What Really Happened to the Class of '93: Start-ups, Dropouts, and Other Navigations Through an Untidy Decade - Hardcover

Colin, Chris

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0767914791 ISBN 13: 9780767914796

Publisher: Broadway, 2004

Synopsis

The homecoming queen, the teen mom, the scientist, the wallflower, the flirt, the discipline case, and the homophobe—how did a decade marked by impeachment, a dot-com bubble, 9/11, and war shake their lives?
 
The Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology’s class of '93 graduated into an era of unprecedented optimism. The Soviet Union had collapsed, Clinton was pre-Monica, and rumors were spreading about a thing called the Internet. For young people stepping out into the world for the first time, America hummed with promise. Just ten years later, that promise has collapsed into uncertainty, and the class of '93—nearly in their thirties now—finds itself struggling to make sense of all that's happened.

In the year leading up to his ten-year reunion, journalist Chris Colin tracked down his former classmates and asked them to pull back the curtains on their lives. Sometimes what he discovered was a swath of American history, other times simply frank and arresting accounts of how people fall in love, or steady their nerves on hills in Kosovo, or fall on their knees before God, or find out biology had handed them the wrong gender, and otherwise lurch into adulthood. And when the Thomas Jefferson class of '93 finally reconvenes for the reunion itself —after the very core of their country seems to have been shaken—Colin finds that maybe he and his classmates never left high school behind in the first place.

For all that's been said about the dramatic years straddling the turn of the twenty-first century, little has been observed about those who actually came of age in that time. For the Class of '93, unbridled optimism gave way to bewilderment, peace to war, and happiness sometimes to tragedy. From these stories emerges a picture of an era and the intensely candid story of a few lives taking shape in the midst of it.

About this title

About the Author

CHRIS COLIN is a former editor and writer for Salon. His work has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, McSweeney’s, and various anthologies. He lives in San Francisco.

From the Inside Flap

The homecoming queen, the teen mom, the scientist, the wallflower, the flirt, the discipline case, and the homophobe?how did a decade marked by impeachment, a dot-com bubble, 9/11, and war shake their lives?
 
The Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology?s class of '93 graduated into an era of unprecedented optimism. The Soviet Union had collapsed, Clinton was pre-Monica, and rumors were spreading about a thing called the Internet. For young people stepping out into the world for the first time, America hummed with promise. Just ten years later, that promise has collapsed into uncertainty, and the class of '93?nearly in their thirties now?finds itself struggling to make sense of all that's happened.

In the year leading up to his ten-year reunion, journalist Chris Colin tracked down his former classmates and asked them to pull back the curtains on their lives. Sometimes what he discovered was a swath of American history, other times simply frank and arresting accounts of how people fall in love, or steady their nerves on hills in Kosovo, or fall on their knees before God, or find out biology had handed them the wrong gender, and otherwise lurch into adulthood. And when the Thomas Jefferson class of '93 finally reconvenes for the reunion itself ?after the very core of their country seems to have been shaken?Colin finds that maybe he and his classmates never left high school behind in the first place.

For all that's been said about the dramatic years straddling the turn of the twenty-first century, little has been observed about those who actually came of age in that time. For the Class of '93, unbridled optimism gave way to bewilderment, peace to war, and happiness sometimes to tragedy. From these stories emerges a picture of an era and the intensely candid story of a few lives taking shape in the midst of it.

Reviews

Adult/High School–Colin writes of the lives of 16 of his classmates from the Thomas Jefferson School of Science and Technology in Fairfax County, VA, an affluent suburb of Washington, DC. They graduated into an economic bubble, the dot.com expansion, and a seemingly peaceful world where "anything was possible." Their 10th reunion occurred after the bubble burst, the dot.coms failed, and the events of 9/11. Readers meet the homecoming queen who is now a Fair Trade activist, the transgendered Matthew/Anne, and the dedicated pre-law student who now teaches in an inner-city school. One member seemingly on the way to astounding success hung himself; another, suspended for bringing a (broken) pellet gun to school, is a weapons tester for the government; and the unwed mother pregnant in her junior year tells of raising her loving and well-adjusted son. Each profile is preceded by comments from other classmates, and Colin's writing skills make for compelling stories and vivid portraits. While the author sometimes stretches for cosmic meaning, and some of the situations are unique, the intimate glimpses into the lives of these young people will resonate with teens. They will recognize themselves, their friends, and even their enemies, and will benefit from the perspective of a decade of further experience.–Susan H. Woodcock, Fairfax County Public Library, Chantilly, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Colin, a former writer and editor for Salon.com, believes that his high school class represents the important societal events that have occurred between 1993 and today. His classmates were unified by a feeling of invincibility. Well before a shadow of terrorism and economic gloom took hold of the country, these students had no limits on their future and could set out to accomplish virtually anything. That's why Colin chose to profile 20 of his classmates from Virginia's Jefferson High School. The public school, located just outside of Washington, D.C, was a specialized school and attracted some of the most gifted students in the area. The author introduces readers to a diverse group of people. There is Karen, the rebellious but ambitious student who abruptly walks out of her LSAT exam and becomes an inner-city teacher; Ryan, who ends up abandoning his dream of being a doctor and practices Buddhism; Lesley, who has faced serious bouts with depression since graduation. Colin allows his classmates to offer observations on one another, and after each profile, he offers more general commentary on his life and that of his classmates. Colin is a skilled writer and makes these profiles of unknown people surprisingly interesting. Unfortunately, Colin's interpretation of his reunion and his friends isn't strong enough to make this compelling social history.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

On the cusp of his high-school reunion, Colin, who graduated in 1993, decided to communicate with some of his classmates and see how they had fared in the 10 years since graduation. Positing that the years between 1993 and 2003 consisted of events that defined his generation, from the '90s dot-com boom to 9/11, Colin searched out old friends and foes and folks in between, to see what they'd been up to. One classmate turned his love of weaponry into a vocation. Colin discovered that an old girlfriend who is now married to a mutual friend of theirs from high school has some unresolved issues from their relationship. One classmate had a sex change and became very involved in leftist politics. Another found her calling in Washington, D.C., working for a Republican senator. The book ends with the reunion in all of its awkward and surprisingly sedate encounters. An intriguing portrait of a diverse group of people; Gen-Xers facing their own reunions will be drawn in. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Broadway
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0767914791
• ISBN 13: 9780767914796
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304