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Paul R. Pace's avatar

man this resonates. I moved a few times during my youth and it sucks. i remember moving to Michigan in 5th grade and trying to fit in during recess. a lot of the kids were playing Tether ball but i had never seen it before. i got in line to play and when my turn came up i acted like i played before in feeble effort to fit in, i got smoked and laughed off the the playground. It was brutal. It has to be 10x worse for kids w/ immutable characteristics that makes them stand out.

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Ray Downs's avatar

We moved to Buffalo from LA when I was 9 and everyone around me played ice hockey. It looked easy enough to me, so I got some skates and went to the local rink to play. I didn't realize you had to *learn* how to ice skate, I thought you just did it like running or whatever. Took a while to make up for that one.

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Clancy Steadwell's avatar

sucker for new kid stories and this was a good one.

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Ray Downs's avatar

Well, you're in luck cuz I got a million of them

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Themes and Deviations's avatar

Oh that’s sad.

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Jenn's avatar

Oh no. I have been the new kid so many times, it’s so hard. I like that you showed that it can be hard for the people who try to be kind, too. I’m sad that she lost her individuality, but if I look back, I remember mine eroding slowly away under the strain of being the new kid.

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