Me, Myself and "Daria"

We are now entering H***,Please keep your hands and feet inside the car.

In January of 2000, I was informed on a ride back from a home visit to my family that I’d be moving out by the summer. That, in and of itself, was quite a shocker for me. I had been a long-time “Student” of the social services organization “Northwoods Childrens Home” later renamed “Northwoods Children’s Services”. The car trundled down the carriageway and we continued to listen to some of the soundtrack featured in Mega Man Legends for the Playstation 1

Later that year, two case workers from “Meridian Services” turned up at the media centre at Morgan Park Middle School to speak with me about the move. That all went well. I learnt I would be moving down to Fridley with my then roomate, Brandon.

5, Sept, 2000, my journey through high school began. We made our way to the bus stop up the street and waited for the bus. Brandon and I boarded the bus and the “fun” began.

There was a short running TV show in the late 90s known as “Daria”. The show consisted of a cast of realistic but slightly exaggerated, as well as stereotypical characters. The morgendorffer family lived in a small, suburban town of Lawndale. Paralleling my own experience, they had also moved from Highland. The Morgandorffers consisted of Daria, Quinn, Jake, and Helen. Daria and her Quinn were sisters. They were also complete opposites in personality. Quinn was prim, popular and social. Daria kept to herself, her writing and her books. They were at odds with each other through most of the Show. Infact, their rivalry was the backbone of many episodic plots. Jake and Helen were a working couple. Helen worked a a law firm and Jake worked in corporate Law. Helen is more the down to earth type, Jake comes off as neurotic.
The meat and Potatoes of the show comes off in the form of Daria and her adventures in the highschool setting. She has a best friend, Jane Lane, who is a budding artist. Most of the other students in school seem to annoy Daria, however, she doesn’t stop from quipping sarcasm at them when they say things utterly...unintelligent.

I’m sure by now, you’re wondering to yourself, “How does this add up? Isn’t TV fictional and real-life “Real?” I reply thusly, that we are often attracted to consuming media that we easily and readily relate to. Like in Daria’s fictional “Lawndale High” Spring Lake Park had “the Jocks”, “The Nerds”, “the Goths” and other cliques. Cliques are a part of human nature, as we are social beings.

I can also answer this question with yet another fork. I
was a lot like Daria. I was reserved, yet sarcastic. I was also an avid reader, as well as versed in classic literature. I had a few friends that were like Jane Lane, artists. LIke Daria, I was too Keen on after school activities and sporting events. Unlike Daria, They were written into my IEP and I had no choice.

“You’re standing on my neck”

4 years later, I walked with my class. Sadly, this was not the end of my journey. 2 years prior, the IEP team had put me into life skills. However, not all was a loss. I had finished all my credits 6 months early. I used the excess time to write a play, and a few short stories. 2 years after that, it was finally over. I was finally an Alumni at Spring Lake Park Highschool

The TV show Daria, with its sitcom like, realistic and sometimes out there antics sems to be a sign of the Zeitgheist. Recently, I had found th show again after having a dream, and can see many parallels with it. Even though some things in it are exaggerated, the realism is there. It is an odd, haunting jaunt into Jungian psychology with each episode. I continue to watch it to this day.