List Five Events From 1984

As seen on Miranda July's web site Learning to Love You More...

1. I squirrelled away my allowance until I had enough to get my hair dyed turquoise, purple and fuschia with polka dots on the sides and back. I was 13. My mother called the hairdresser and threatened to file a lawsuit.

2. In the same month (April), I met Cyndi Lauper and two members of Culture Club, and I was convinced Boy George had looked right at me in a crowd as I waved a doll at him. This doll was a brunette Southern Belle, a gift from my grandmother, that I transformed into a Boy George doll by means of a new hairdo, a hand-sewn outfit, and makeup consisting of ballpoint-pen eyeliner and nail-polish lipstick.

3. I got in so many philosophical debates with a friend of mine, who was a devout Lutheran, that she started debating with her pastor and became an agnostic as a result.

4. The parents of two friends banned them from talking or hanging out with me because I was a "bad influence." This despite the fact that I did not drink or use drugs, was not remotely sexy, and--until one night that summer--had never kissed anyone.

5. Two friends and I spent the summer experimenting with our psychic powers, and it worked.