hw 59

Prior to participating in prom I thought of Prom as something very hyped up. That is exactly what it was. This is not too say I did not have a great time or enjoy myself. However, prom as a transforming moment in someones life? not so much. Maybe this was because I did not follow all of the special tradition one is supposed to for their prom. However, there were a few things I noticed that seemed stupid at first that was much more understandable through experience. The entire reason for dressing up and buying all these luxury things for one night was something I did not understand too much. I had no real personal desire for this but in the spirit of prom and spending it with my classmates and close friends I followed many of these expectations. After 4 years of school work and knowing most people on a school centered basis, it is nice to have pure social time and feel like youhave worked hard to enjoy yourself. Basically although it is spoiling yourself, it would be a lie to say it isn't enjoyable. There i a certain feeling of accomplishment that is present at prom, and when people speak of the "magic" of prom, this was what most closely resignated with that for me. However, knowing all the hype around prom and in partiulare the different traditions of prom takes away someof the immature and exaggerated "special-ness" of prom.

Our thoughts and discussions on prom prior too the actual prom did have some sort of affect on people. It seemed like towards the beginning of prom people were pretty laid back and not dancing much. Maybe people saw some stupidity in the idea of prom. However, after a while people realized why prom is viewed at in the way it is and maybe although there is a lot of BS around it you should still enjoy yourself the most you can. Thats exactly what people did, everyone was dancing and having a good time. SOF also doesn't do prom king and prom queen, which also relieves alot of the traditional stress one may get at other prom's where traditions are more closely followed. By removing the traditions of king and queen it made prom less of a big deal, it simply did not feel like the social climax of my highschool epxerience, whcih is what it has been played up to be time and time again.

I definitely had a bit of cynnicism towards prom prior to it and actually experienceing it made me change my views in favor of prom a bit more. Although I was never against the idea of prom in anyway I saw it as stupid event put on by the school that people go to because, as is said with many things prom related, it is tradition. My views of prom changed slightly because the experience didn't feel so fake, as it is so often described or portrayed. The mixture of the way SOF held prom and actually eperiencing it made me think about the positives of prom, this was in contrast to my thinking prior to prom which was mostly focused on criticisms of the event.

All in all, while prom may not be some magical fairy tale experience, it is a fun time. The traditions maybe silly but following them isn't so bad. It is a somewhat serious somewhat silly type of fun. Seeing everyone dance together and laugh and simply talk was nice. School is always full of so much drama and while prom might not be the best thing to alleviate drama, this prom was fairly drama-free and was definitely a nice change of pace from everyday school life. The appeal of prom, for me, grew through the experience; however, my thoughts on the event of prom and how it is viewed in our society have not changed much.