Is the economy really so bad in the United States? Because apparently things are good enough for middle school girls to buy things like chandeliers, rugs, and "fashion bins" for their school lockers. The NY Times says that schools are now the "latest frontier in nesting.... Peek inside, and find lockers outfitted with miniature furry carpets, motion-sensor-equipped lamps that glow when the door opens, mirrors, decorative flowers, and magnetic wallpaper in floral and leopard-print patterns."
I wonder what brave new worlds are yet to be conquered in the world of nesting! I'm guessing interior decoration and "hand pampering accessories" for your trouser and coat pockets.
That locker thing doesn't seem so terrible, as conspicuous consumption goes. Compared to, you know, driving a Ferrari to school or something. It's a bit girly-girly and all that, but how much would three square foot of wallpaper and a miniature lampshade set you back?
There's not much wrong with that, I think. (Except the colours/patterns!) It's not much different to 'personalising' your desk at school by drawing on it. As someone who appreciates functionality, I think it makes the space less 'fit for purpose', but so long as she can fit her stuff in there, I suppose it's okay.
I "personalized" my locker in high school, but with pictures cut out from magazines, stickers, and such. That classic locker-interior look can be achieved for very little money even today, I would imagine.
We had half-lockers (top, middle, and bottom, which were the worst) until we were seniors, I think, and then we got full-length lockers.
I wish I had taken pictures of mine. I remember I had a Skull Skates sticker, an Otis Sistrunk football card, and a bunch of band photos cut out of Rolling Stone and Spin. (Fishbone, The Cure, and Moz, among others, I'm sure.)
I never got lockers, because by the time that I got to high school they had been all locked and were no longer issued to students because of safety reasons (fearing kids hiding weapons in them).
There's a building at UCLA that has lockers in them. One of them has a lot of old stickers on it...when they give students the orientation tour, they tell you that it was Jim Morrison's locker, and the stickers were all tabs of acid that he dropped before classes. One of the many false urban legends that they tell you on the tour.
Maybe kids won't need lockers now that so much of their material is online. They'd just need a secure place to stash their coat in winter.
The primary purpose of the locker was so you didn't have to lug 40 lbs of textbooks and notebooks everywhere. I had a hard time remembering which book I needed for each class so I got a huge backpack and just carried half a day's worth of stuff around everywhere. I took everything home. No wonder o have back issues.
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