Author Archives: O’Hagan Blades

When I was a freshman in high school, I had a crush on a senior who was everything I wasn’t: rebellious, jaded, cynical and depressed. We were in plays together and often had conversations that went something like this: Him (seductively sipping black coffee and listening to Pink Floyd on his CD player): So you »

My bedroom looks like the remains of a circus after a hurricane. A plastic Viking helmet perches precariously on a bookshelf that leans noticeably to the left (in part because of uneven distribution of textbooks, and in other part because the floor of my house is slanted). A blue feather boa, a wig, a ukulele, »

When I was in second grade, I had a teacher who decided that we were mature and responsible enough to be allowed to chew gum in class. I brought a stick of Wrigley’s in my pocket every day for weeks. I felt more grown-up and freer than my friends who were in the other second-grade »