44 Comments

• 1. the Mater  |  January 25th, 2006 at 2:55 pm

  Omigod, Jenn, I don’t even remember your hair looking like this! I think I was too focused on the unisex bathrooms and dorm rooms when we left you there! Did you get a perm that summer?!

• 2. Jenn  |  January 25th, 2006 at 2:57 pm

  Lady, I got a perm every week.

• 3. geogirl  |  January 25th, 2006 at 2:59 pm

  I would make fun were it not for my horrible perm incident of ‘87 of which we will not speak.

• 4. the Mater  |  January 25th, 2006 at 3:01 pm

  If they do a revival of “Shampoo” or “Hairspray” in North Adams, make sure you read for a part!

• 5. Katieface  |  January 25th, 2006 at 3:02 pm

  Hey Mater–is this when Jenn looked like a brick sh*thouse?

• 6. Mir  |  January 25th, 2006 at 3:02 pm

  Ahhhhh! Run away! RUN AWAY FROM THE SAVAGE MALL HAIR!!!

• 7. geogirl  |  January 25th, 2006 at 3:05 pm

  Looking through my highschool yearbooks one day I asked my mother how she could ever let us out of the house looking so foolish. To which she replied “Yeah, like I ever could have stopped you.”

  Darn her. I hate it when she’s right.

• 8. Diana  |  January 25th, 2006 at 3:27 pm

  My 6th grade school picture looks exactly like that- and mine is naturlly curly hair so it was a bit more unruly and puffy…it was past the perm time so I just looked stupid anytime i let my rat’s nest out…

• 9. Spot the Wonder Dog  |  January 25th, 2006 at 4:25 pm

  It’s too bad your comments section doesn’t allow images. You could have your readers submit pictures, too. Although, I suppose if you solicited reader photos by e-mail, you could make them the subject of a future blog entry.

  But anyway, regarding your hair… I’ll just say that was definitely a “North Campus” hairstyle.

• 10. HollyRhea  |  January 25th, 2006 at 6:11 pm

  I ain’t sassy. I’m ASSY. shoo’

• 11. JustLinda  |  January 25th, 2006 at 7:23 pm

  You’re a maniac, MANIAC on the floor… and you’re dancing like you never danced before.

  Pity we can’t see the leg warmers…. AHAHAHAH

• 12. TRF  |  January 25th, 2006 at 7:59 pm

  I KNOW THIS GIRL! She’s the one who squandered the family fortune on hairspray.

• 13. Rina  |  January 25th, 2006 at 10:09 pm

  To really get the full effect, you needed to include the shiny blue prom dress too.

• 14. mom on a wire  |  January 25th, 2006 at 11:29 pm

  I’m guessing that what the picture doesn’t show is your tapered white jeans and wrists covered in rows of bangly bracelets. Am I right? I know I’m right.

• 15. the Mater  |  January 25th, 2006 at 11:35 pm

  Katieface: “Hey Mater–is this when Jenn looked like a brick sh*thouse?”

  Actually, no … that was her younger teen years when she dyed her hair and it turned bright red or orange. Girls will be girls … I can’t wait to see what stunts Sophie and Hannah will pull :>)

• 16. roo  |  January 26th, 2006 at 1:55 am

  Hey, I had that hair!

  It took me two hours every morning to construct the perfect pouf, not to mention the buttressing wall of hair just behind it, clipped to the top of my scalp and lacquered into place.

  Oh, the over-processed follicles! Oh, the wasted mornings!

  Now, my hair’s lucky if I wash it.

• 17. margalit  |  January 26th, 2006 at 3:54 am

  I know you! You’re Donna from Somervul or Mefa, right?

• 18. margalit  |  January 26th, 2006 at 3:56 am

  Oh, and one other thing. I have friends that live between Ottumwa and Oskaloosa in Iowa and they absolutely REFUSE to believe that anyone has heard of Grinnell never mind would go there unless they were from Iowa. No matter how many times I’ve told them that it’s a good school with an excellent reputation on the east coast, they look at me like I’ve lost my marbles. They both went to Dordt.

• 19. Patti  |  January 26th, 2006 at 9:04 am

  Oh. my. goodness.

  I can completely identify unfortunately. Ratted, cliff-style bangs? Check. Aqua-net being my best friend? Check. Royal blue shiny prom dress? Check. Spiral perm on tiny rods? Check. Feeling sorry for all the other girls with limp strands? Double Check.

  And Mater, I wouldn’t be so worried about what Sophie and Hannah do to themselves. It’s what they’ll be doing to each other that’s the main cause for concern.

• 20. Angie  |  January 26th, 2006 at 9:44 am

  Meat sheet! Jenn, do you still have yours? If so, I am truly impressed. I can’t remember what my picture looked like, and I want to keep it that way.

  Angie (Arnold)

• 21. Diana  |  January 26th, 2006 at 10:47 am

  HA- Patti just gave me a visual of Sophie coming up to you one day with a handful of hair and saying “Hannah and I were playing Beauty Parlor…” You go to check on Hannah and she looks like Lizzie from Drop Dead Fred before she got it fixed!!! (Please tell me you have seen that movie…I can’t be the only one!)

• 22. Jes  |  January 26th, 2006 at 11:22 am

  lOVE LOVE LOVE drop dead fred. Sis and I watched it wayyy too many times!

• 23. Patti  |  January 26th, 2006 at 12:29 pm

  Diana….that’s exactly the image I was aiming for.

