Community’s Abed Nadir loves Greendale Community College and his study group, but he needs to retreat into his world of pop-culture references every so often just like any socially confused lover of ...
This lady in this illustration from the '60s looks so relaxed and summery and like a watermelon. I want to go to there. HELLO ROOKIES I CANNOT EVEN GREET YOU PROPERLY BECAUSE I’M SO EXCITED I HO...
Coffee Shop Doughnut Girl Near my apartment there is a coffee shop that is famous (at least to me) for their delicious doughnuts—which are advertised as being AS BIG AS YOUR FACE—so every Sunday befo...
Collage by Emma D. I am a really competitive person. I apply a competitive mindset not only to the big stuff, like my GPA and my jobs, but also to seemingly inconsequential things, like being the ver...
Illustration by Beth My first time was in Baltimore, surrounded by drunk cops and charismatic drug dealers. Some of my friends had put in their time before me and were already speaking in code. When ...
Where in the world is Minna Gilligan? Dylan Before you reach legal adulthood, acting like a miniature grownup is the key to getting what you want in life. Read More » Naomi Anxiety makes everything s...
Collage by Minna A lot has been said about the power of clothes, especially by young starlets with fledgling fashion lines who always give the requisite “I just love how clothes can transform you!” k...
The gang from 1975's Switchblade Sisters A bunch of years ago I was a radio reporter doing a story on girl gangs—the tough kind in Chicago where girls carried guns and sold drugs. One girl that ...
Me and some of my favorite red-lipsticked looks. There’s something pretty powerful about a slash of red lipstick—it says, “I am awesome, and I have awesome things to say.” No matter what your style i...
Collage by
The term New Romantic refers to music, fashion, and the general lifestyle that was the ’80s-glamour counterpoint to punk that first emerged at the very end of the ’70s and continued throughout the ne...
Steven Patrick Morrissey, age 13. Illustrations on and manipulations of all these photos by Hattie. Morrissey is a mythological creature, one we may never really know. We do know that he was the lead...
Illustration by Dylan Your first job can be an exciting and nerve-wracking endeavor. Responsibility! Life skills! Character building! All those other buzzwords that you pretend to care about when ear...
Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) This is one of those movies that you’ll want to watch over and over again and you’ll never get tired of it. Rosanna Arquette plays Roberta, a rich, bored New Jersey h...
I am a bath freak. I take baths at least once a week (sometimes I come home from college JUST TO TAKE BATHS) and it’s always a big deal of candles, incense, bath salts, classical music, face masks, h...
Collage by Beth When I was in the eighth grade, at a school in a suburb of Boston, a kid named Brad moved to our town. It was halfway through the year, and most of our grade had known one another for...
"FOR DONNA" by Minna Dylan Do you ever wonder when adolescence ends? Read More » Naomi I am already looking back at this year so far and seeing all that I have done, every test of my streng...
Illustration by Cynthia One day when I was 11 years old, I came home from school, looked my dad in the eye, threw down my backpack, and announced, “I am DONE being good.” I don’t remember saying this...
With summer around the corner, it’s time for my most dreaded shopping task: swimsuit shopping. All my friends like to show off their bods in bikinis, but I’m not really into wearing them. How can I l...
These days everyone goes on and on about mixing high fashion with vintage and mass-market clothes, but it was not always this way. Fashion used to be a pretty top-down thing: fashion magazines showed...
Illustration by Marjainez Sheila was the older sister of Julian, one of my hockey teammates. We met after a school football game during my sophomore year of high school. She had jet-black hair and ol...
Illustration by Kelly The jobs available to teenagers seem designed to make you feel powerless. Mechanically stuffing groceries into plastic bags. Serving food. Serving food while wearing a stupid ha...
The 1980s were an adventurous time for eye makeup. Take two of our favorite pop-punk princesses of the era, Siouxsie Sioux (of Siouxsie and the Banshees) and Bow Wow Wow’s Annabella Lwin. They both g...
Illustration by Emma D. Here’s an unexciting secret: the Rookie staff has a hidden Facebook group wherein we discuss themes and ideas and assignments. We also go there to chat and gossip and joke aro...
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