97 Things to Do Before You Finish High School - Softcover

Stalder, Erika; Jenkins, Steven

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0979017300 ISBN 13: 9780979017308

Publisher: Zest Books, 2008

Synopsis

Being in high school is about a lot more than going to high school. It’s about discovering new places, new hobbies, and new people—and opening your eyes to the world. This book is about the stuff they don’t teach you in high school, like how to host a film festival, plan your first road trip, make a podcast, or write a manifesto.

Want to make a time capsule? Spend a day in silence? Learn how to make beats like a DJ? Or shut down your house party before the police do? Whatever your creative, social, or academic inclinations, you’ll find 97 ways on these pages to amuse, educate, and interest yourself and your friends—helpfully organized into nine categories:

1. For Your Personal Development
2. With/for Friends
3. With/for Family
4. For Your Body
5. To Get to Know the World Around You
6. To Express Yourself
7. To Benefit Your Community and Environment
8. Because You Should
9. Because You're Only Young Once 

Because your life doesn’t stop at 3 p.m. each day—it just gets started.

About this title

About the Author

Erika Stalder is a San Francisco–based writer who has contributed to Wired, Missbehave, Planet, and The Journal of Life Sciences. She worked with the International Museum of Women to produce the Imagining Ourselves anthology and wrote the De column for ABC Family’s The Secret Life of The American Teenager website.

Steven Jenkins is a San Francisco–based cultural critic whose writings on film, music, art, and literature appear in national periodicals, exhibitions catalogs, and artist monographs. He is the editor of City Slivers and Fresh Kills: The Films of Gordon Matta-Clark and Model Culture: James Casebere, Photographs 1975–1996.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Redo Your Room

Face it — your bedroom is the only place you can call your own. It should reflect your ideology, personality, and charm. But who chose the furniture, wallpaper, and paint? Were these stylistic atrocities forced on you by clueless decorators whose ideas of cool were ballerina figurines and tiger-striped throw pillows? Reclaim this precious space by redecorating. All it takes to transform your bedroom is some ingenuity and a little (very little) cash. Even if a complete overhaul isn’t possible right now, you can style your space with personal touches to make it unmistakably yours.

How to Do It

1. First, clean up. It’s a drag, but that’s the only way to get a good look at the space. To redesign, you need some room to experiment. Free up space by moving out things you no longer want or need. (Keep your "out pile" around until you are totally finished because you may re-use that stuff for other purposes.)

2. Once you have a partially blank slate, start putting your stamp on your stomping grounds. Think about who you are and make your design reflect that person. If you’re a sports nut, pick out memorabilia from your favorite team. Music lovers can frame old record albums and create a grid of classic covers. Maps of the world and a cool collection of international postcards work for travel lovers and adventure seekers.

143. After redecorating, revisit the stuff you took out. Can you do something to wake up that old bookshelf or nightstand? Try throwing colorful fabrics on chipped tabletops, or sanding and staining old furniture to make it look new.

4. When you’re done, responsibly throw away, donate, sell, or recycle whatever you can’t use.

Now, your room is your own personal creative space and the refuge from the outside world that it is supposed to be!

Edition details

• Publisher: Zest Books
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0979017300
• ISBN 13: 9780979017308
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208