The Exit Strategy - Act 2, Part 5

Graduating Year

High School Politics

Music started taking over my life.

If I had to work, I figured I should at least get a job I enjoyed. Every day, as I walked into the suit department at the department store, I’d pass by Mr. Sound and glance at the young people inside. Just outside, there were benches where kids gathered to listen to the music spilling out. Malls were still a place where teenagers could hang out after school—before management spent the next decade removing benches to discourage loitering. But our store had a bench!

In the fall of 1978, I began my final year of high school. At the urging of two new friends, Helen and Irene, I decided to run for Student Union President of Scona Composite High School. Before that, I barely knew them. Helen had a retro 1950s style, complete with cat-eye glasses, while Irene was a large Irish girl with a booming laugh…