THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 22, 1995 TAG: 9512200210
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LACY HALL, HIGH SCHOOL CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
During a visit to the Oceanfront this fall I was virtually attacked by an overzealous middle-aged woman. It wasn't the type of attack that would leave physical bumps or bruises, but it sure did leave mental ones.
This woman was suffering from what I now call ``wheredmylifegophobia.'' It's a Latin-based word used to label adults who conform to teen trends and ideas in order to recapture their youth.
This particular woman has resorted to the art of self-mutilation or body piercing. She proudly heaved her swimsuit over her numerous jelly rolls to reveal a large, bloody, metal hoop jutting from her belly button. She'd gotten pierced earlier that day and wanted to know what I thought.
I lied and said it looked good. For a touch of teen spice I also added that she looked almost as cool as ``super trendy'' Alicia Silverstone in that Aerosmith video that we've seen soooo much. That made her beam.
The '90s, it seems, has sparked a mixing of trends among young and old. Teenagers are acting older, while adults are abandoning their Sears outfits for expensive, thrift store-inspired fashions at such stores as The Factory or Up Against The Wall.
It's scary to picture a 40-year-old woman wrestling with some poor freshman girl over a pair of thigh-highs and some Mary Janes, but in this world it can happen.
Maguerite A. Toth, a mother of four living in Virginia Beach, said that while people shouldn't just sit back and watch themselves grow old, they should at least mature with some dignity, which means no partying with the rent money and definitely no nipple rings.
But John Upton, who actually works piercing the anatomy of adults, thinks adults should go for it.
``Yup, their money is just as green as everyone else's,'' said Upton, a junior at First Colonial High School and part-time body piercing apprentice at Utopian Creations. ``Besides, the majority of adults who experiment with body piercing have already gone through the whole tattoo phase.''
At age 41, Donald M. Trefsger, a Virginia Beach father of a teenage daughter, recently got a colorful rose-shaped tattoo on his upper right arm. The tattoo, which he got on his last deployment to the Mediterranean, ending his 22 years of service in the Navy, features his wife's name in blooming italic print.
I've seen my share of old Popeye reruns and I'm quite aware of the stereotypes that go along with Navy guys and tattoos. Why did he wait 22 years to get one?
``I think that if I had gotten a tattoo when I was 17 I would have lived to regret it,'' Trefsger said.
I was getting increasingly dismayed and confused by this whole blurred outlook of what's young and what's old, until I spoke to Sharron H. Smith, a social studies teacher at Ocean Lakes High School.
Smith has teamed up with other teachers to create a roller blading club. This crushes all my stereotypes about what teachers do in their spare time - grade papers and practice chalkboard techniques. Who would have guessed that teachers like to have fun?
``Kids think that all there is to do is to rock on the front porch and get old,'' Smith explains, ``but I'm not going to be a front-porch rocker!''
Now I think I understand a little better where my current place and my future status are in the great time line of cool people. I, simple dork that I am, have found a nice cozy place around the low end of the coolness spectrum snuggled nicely between Waldo and Orville Redenbacher.
I'm so excited that I'm going to tell all my friends. Well, as soon as my mom gets back from taking grandpa bungee jumping and maybe lets me borrow something cool to wear. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Lacy Hall is a junior at Ocean Lakes High School.
by CNB