Amy Angeles by Jack Nazy
Amy Angeles (Meggison) ((1985-1986)
Amy (Meggison) Angeles moved around a lot in her youth and teen years because of her father being in the Air Force. She attended Woodrow Wilson High in San Francisco from ’82 to ’85 before moving to Washington to complete her senior year at Cascade. She moved in with her aunt so she could attend school with her younger cousin instead of finishing high school with complete strangers. She reflects on her year at Cascade and remembers it as a time of growth and self-improvement. What she remembers most about teen life in San Fran is lots of gangs around Mission District and the nice weather. It was quite a lot warmer in California, which forced her to buy a much thicker wardrobe shortly after her arrival to Washington, especially for winter. She is now 42, married, and lives with her spouse and 3 children in Everett.
I spent the majority of my high school year in southern California until senior year and I was very used to moving around since my father was in the military. I liked schooling in San Fran more not because the academics were better, but because I had great social life with many friends. Cascade provided me with a sense of security; I didn’t get bullied at all except for being the new girl. I quickly tried to change that and I did a lot of things to try to fit in, some that I have ended up regretting. I started smoking, and MTV just got started when I entered high school so I would sit around, smoke, and talk about what’s new on MTV with my new friends. Cascade had its cliques and groups just like every other school I ever went to, so nothing was different about that. I probably went through about 3 cliques before I found the right group that was beneficial to my health but also filled with good, fun people. I didn’t have a cell phone back than and rode public transportation of course. I’m glad I grew up in the 80’s instead of in this era because things were easier and much cheaper during my time. Kids these days spend four times the amount of money I used to spend; at least that’s how my kids are. I enjoyed the latter end of my time at Cascade because the teachers were caring and my grades were better than ever. I was academically motivated because I wasn’t in a bad environment. It really helped to shape my life. My grades did not go down because I missed my parents, either. Leaving was difficult for me but it wasn’t completely foreign to be independent from my parents. We kept in touch. As a teen, I wasn’t very in the now. I didn’t watch the news, and I only vaguely remembered events. One thing I remember being very important was the sudden awareness about the famine in Africa. Music was very important to me, I remember singing “We Are the World” at assemblies and thinking “We never would’ve done this at my old high school.” It was one of my favorite things about Cascade. I also remember the mid 80’s as being a terrible time. There were many deaths because of earthquakes, storms, terrorism, and airplane related accidents. When I moved to Washington, my aunt and younger cousin watched the news religiously and would tell me about news or I would overhear their conversations. Usually it wasn’t very interesting to me but some events caught my eye from time to time. At school, some of my teachers would stop their lesson to ask us who had watched the news recently. Only a few classmates ever did, but our ignorance only motivated my teachers to talk about it more. That’s how I got most of my knowledge; through my English and science teachers. I watched coverage of a big earthquake in Mexico City and saw images of all the rubble. It was very tragic and uncomfortable for me to watch. I never liked watching the news because there was too much sadness. I don’t remember events in Washington that affected Cascade because honestly the drama of high school took the spotlight instead of what was on the news. The 80’s were care-free. Music was a big outlet and everybody listened to pop songs. If I had to compare it to the music of today, they are nothing alike. There was no censorship back then because there was very minimal swearing. And streets were more alive, with young and old people waiting at bus stops because public transportation was convenient and popular. People were friendlier: they waved and smiled when they passed you on the streets and sometimes stopped to ask you how your day was. If I was waiting at a bus stop, I almost always ended up making small talk with a stranger. I went to arcades, played Pac Man, played pinball, and had yo-yo’s. I feel that the kids of today are sheltered, spoiled, and too introverted. With time, Big Brother has become more and more overbearing. AIDs became an important topic at school and in the household. People were blaming the development and spreading of AIDs on the gay community, and that was what really started America’s openness to sex and homosexuals. Before AIDs, there were no sex related commercials and no one really acknowledged that teens in high school had a sex life. After AIDs, adults began to initiate the process known as “The Talk.” I don’t believe we would have ended up here today (openly talking about practicing safe sex, abstinence, and seeing condom commercials on TV) without the discovery of AIDs years ago.
