Skaters and Preps

Middle school wasn’t like elementary school. Some kids had beards.

Others were completely prepubescent. I was 10 when I started 6th grade, although I did turn 11 early into the year. Imagine being eleven years old and seeing kids with beards, and girls at various stages of puberty, all the way from zero to completion.

What could go wrong?

My first day introduced me to two distinct cultures of kids I didn’t realize existed. These two powerful factions seemed to run my middle school.

First up were the skaters. These kids were aptly named, and there was no mystery behind the strong skateboard culture that permeated the undercurrents of juvenile life.

Skateboarding was a way to rebel against the mainstream way of life, but it was much more than that. I wasn’t a skater myself, but I got to know a lot of them over the next few years.

Some skaters really stood out by having a distinct haircut we called a sling. This haircut involved shaving underneath one side of the hair, so a very long str…