Kids and their identities these days.

First, I need to apologize. I was gross and germy and basically 99% out of commission this weekend.

And I forgot. Heh.

So, adolescents, identities, and literacies. It’s everywhere. It’s in the magazines they read, the bands they listen to (and advertise on their cars, their backpacks, their binder covers). It’s in the shirts they wear, the way they wear their hair. It’s in the television shows they watch, the extra-curricular activities they’re involved in. It’s in their Facebook account.

Basically, how they relate to and respond to pop culture. For many kids, I’d feel safe to assume this also included things of a more serious nature, such as politics and social issues. Not to minimize such things, but it does play a part.

Bronwyn Williams’s article “What South Park Character are You?” (I think I was Stan–snooore) brought a lot of this home, though he does unwittingly date himself with his focus on MySpace.

Please, Mr. Williams, that’s so seven years ago.

He discusses how pop culture has found itself in technology–the Internet, specifically–almost transcribing itself from the paper of magazines and books and even brick and mortar stores of yesteryear. They create ways for adolescents to create symbols of their identity, often intertextual–amalgamating images, music, words to create multi-layered messages of who we are–messages that reach audiences both intended and unintended, and are thus interpreted in a number of ways. This includes the issue of geography on social media sites, such as My Space but to a lesser degree, Facebook. For those on Pinterest: which boards are displayed at the top? Which at the bottom? Why “like” a pin but not repin it? And so on.

I thought of memes during the entire article, during all of my group’s discussions because, truly, this is the way to express identity in an almost safe environment. How else could we admit to our socially awkward crimes unless there are a ton of other people who are just as awkward as we are? And, ohmygod, there are other short people out there experiencing the same bullshit I am? Amazing!

What do our favorite memes say about us? Do we understand all of the layers of references within them, and how much does it matter if we do or don’t?

But the real question: to what degree do the kids understand this? Williams seems to think that they are–until you reach the point of geography. Did they mean to put that quote next to that image? It’s not just with Pinterest, either, but even on Facebook–which quote do I put first? The funny Gilmore Girls one (“Well you don’t want a communal naked guy nowadays, you know. It’s too sketchy”) or the thought-provoking Alfie Kohn quote about the concern we ought to have when we no longer have an idea but the idea has us? On Twitter–what do we tweet about? What don’t we tweet about? WHO IS MY AUDIENCE?! Public versus private identities. Who do I want them to think I am? Is it okay for these people to know I have the mouth of a sailor?

Further, these ideas of organization and consideration of placement and logistics and rhetoric and audiences all relate to English, to writing. The understanding of intertextual references inherent in things such as memes, understanding the implications of quote or picture placement is all about how we read, the intricacies within, the depth and richness of everything.

There’s absolutely a way to connect it all. I hadn’t thought of that yet. Perhaps an assignment or project based on identity could be an incognito lesson in writing well.