The little photo tainting my hand was taken around 2006 or 2007 when I graduated from the 6th grade. It was an awkward year full of experimental music and lingo. I would like to say I broke away from those dark […]