I have never been happier to have come of age before the advent of the internet.
Because in just a few years, these girls won’t even admit to having once liked Justin Bieber. No matter, though, because it’s all preserved on YouTube.
I know, I know. Young girls have been flipping out over pop singers for decades. My generation screamed and cried for New Kids on the Block, Duran Duran, Bon Jovi, Wham!, and Culture Club. Yes, that’s right—Wham! and Culture Club. The girls at my school loved those groups, and dreamed of their big fairytale weddings to George Michael or Boy George. Oh, well. I guess it’s the wish that counts.
My crushes were Huey Lewis & the News and Larry Bird. I did and said plenty of goofy stuff defending their honor. I look back with nausea at the silliness I perpetrated during my junior high and high school years. Oh, my.
For the record, I do still like both HLN and Larry Bird. I haven’t been to a Huey Lewis concert since 1987, but not for lack of trying. In June 2009, after completing my duties at the AP Reading in Louisville, Kentucky, I made a special pilgrimage to French Lick, Indiana, Bird’s hometown.
But at least my silliness happened pre-Internet. For that, I am incredibly thankful.