Thank you so much for answering my three questions. So bad we’re not getting footage from that time but also very expected considering a normal human being would rather die than share footage of them in middle school. Also, about the question regarding an extended version of Junior High, how about some accounts on Substack instead of writing another memoir? I think that would be fair. Maybe upcoming paid substacks of more adult topics in here?
-For starters, the initial audio check is the sort of BTS content we're all here for, as well as a yawning Tegan.
-Secondly, as indicated by your names on zoom, the screen is flipped. Is this so that our brains don't explode by Sara being on the left side, which is very obviously Tegan's side? (and vice versa)
-I have to disagree with Sara. The world needs to see your karate tournament footage. So much so, that it might solve world hunger. (tbh, I too, have karate tournament footage in my vault.)
-Tegan's laughter during the VCR theft story makes her the prime suspect. The sit-in was clearly meant to direct blame elsewhere. It sounds like it worked.
-Might be premature, but hey, when is part 2 coming out? Yes, there's already anticipation!
-Did you guys ever hear from your bullies later in life? Did you ever reach out to people you feel like you bullied?
-When you guys spoke about High School you said how your memories sometimes differed from one another. It sounds like Junior High was more collaborative. Did you have the same experience when it came to your memories of the time?
-Can't wait to see you on the 30th here in NY! You guys and graphic novels are two of my favorite things, so it's a win win.
I'll take this opportunity for the longest of all long shots - if you're already in town tomorrow, I'd love to invite you to a screening of my film as my guests. It's a part of a block, and will be followed by a Q&A. Obviously, because of timing and... a million other reasons, I assume it's not possible, but hey, the film is also here (and is only 14 minutes long):
I'm so sorry. I have no idea how to extend this invite without it coming across as self-promotion 😂
Anyway, you can watch from the comfort of your home and I can pretend, and be like "how cool that I'm going to their event, and they're coming to mine! We're BFFs now!"
Thanks for answering our pressing questions!
X
PS - sorry to say, no bunny will join me at the Junior High Bell House event. But the most recent Bunnies and T&S I made is here:
My mom's got a perm and red lipstick, get fucked. Omg I'm laughing so hard. It's so true. Like we thought we were rough but it was a known fact that Bob Edwards was way worse.
You two did karate. I’d love to see that, actually. 😊
Great insight into bullying. Condoning or not stopping someone from bullying another is just as bad. I still carry guilt from actively bullying someone (Julia - I’m so sorry) and when I didn’t stop my friends from pushing Kevin around. I don’t pine for my younger days. I was not the best human I could’ve been.
I love your new song, btw. Great work. Was that the secret project in Toronto?
(Editing me- sorry this is so long, I tell two stories in the last two-ish paragraphs skip those if you need to but please read the paragraph below and the ‘PS and PPS’.)
It seems like you both always have so much going on, which is great for me because lately I hate nothing going on. So excited about junior high and about this (I’m going to start saving asap)-https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/teganandsaracruise Anyone who isn’t subscribed to T&S’s mailing list go do that or miss stuff like the website above.
I love that you filmed a conversation for us! You’ve been so busy and i’ve missed your wonderful faces on here!
Interesting what you were saying about being bullies as well as getting bullied, I moved schools a lot trying to find one that would accomodate my Neurodiversity (and in Australia as previously explained we don’t have 3 separate parts we have two, primary school- prep (the year before year 1) to year 6, then year 7 to year 12.) in my primary school part I moved 4 times, so I was always the new kid, you learn quickly (as the new kid) everyone is nice until they’re not (or they are), the way it seems to work (here at least) is the teachers assign a student to show you around and then they either take you into their group or they don’t. Anyway long story short because I was either the ‘special needs kid’ or the new kid (and mostly both) I was usually bottom of the school food chain which sometimes meant bullying and other times just being left alone with my other weird friends.
I don’t know about you guys but as someone who was perceived as a girl and isn’t/wasn’t I remember noticing the divide that started to happen between girls and boys, from prep to grade 2 I was at one school and my two best friends were boys, then I moved in year three and had loads of friends but my best friend happened to be a girl, then I moved again (year 4) and that’s when everyone went ‘boy girl crazy’ boys weren’t supposed to hang out with girls and visaversa unless they were ‘dating’ (captioned because the ‘boyfriend’ I had I think I kissed once). So I just naturally feel in with the girls and I remember feeling weird about it, like that wasn’t quite right. It got worse as I got older and we couldn’t come to school wearing PE uniform and instead had to bring it and get changed, even though my ‘friends’ teased me about it I always got changed in the toilet cubicle so no one would see my body. Then when I was the first one to come out as gay it made me feel like I belonged even less as I nervously would try to only look at the floor so no one thought I was looking at them.
