This week’s top five pays tribute to the keystones of culture in Solon, Ohio. Pronounced “So-lin,” this predominately white suburb of Cleveland boasts Northeast Ohio’s best school district. Solon is home to a category of people who believe themselves to be superior in their imagination, yet flat in reality; they exude liberal attitudes and conservative, golf-course dwelling lifestyles—save the excitement for the next family vacation to Europe.
In daily life, the teens of Solon often feel disconnected from the enticing clubs and shops found in cities. They have nonetheless adapted and burrowed themselves in what Solon has to offer, forming their own version of elite. The following cultural mainstays represent the teen culture and general flow of life of Solon, Ohio.
Though not a private school, the Solon High School student body dictates its own dress code: a Northface brand fleece jacket, Birkenstock clogs, or Ugg boots. The “dress code” is not unique to Solon High School, but it genuinely belongs to the current teenage culture, specifically those teens living in suburbs or outside of big cities. The lack of small, eclectic boutiques in Solon nearly eliminates the resources necessary to devise a refined style. Many girls fall back on the mass market: what everyone else wears and has been wearing for years.
Girls nowadays hold a certain fondness for practical and plain, unstructured apparel and accessories. In fact, the allure of such a wardrobe derives from the unspoken but well-known monetary value of the items. Sure, Birkenstocks belong to the hippie culture, but the modern wearer demands recognition for the fact that he or she paid approximately $100 for shoes. Such a person must enjoy a leisurely lifestyle and therefore earns the envy of his or her peers.
Oversized totes from Hollister and Abercrombie surpassed many other fads last year. The bags, large enough for a small dog or child, dominated the small girls seen carrying them. Once again, the big bag epidemic was inspired by label envy and practicality. Solon’s idea of “fashion” is defined as an outlet for jealousy and ostentatiousness instead of individuality and creativity.
“Hi everyone. I’m Ms. Grondolsky, and I’ll be teaching you English Lit this year. A little bit about me: I live in Lakewood. People often ask why I don’t live in Solon, and I think Solon is a great town, but there’s no way I’d want to live around my students. I graduated from Miami of Ohio, which was, well…I know many of you will end up going there. Not that you won’t love it, but I didn’t.”
The audacity of teacher Jessica Grondolsky drew attention, fear, and concerned glances from her senior AP students on the first day of the 2006-2007 school year. Yet by the end of the year, her class of twelve students felt a strong bond with the young teacher.
Solon’s obsession with high Ohio Graduation Test scores has degraded some of the most talented students to remedial tasks. The tests shift focus from the joy of learning to the joy of receiving statewide acclaim. It has also greatly constricted individual teachers’ influence on shaping the curriculum. Therefore, while students searching for academic integrity in SHS find themselves short-changed, the teachers fill an educational void.
Without a doubt, Solon High School’s faculty teaching AP curriculum become central to their students lives as less authoritarian and more friendly, liberal figures. In contrast to the CP teachers or guidance counselors, staff members intent on administering discipline, the AP teachers at Solon provide intellectual solace. Each teacher’s distinct quirks make class not only informative but also enjoyable. Ron Fabo, Physics teacher, participates in a YMCA dodgeball league, while Paul Milcetich successfully plays the role of notoriously good-looking European History teacher. AP French teacher Davara Potel goes to bed at 8 PM and awakes at 4 AM every day. Such instructors consistently lead their students to high test scores while embracing individuality, not statewide statistics.
Applebees has monopolized Solon’s teenage audience due to one defining feature: it is the only joint in town open late. Unfortunately, the euphoric days of half-priced appetizers after 9 PM came to an abrupt end in September of 2006, when the restaurant repealed its specialty due to mobs of rowdy teens flooding the restaurant on weekend nights. Nonetheless, high schoolers continue to claim Applebees as their turf.
Food choices range from classically greasy American favorites (why are they favorites, anyways?) to specialties from Tyler Florence to dishes designed for waistline-watching Weight Watchers clientele. When craving something sweet, the crunchy, cinnamon shell and warm, creamy filling of the Apple Chimicheesecake meld together into satisfaction. The crisp texture of the Oriental Chicken Rollup fills hungry mouths with pleasure. On the other hand, the Spinach and Artichoke cries for fresher ingredients and, especially on busy nights, cold fries are a guarantee. The food does satisfy general teenage tastes, but the times of operation bring students back for more.
