I was taking the 1 train back to the office from a press check today and next to me stood a trio of 15-ish year-old girls, dressed in a punk-esque manner that simultaneously communicates an unsettling worldliness and a certain degree of naïveté, chatting about something or other. They had the appearance of the kind of subway chatterers I try to tune out. But as I queued up closer to the door for my upcoming stop, their conversation came into focus. They seemed to be discussing graduation requirements of some sort, as well as graduation ceremonies generally.
The first comment I distinctly caught was, “They said that we’re the future,” to which one of the others responded, “I hate it when they say that.” She laughed and they all agreed, continuing, “I just want to say: what does that make you?”
Indeed.