Hi there everyone! I need some help. I wanted to reach out and ask all of you to share your awkward photo and story. I want so badly for this project to continue, but my efforts really depend on all of you. I would love to share as many stories as possible but it’s hard when I […]
What has changed since then: higher self-confidence, improved social skills, lower BMI. What hasn’t changed since then: proud nerd, bad at sports, amateur reader and gamer, popular science fan, childish behavior. I chose that picture because it was then when harassment by boys who were one and two years older began. It was subtle at […]
I was always the chubby kid growing up. My brother and sister were both thin, popular and athletic, where I was chubby, nerdy and clumbsy. This photo is my basketball photo for the YMCA basketball team I was on, and it’s actually the best picture I ever took between the ages of 10-14! Middle school […]
Starting in elementary school, I was picked on for being smart, nerdy, skinny and ugly. I was pushed down and threatened and felt totally helpless. In middle school, things worsened as my group of girl friends and I exchanged hateful insults and ganged up on one another, choosing a new victim each week it seemed. […]
I had to choose between four awkward photos. This particular school photo was from the sixth grade. During one of those awkward years I had gone back to school shopping and chose some colorful underwear with very large red strawberries printed in the fabric. As I was changing in the gym locker room I drew […]
13 is one really tough age. 7th, maybe 8th grade. Afraid of interacting with girls. All different states of puberty. I remember the bullies. Ethan. One year older. Decided my “Mattel VRooom Motor” was a sissy toy. I actually agree with him now, with 45 years hindsight. Chased me with his 10-speed. Broke my sissy […]
This photo was taken in Junior High, at the peak of my childhood awkward years. I was skinny, shy and didn’t know how to talk to anyone who wasn’t interested in comicbooks, video games or Dungeons & Dragons. I was the kid from all the clichés: ate lunch at his locker reading comics, always got […]
When I was 17-year-old, like most teenagers, I was struggling with knowing who I was and who I wanted to be. I was a “straight” girl growing up in a straight world, raised by a catholic family with seasonal catholic values – Christmas, Easter… etc. I didn’t have many boyfriends as I was typically one […]