Hope you liked my long rant, rant? Don’t know if that’s the word, story maybe? Hope you liked my stories!
Thanks for filming the video for us!
Phoenix, he/they/it, 16, Australia
PS: good luck on tour can’t wait to see you in person eventually, and with all the book events (see you for the virtual one (which I paid for even though it doesn’t ship to Aus)) it’s still worth it but it does suck a bit. Have to get onto pre ordering the book if I want to see it before Christmas (I’m only half joking.)
PPS: I have so many questions regarding the cruise 🚢, are you planning to do a substack post about it? Also some of the suggestions locations have unsafe places for LGBT+ people within them which you probably already know but I just wanted to point out.
From watching the video, there’s a Sara themed merch concept we never knew we needed... “Get Fucked” and it’s just Sara giving the bird to all the things.
“Mum has a perm and wears red lipstick so get fucked” amazing quote, and yeah can you imagine if that kind of internal thought was in the book!? 😂👀
Also yeah that sort of age around junior high, bullying can be so much more severe, because you’re so young! 😔
Thanks for sharing this chat and answering some questions, really cool. Can’t wait for Junior High and for my copy to arrive! I’m also going to the virtual event on the 3rd and really looking forward to that! 😊💛
Thank you for sharing some more about your junior high life. I’m glad that you touched on bullying as so many of us experience it during that time. I was always on the receiving end of bullying, the popular girls were the cruelest. To hear that you were the ones who were doing the bullying at times definitely saddens me, however I do know you were trying to fit in and stay a part of the popular crowd.
There’s a show I’m watching right now called Pen15, it’s on Apple TV and it’s a cringy comedy about two best friends who entered grade 7. The actors play as their adult selves surrounded by a bunch of 13 year olds. I don’t know if you’d like it but I thought I’d mention it :).
Take care and I cannot wait to receive your book on May 30th!
Very interesting. It’s amazing how similar our experiences are in high school. I think everyone can relate to one or another thing that you mentioned. I was horribly bullied in junior high. With big front silver teeth, broken out in elementary school from an accident and braces, my mouth was full of silver. My mother never bought me clothes to wear that were in style, so I was stuck wearing old lady clothes. One kid bullied me everyday walking to and from the bus top. Like you both taking karate, I learned judo in an elective class. One day fed up with his mean antics, I quickly gathered up my guts and grabbed him by the arm and flipped him over onto the ground (called a hip chuck). He was so shocked, he cried and never bullied me again! Ha! Never mess with us girls! It’s so cool that you share your life experiences with us and can relate!! Thank you!!! ❤️
i also had the cool mom of my friends!! she has a full halloween themed tattoo sleeve and would take us to shows. definitely protective and willing to put mean middle schoolers in their place LOL
Tegan you are I every Friday during our Teams huddle 🥱
I don’t blame Sara for not wanting to redo Junior High for adults. Seems redundant to do it twice even though I know it’s a more fictionalized version, especially when the point of this new book is for a younger audience. If you do I’ll still read/listen. Or maybe just some essays, I think I saw someone suggest or short story format. IDK Jr High is a lot.
Imagine getting away with a VCR in your pants. I’m trying to and it seems like an incredible feat.
Thank you for answering those questions. I think you guys could write like an alternative perspectives book that features some of your junior high stories with an adult perspective and reflection. I personally have learned things about myself and been able to reframe memories from listening or reading your reflections on times in your life. A recent example was the TikTok Tegan did about her freak out when she got beach wave in her hair. I had a similar experience. My experience involved me crying in school when a teacher noticed I got a haircut and I was totally uncomfortable and just wanted to hide. Like Tegan looking back it was probably because it felt too girly/gendered.
Thirteen was tough.
Thank you so much for answering my three questions. So bad we’re not getting footage from that time but also very expected considering a normal human being would rather die than share footage of them in middle school. Also, about the question regarding an extended version of Junior High, how about some accounts on Substack instead of writing another memoir? I think that would be fair. Maybe upcoming paid substacks of more adult topics in here?
I have so much to say.
-For starters, the initial audio check is the sort of BTS content we're all here for, as well as a yawning Tegan.
