Minus the Spine

I adore teen angst. I like reading about it, writing about it, watching movies and TV shows about it and sometimes reminiscing about it. I like the cringe-effect. It makes me feel good about who I am today but also keeps me humble. The other day my best friend was graduating from her residency program and her mentor spoke about her, mentioning that her laughter was ‘maniacal.’ I remember the first time hearing her laugh in junior high and being taken aback by its berzerk, staccato atonality: omigod someone is expressing unabandoned pleasure! But then later its infectiousness totally drew me in and I became a disciple of unbridled laughter that may or may not have included a snort here and there. Reading Julie Orringer’s collection of stories, How to Breathe Underwater, has me thinking about those gangly tween years. She relates those ”small and tight and wrong” moments without flinching or cringing. Here’s a story that she published this past year in the Washington Post Magazine: Ask for Pain.