• 24. K~  |  January 26th, 2006 at 1:03 pm

  I love DDF too!
  I even made my hubby buy it
  Hopefully they won’t give each other at home hair cuts-

• 25. Tree  |  January 26th, 2006 at 2:57 pm

  Ok, but have you ever grown your bangs down to your chin and then teased them before school? Someone I know may have done that. It may have been me.
  And even with…uh…interesting hair, you were still gorgeous!

• 26. The Homosexuals  |  January 26th, 2006 at 4:13 pm

  You mean you don’t look like that any more?

• 27. John M.  |  January 26th, 2006 at 5:07 pm

  Careful, Spot, or I’ll send Jenn *your* freshman meat sheet picture! (Of course, then I’d have to figure out your real name all over again, since I forgot…)

  :-)

• 28. the Mater  |  January 26th, 2006 at 5:37 pm

  Dare I ask (after all these years) why you Grinnellians are calling Jenn’s freshman photo a “meat sheet”?! Can I hopefully think you’re all misspelling “meet” and it’s just a friendly way of saying “all freshmen have their photos taken to better prepare for meeting their classmates”?!

  Be gentle with me … I’m now a grandmother.

• 29. John M.  |  January 26th, 2006 at 6:28 pm

  Hi Mater,

  Nope, it’s not a misspelling.

  And I think that I’ll leave it at that!

  Great daughter you made.

• 30. the Mater  |  January 26th, 2006 at 8:53 pm

  Thanks, John! And I think I’ll leave it at that too :>) But something tells me Spot won’t!

• 31. John M.  |  January 26th, 2006 at 9:19 pm

  OH MY, Spot. I just got out the meat sheet, and you should be very afraid!

  Big

• 32. the Mater  |  January 26th, 2006 at 10:46 pm

  So, it’s like a laundry list or somethin’?! Methinks the daughter and I should have a heart-to-heart ….

• 33. John M.  |  January 26th, 2006 at 11:04 pm

  Hi Mater,

  A “meat sheet” is a booklet put out at the beginning of the school year with little “mug shots” of all the incoming freshman and their names. I don’t remember if they use your ID card photos or not, but it’s a “welcome to campus, up against that wall over there, flash, OK thanks you can go now” kind of shot.

  It’s a Who’s Who of the incoming class, so you can get to know each other. Or pick out the hot ones you want to stalk, er, date, er, get drunk at parties… depending on your perspective!

• 34. Spot the Wonder Dog  |  January 27th, 2006 at 12:04 am

  wha.. wha.. wha… what’s this with everyone poking me all of a sudden?

  Listen… I have nothing but respect for Jenn’s freshman year fashion sense. For example- it takes most students at least a few weeks to figure out that it’s hard to find a place to hang your towel in the hall bathrooms. Jenn intuitive use of towel holders as earrings was both practical, and uber-spiffy.

  And as for her hairstyle… look, there was a time when Pat Benatar was considered really cool. I seem to remember that it was a number of years before any of us went to college… but the point remains. *Sometime* during that decade- that hairstyle was considered cool. So let us not judge Jenn harshly. It took a lot of courage to wear her hair like that during a time when the CFCs in aerosol cans were considered “harmful to the environment”. Jenn was one of those few who said “Hey, screw the ozone- if you want hair that looks this good, sacrifices must be made.”

  You go, Jenn. You go.

• 35. the Mater  |  January 27th, 2006 at 8:57 am

  LOL Thanks, John and Spot! Considering the prolific use of hairspray, it’s a wonder you guys didn’t mind sharing the dorm bathrooms with the girls :>)

• 36. Spot the Wonder Dog  |  January 27th, 2006 at 11:09 am

  Meh… it’s just like having 10 sisters. Except that it’s OK to sleep with them. ;-D

• 37. the Mater  |  January 27th, 2006 at 11:36 am

  Spot, get thee to the doghouse for that one!!

• 38. HollyRhea  |  January 27th, 2006 at 2:23 pm

  http://selfportraittuesday.blogspot.com/2006/01/hollyrheas-friday-faves_28.html

• 39. JenfromBoston  |  January 28th, 2006 at 4:29 pm

  you, …you *pitied* me?? I knew I was getting the snaps from the Big Hair Chair but pity? heh.
  Great picture!

  Yes, over the years I have learned to work with what God gave me but this was my (mom’s) first attempt to challenge the Big Guy (w/ her own bare hands):

  http://oncemore.typepad.com/once_morewith_feeling/2005/06/curly_sue.html

• 40. sogal  |  January 28th, 2006 at 7:56 pm

  well in the south in high school, we ironed our hair to make it straight when we werent walking around or sleeping with it rolled on orange juice or pineapple juice cans - it got so bad at my allgirlshighschool that the nuns forbade any sort of “tin can” on our heads.

  then i went to college and said to Heck with all that and never blew dry or ironed my hair again - and mine looked like jenn’s every day - but without the bangs or that interesting development on top. hmm maybe i should have?

• 41. amanda  |  January 28th, 2006 at 10:01 pm

  Towel bars? In Detroit those’re called “ankle hangers.” Draw your own conclusions…(Sorry mater!)

• 42. the Mater  |  January 29th, 2006 at 8:26 am

  Amanda, between you and Spot, I’m hyperventilating …

• 43. dj flynnie  |  January 29th, 2006 at 11:28 pm

  wow that photo reminds me of jessie spano from saved by the bell before her big caffeine pill freak out…awesome picture hehe

• 44. Jessica  |  January 30th, 2006 at 3:07 pm

  I have a picture that looks just like that, from the bangs all the way to the earrings. My hair thanks me that I don’t do that anymore!

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