The Applebees staff is usually kind and caters well to large groups of teens. Though the waiters and waitresses rarely protest a request for separate checks, customers may pay for a long waiting time between ordering and eating in return. On a more personal level, waiters such as the famous Billy seem to integrate into the Solon social network. Billy, an erotic 20-something, guarantees an entertaining dining experience with his high-pitched voice and clearly homosexual tendencies. Though he behaves properly when serving families, he becomes vibrant when serving younger adults. Jokes about Billy echo in the Solon High School hallways, reverberating Applebees’ centrality to the Solon teen culture.
The interior is worn, both intentionally and unintentionally. Walls plastered with movie and music memorabilia evoke the comforting atmosphere family-type restaurant. Stained glass lamps, with dull colors and trite floral designs, hang inordinately low from the ceiling—many customers have come face to face with such lamps in unfortunate incidents. Furthermore, the grayish casting on the emerald green carpeting leaves no doubt as to how often the aisles have been treaded. No matter, though; Applebees pulls this aesthetic off. Families come to eat a mediocre meal and teens come to banter. They are not expecting the Taj Mahal or anticipating Wolfgang Puck’s cuisine.
Applebees epitomizes the population of Solon residents who constrain themselves to standard American food and highly bureaucratic, industrialized restaurant chains. Not exactly the most adventurous crowd, these people prefer the known to the unknown, reflecting their conservative tendencies. However, in a town barren of ethnic restaurants (save for a standardized, expensive Sushi bar), those with complex palettes will have to burn some gas to experience gastronomic pleasure. Though Applebees pleases late-night teens clawing for a social hub, an independent, innovative restaurant would stimulate those trying to evade the “Solon bubble.”
SHS students start cramming before the school year begins. Senior girls begin to stress during the last week of summer, painstakingly puffy-painting inside jokes onto cotton t-shirts by the first day of school. The jokes accompany a large “S”, the graduating year, and their names. A long-time, entirely feminine tradition with unknown roots, the “Senior shirt” is a piece of art worn on the first and last days of school, on football-game Fridays, and on other special occasions like Homecoming.
Senior shirts are anything but practical or washable, thanks to mounds of glitter. It actually becomes more of a senior shell once the puffy paint hardens. But truly the production of the senior shirt serves as a time of reflection for the artist. Groups of friends create similar-looking shirts, using the same color schemes or rhinestones, as portrayed in the photos. Therefore, the friends with whom one coordinates represent the epitome of one’s social circle. On the other hand, the risk of losing friends still exists, and some senior girls find themselves matching the t-shirt of their enemy by the end of the year. While the shirt tradition has proved to be long lasting, high school friendships are anything but.
One’s perspective of the senior shirt tradition parallels her attitude towards the SHS student body as an amalgamous whole. The girls who arrive an hour early to football games wearing their boyfriends jerseys typically begin documenting memories during freshman year. They fervently embark on their first “right of passage” as a senior once summer break begins. On the other hand, the females emphasizing academics will contemplate the value of such a tradition, and then either decide to veer away from the norm or piece together a semblance of a senior shirt in the last two days before school. Not only is it a question of school spirit, but a symbol that leads one to wonder: what privileges are seniors entitled to, and what privileges do they create for themselves?
A miracle struck Solon last year when renovation of the SHS auditorium began. For once in its history, the Board of Education actually invested money in the arts instead of the football team or other sports programming. Audiences fill the auditorium to watch quality productions by the drama club. Unfortunately, they are distracted by the theatre’s hideous interior design.
Designed by the SHS drama club director, the theatre is fully equipped with an electric fly system and state-of-the-art lighting technology, but the aesthetic appeal falls far from pleasing. Ditching the traditional blue and gold school colors, a scheme of brown with blue accents lacks classy execution and beauty. The vast ceiling is painted a shade of mahogany that has inspired superfluous toilet jokes. Worst yet, the bright blue seats are upholstered with a nappy, corduroy-like material. In a calamitous orchestration, the color hues clash while the chairs scream of abuse after only a few usages.
Though given an opportunity to shine, the new auditorium disappoints the entire community. Students now take the liberty of being critical and openly disparaging the big box’s design, a serious hit to those who view the theatre as a place of reverence for the fine arts. Especially for those who lack genuine interest in the spectacle on stage, the atrocious interior design could easily win a spectator’s attention, rendering the auditorium renovation a downfall for all but the running crew.
Photos from http://www.vroma.org/~abarker/solonimg.jpeg, solonschools.org, http://www.intermountaintraders.com/layout/pink-north-face-denali.jpg and http://www.alexslemonade.org/images/ApplebeesNeonLogo.gif, respectively. Senior shirt photos courtesy of Katie Littman, Lauren Jaffe, Michele Bentley, and Ali Bloom.