-Secondly, as indicated by your names on zoom, the screen is flipped. Is this so that our brains don't explode by Sara being on the left side, which is very obviously Tegan's side? (and vice versa)
-I have to disagree with Sara. The world needs to see your karate tournament footage. So much so, that it might solve world hunger. (tbh, I too, have karate tournament footage in my vault.)
-Tegan's laughter during the VCR theft story makes her the prime suspect. The sit-in was clearly meant to direct blame elsewhere. It sounds like it worked.
-Might be premature, but hey, when is part 2 coming out? Yes, there's already anticipation!
-Did you guys ever hear from your bullies later in life? Did you ever reach out to people you feel like you bullied?
-When you guys spoke about High School you said how your memories sometimes differed from one another. It sounds like Junior High was more collaborative. Did you have the same experience when it came to your memories of the time?
-Can't wait to see you on the 30th here in NY! You guys and graphic novels are two of my favorite things, so it's a win win.
I'll take this opportunity for the longest of all long shots - if you're already in town tomorrow, I'd love to invite you to a screening of my film as my guests. It's a part of a block, and will be followed by a Q&A. Obviously, because of timing and... a million other reasons, I assume it's not possible, but hey, the film is also here (and is only 14 minutes long):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvU6rjCOaVc
I'm so sorry. I have no idea how to extend this invite without it coming across as self-promotion 😂
Anyway, you can watch from the comfort of your home and I can pretend, and be like "how cool that I'm going to their event, and they're coming to mine! We're BFFs now!"
Thanks for answering our pressing questions!
X
PS - sorry to say, no bunny will join me at the Junior High Bell House event. But the most recent Bunnies and T&S I made is here:
https://www.tiktok.com/@chendrachman/video/7225351903910268206?lang=en
I have close to 0 documentation of me from 10 to 14 years old and thank god for that lol. Loved the answers and the video format! Thanks for sharing!
My mom's got a perm and red lipstick, get fucked. Omg I'm laughing so hard. It's so true. Like we thought we were rough but it was a known fact that Bob Edwards was way worse.
You two did karate. I’d love to see that, actually. 😊
Great insight into bullying. Condoning or not stopping someone from bullying another is just as bad. I still carry guilt from actively bullying someone (Julia - I’m so sorry) and when I didn’t stop my friends from pushing Kevin around. I don’t pine for my younger days. I was not the best human I could’ve been.
I love your new song, btw. Great work. Was that the secret project in Toronto?
Hey Tegan and Sara,
(Editing me- sorry this is so long, I tell two stories in the last two-ish paragraphs skip those if you need to but please read the paragraph below and the ‘PS and PPS’.)
It seems like you both always have so much going on, which is great for me because lately I hate nothing going on. So excited about junior high and about this (I’m going to start saving asap)-https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/teganandsaracruise Anyone who isn’t subscribed to T&S’s mailing list go do that or miss stuff like the website above.
I love that you filmed a conversation for us! You’ve been so busy and i’ve missed your wonderful faces on here!
Interesting what you were saying about being bullies as well as getting bullied, I moved schools a lot trying to find one that would accomodate my Neurodiversity (and in Australia as previously explained we don’t have 3 separate parts we have two, primary school- prep (the year before year 1) to year 6, then year 7 to year 12.) in my primary school part I moved 4 times, so I was always the new kid, you learn quickly (as the new kid) everyone is nice until they’re not (or they are), the way it seems to work (here at least) is the teachers assign a student to show you around and then they either take you into their group or they don’t. Anyway long story short because I was either the ‘special needs kid’ or the new kid (and mostly both) I was usually bottom of the school food chain which sometimes meant bullying and other times just being left alone with my other weird friends.
I don’t know about you guys but as someone who was perceived as a girl and isn’t/wasn’t I remember noticing the divide that started to happen between girls and boys, from prep to grade 2 I was at one school and my two best friends were boys, then I moved in year three and had loads of friends but my best friend happened to be a girl, then I moved again (year 4) and that’s when everyone went ‘boy girl crazy’ boys weren’t supposed to hang out with girls and visaversa unless they were ‘dating’ (captioned because the ‘boyfriend’ I had I think I kissed once). So I just naturally feel in with the girls and I remember feeling weird about it, like that wasn’t quite right. It got worse as I got older and we couldn’t come to school wearing PE uniform and instead had to bring it and get changed, even though my ‘friends’ teased me about it I always got changed in the toilet cubicle so no one would see my body. Then when I was the first one to come out as gay it made me feel like I belonged even less as I nervously would try to only look at the floor so no one thought I was looking at them.
