In the May issue of Seventeen, now on newsstands nationwide, Lena Dunham pens an essay explaining why she’s “on team weirdo for life,” and encouraging girls to follow their passions without losing their sense of style and individuality. If any assets are used, you MUST link back to the story on Seventeen.com: http://www.seventeen.com/life/advice/a30244/lena-dunham-never-be-regular/
“I was a bona fide weirdo in high school. My best friend was my dad. (Still is.) I wore my yellow rubber clogs every day. I was so obsessed with my pet rabbit that I fed her bananas from my mouth. I was into ’80s pop; hip-hop was cool. I brought a bagel to the party, not beer. No one shoved me into a locker or anything, but they definitely made it clear that no one was crushing on me or even respecting me.
One sad day, I tried an experiment. I put on my most “normal” jeans (flares—it was the early 2000s; skinny jeans hadn’t been invented yet!) and my mother’s tank top (she’s always been hipper than me) and straightened my hair. I applied eyeliner and even padded my bra. When I got to school, no one said much at first, but the girls were looking at me with surprise and maybe even jealousy. When I needed a pencil in math, a hot boy lent me one. ‘Wow,’ his friend whispered. ‘She actually looks regular.’
That snapped me out of it. Regular? Who wants to be regular, especially if it means taking an extra 15 minutes on your hair? Or pretending that you’re not rereading Madame Bovary again or not crazy about your rabbit? If regular means pretending you don’t have passions and style, count me out. It’s not worth the pencil. At school the next day, the yellow clogs were firmly back on my feet.”
For more from Lena, head over to Seventeen.com: http://www.seventeen.com/life/advice/a30244/lena-dunham-never-be-regular/
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