Amy (Meggison) Angeles moved around a lot in her youth and teen years because of her father being in the Air Force. She attended Woodrow Wilson High in San Francisco from ’82 to ’85 before moving to Washington to complete her senior year at Cascade. She moved in with her aunt so she could attend school with her younger cousin instead of finishing high school with complete strangers. She reflects on her year at Cascade and remembers it as a time of growth and self-improvement. What she remembers most about teen life in San Fran is lots of gangs around Mission District and the nice weather. It was quite a lot warmer in California, which forced her to buy a much thicker wardrobe shortly after her arrival to Washington, especially for winter. She is now 42, married, and lives with her spouse and 3 children in Everett.
I spent the majority of my high school year in southern California until senior year and I was very used to moving around since my father was in the military. I liked schooling in San Fran more not because the academics were better, but because I had great social life with many friends. Cascade provided me with a sense of security; I didn’t get bullied at all except for being the new girl. I quickly tried to change that and I did a lot of things to try to fit in, some that I have ended up regretting. I started smoking, and MTV just got started when I entered high school so I would sit around, smoke, and talk about what’s new on MTV with my new friends. Cascade had its cliques and groups just like every other school I ever went to, so nothing was different about that. I probably went through about 3 cliques before I found the right group that was beneficial to my health but also filled with good, fun people. I didn’t have a cell phone back than and rode public transportation of course. I’m glad I grew up in the 80’s instead of in this era because things were easier and much cheaper during my time. Kids these days spend four times the amount of money I used to spend; at least that’s how my kids are. I enjoyed the latter end of my time at Cascade because the teachers were caring and my grades were better than ever. I was academically motivated because I wasn’t in a bad environment. It really helped to shape my life. My grades did not go down because I missed my parents, either. Leaving was difficult for me but it wasn’t completely foreign to be independent from my parents. We kept in touch. As a teen, I wasn’t very in the now. I didn’t watch the news, and I only vaguely remembered events. One thing I remember being very important was the sudden awareness about the famine in Africa. Music was very important to me, I remember singing “We Are the World” at assemblies and thinking “We never would’ve done this at my old high school.” It was one of my favorite things about Cascade. I also remember the mid 80’s as being a terrible time. There were many deaths because of earthquakes, storms, terrorism, and airplane related accidents. When I moved to Washington, my aunt and younger cousin watched the news religiously and would tell me about news or I would overhear their conversations. Usually it wasn’t very interesting to me but some events caught my eye from time to time. At school, some of my teachers would stop their lesson to ask us who had watched the news recently. Only a few classmates ever did, but our ignorance only motivated my teachers to talk about it more. That’s how I got most of my knowledge; through my English and science teachers. I watched coverage of a big earthquake in Mexico City and saw images of all the rubble. It was very tragic and uncomfortable for me to watch. I never liked watching the news because there was too much sadness. I don’t remember events in Washington that affected Cascade because honestly the drama of high school took the spotlight instead of what was on the news. The 80’s were care-free. Music was a big outlet and everybody listened to pop songs. If I had to compare it to the music of today, they are nothing alike. There was no censorship back then because there was very minimal swearing. And streets were more alive, with young and old people waiting at bus stops because public transportation was convenient and popular. People were friendlier: they waved and smiled when they passed you on the streets and sometimes stopped to ask you how your day was. If I was waiting at a bus stop, I almost always ended up making small talk with a stranger. I went to arcades, played Pac Man, played pinball, and had yo-yo’s. I feel that the kids of today are sheltered, spoiled, and too introverted. With time, Big Brother has become more and more overbearing. AIDs became an important topic at school and in the household. People were blaming the development and spreading of AIDs on the gay community, and that was what really started America’s openness to sex and homosexuals. Before AIDs, there were no sex related commercials and no one really acknowledged that teens in high school had a sex life. After AIDs, adults began to initiate the process known as “The Talk.” I don’t believe we would have ended up here today (openly talking about practicing safe sex, abstinence, and seeing condom commercials on TV) without the discovery of AIDs years ago.