Hope you liked my long rant, rant? Don’t know if that’s the word, story maybe? Hope you liked my stories!
Thanks for filming the video for us!
Phoenix, he/they/it, 16, Australia
PS: good luck on tour can’t wait to see you in person eventually, and with all the book events (see you for the virtual one (which I paid for even though it doesn’t ship to Aus)) it’s still worth it but it does suck a bit. Have to get onto pre ordering the book if I want to see it before Christmas (I’m only half joking.)
PPS: I have so many questions regarding the cruise 🚢, are you planning to do a substack post about it? Also some of the suggestions locations have unsafe places for LGBT+ people within them which you probably already know but I just wanted to point out.
From watching the video, there’s a Sara themed merch concept we never knew we needed... “Get Fucked” and it’s just Sara giving the bird to all the things.
What a perfect day! Saw this post about Junior High AND got my copy of the novel in the mail today! Can’t wait to start reading it!!!!!
Thanks for answering those questions!
“Mum has a perm and wears red lipstick so get fucked” amazing quote, and yeah can you imagine if that kind of internal thought was in the book!? 😂👀
Also yeah that sort of age around junior high, bullying can be so much more severe, because you’re so young! 😔
Thanks for sharing this chat and answering some questions, really cool. Can’t wait for Junior High and for my copy to arrive! I’m also going to the virtual event on the 3rd and really looking forward to that! 😊💛
The juke box, framed U2 poster , Mom has a perm and wears red lipstick so get fucked - that whole train of thought was just amazing.
Thank you for sharing some more about your junior high life. I’m glad that you touched on bullying as so many of us experience it during that time. I was always on the receiving end of bullying, the popular girls were the cruelest. To hear that you were the ones who were doing the bullying at times definitely saddens me, however I do know you were trying to fit in and stay a part of the popular crowd.
There’s a show I’m watching right now called Pen15, it’s on Apple TV and it’s a cringy comedy about two best friends who entered grade 7. The actors play as their adult selves surrounded by a bunch of 13 year olds. I don’t know if you’d like it but I thought I’d mention it :).
Take care and I cannot wait to receive your book on May 30th!
Ciao tee, Sasa,
Thanks for sharing!
I was so close to tell you how your experience resonated but the part about the acid made me rethink of that. lol.
Two considerations:
- Bullying is (still, to Me) one of the most underestimated causes of pain in the western world. We made some steps forward but still..
- Tattoo idea (Sara you're like a tattoo lines factory lol. "there's not enough self love in this world for me to go back to that time and look at it"
Extra consideration: cool to see you use AI! I'm in this field, let's explore together!
Extra consideration 2: you rock, best luck for your release!!
Antonio
Very interesting. It’s amazing how similar our experiences are in high school. I think everyone can relate to one or another thing that you mentioned. I was horribly bullied in junior high. With big front silver teeth, broken out in elementary school from an accident and braces, my mouth was full of silver. My mother never bought me clothes to wear that were in style, so I was stuck wearing old lady clothes. One kid bullied me everyday walking to and from the bus top. Like you both taking karate, I learned judo in an elective class. One day fed up with his mean antics, I quickly gathered up my guts and grabbed him by the arm and flipped him over onto the ground (called a hip chuck). He was so shocked, he cried and never bullied me again! Ha! Never mess with us girls! It’s so cool that you share your life experiences with us and can relate!! Thank you!!! ❤️
i also had the cool mom of my friends!! she has a full halloween themed tattoo sleeve and would take us to shows. definitely protective and willing to put mean middle schoolers in their place LOL
Tegan you are I every Friday during our Teams huddle 🥱
I don’t blame Sara for not wanting to redo Junior High for adults. Seems redundant to do it twice even though I know it’s a more fictionalized version, especially when the point of this new book is for a younger audience. If you do I’ll still read/listen. Or maybe just some essays, I think I saw someone suggest or short story format. IDK Jr High is a lot.
Imagine getting away with a VCR in your pants. I’m trying to and it seems like an incredible feat.
PS Sara did the hair remain down lol.
Thank you for answering those questions. I think you guys could write like an alternative perspectives book that features some of your junior high stories with an adult perspective and reflection. I personally have learned things about myself and been able to reframe memories from listening or reading your reflections on times in your life. A recent example was the TikTok Tegan did about her freak out when she got beach wave in her hair. I had a similar experience. My experience involved me crying in school when a teacher noticed I got a haircut and I was totally uncomfortable and just wanted to hide. Like Tegan looking back it was probably because it felt too girly/gendered.