Derek James:
CLASS OF 1997
Immaculate Heart of Mary SchoolClass of 1997
Baltimore, MD
Derek's Story
After IHM, I went to the Park School. Although I continued to be unpopular, feeling unaccepted as a middle class Catholic surrounded by the children of wealthy Jewish scientists/doctors/artists, I became less involved in English and Literature (what I was good at) for fear of sounding like a Baltimoron. However, because of things like Ms. Hommel's daily quizzes and the ruthless scrutiny characterized by Mrs. Vivorito and Ms. Stricker, I was a five star student.
Freshman year saw little academic competition for me. I often had lunch with teachers, which made me look like a teacher's pet, when in fact they were the closest thing I had to friends. My English teacher, also new that year, had high hopes that I would become an amazing writer.
The summer before Sophomore year, I had smoked weed, drank booze, done acid, and had a threesome, all for the first time. Thanks to puberty, I had thinned out and grown a few inches, but I was still unathletic, and I was also a zit face. With no hope of getting any kind of response from my "peers," I chose to stop going the extra academic mile, realizing that that kind of excellence is a life-long commitment. Instead, I got into music. I continued to play drums and I started dabbling with "experimental music." This led me to experiment with more drugs. This gained me acceptance from college kids, and I spent most weekends and nights getting stoned and hanging out with kids from Towson University. As for writing? This is probably the most creative essaying I've done since. And, honestly, the rest of high school's kind of a blur.
I went to Oberlin College and Conservatory in OH. I ended up majoring in Psych and Electronic music. There I made up for boredom, wasting money, and killing brain cells by working at least three jobs at a time, running clubs, doing radio, and taking 16 credit semesters the entire time through. I believe this created a high stress dependence on learning that is permanent. Without crippling problems, I'm inclined to procrastinate, feeling freedom to the point of psychadelic paranoia. Actively wonde...Expand for more
ring "what AM I doing" led to publishing critically acclaimed attacks on formal music education (while attending a Conservatory), time spike syncrony, time retrogration, pregnancy, black music, and other topics no one really cares about.
Graduating with lots of experience, mediocre grades, and a reputation that's scattered like ashes, I came back to Baltimore to help my mom, who lost her job and was quickly accruing debt and also injured. Because of cognitive incompatibilities, we (mostly just she now) tried to start a business and continue to fail. I was able to work my way into a sweet job writing and editing kid's textbooks, mostly science. I did a lot of great stuff, learned a lot of really interesting things, and ultimately got fired after demanding more work from my employers, who couldn't really get down with my independent yet misfired thinking. at the time i was living with my best friend's girlfriend, who i was in love with. after throwing our relationship with my best friend away, she and i had our fun, and then she decided she was a lesbian. i mean, she ain't no lesbian, trust me, but i had no job, was in a "dark stage", and would sing songs about how i hated her through the wall dividing our rooms. it's no wonder i've lost all my old friends.
so, i went from being a boy genius textbook writer to lunatic music snob. i worked at a couple record stores, managing a record and tape traders, and then working at soundgarden. after a couple years of that, i got bored and pissed off there too, left on kind of bad terms, and became a waiter at the paper moon diner. steadily, moving down the ladder to worker status at jobs with no future, i swear it's not me.
my girlfriend, a real artist, moved out to california. i'm gonna try to move to new york, maybe hop toward san francisco. when i'm not hating my life as a waiter, i dj. you can check out my stuff on myspace music as "pure maximum".
i realize now, through classmates.com, i'm not very different, except now i'm a pessimist, model-type sexy, and the future no longer looks hopeful.
maybe we can be friends.
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