The Blog

We’ve getting ready to ring in 2014, and if you’re starting to make those resolutions for January 1, familiarize yourself with Rookie, not just the Yearbooks but the site helmed by the brilliant Tavi Gevinson. It’s a field guide to teenagedom and a celebration of adolescence that makes good reading for those of us on the other side of 19.

By way of recommendation, we’ve picked out a Rookie Freshman 15, consisting of 15 pieces of encouragement and instruction that we’d all do well to heed:

1) “In high school, we become pretty convinced that we know what reality is: We know who looks down on us, who is above us, exactly who our friends and our enemies are. We know what’s true, and what is, and there’s no room for doubt. Sadly, this condition will likely continue throughout the rest of our lives, unless we actively work to combat it.” — Winnie Holzman, creator of My So-Called Life

2) “How to approach the person you like without throwing up”
“Asking questions and giving opinions about their situation is pretty straightforward, even for a spaz like I was.” — Ira Glass

3) “How not to care what other people think of you”
“You have to convince yourself that you don’t care before you start actually not caring. You have to, like, brainwash yourself a little bit.” — Tavi

4) “Fashion can certainly help you identify yourself. It is your advertisement; it’s what you tell the world. Not ‘I’m goth,’ or ‘I’m this, I’m that,’ but, ‘I have my identity.'” — Director John Waters

5) “As long as I published a book by the time I was 25, I would be happy…Then I was 25 and book-deal-less, and nothing bad happened to me. No pianos fell on my head, no witchy old ladies cursed me, I didn’t suddenly side in my sleep…This was a revelation.” — Writer Emma Straub

6) “If you think that we all step through a door marked Adult, or that we sign a Grown-Up Document, you’re quite wrong. We remain as we always were, and that, alas is one of life’s many nasty tricks.” — Morrissey

Fame and attention don’t fix your self-esteem
7) “It’s almost like the better I do, the more my feeling of inadequacy actually increases, because I’m just going, Any moment, someone’s going to find out I am a total fraud, and that I don’t deserve any of what I’ve achieved. ” — Emma Watson

You don’t know nearly as much as you think you do, part I
8) “To be a scientist you have to learn to love the questions…That’s the part that gets you awake in the morning and running to the office, because there’s a problem awaiting your attention that you just might solve that day. You have to embrace the unknown and embrace your own ignorance. — Astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson

You don’t know nearly as much as you think you do, part II
9) “If it feels ‘right,’ it maybe actually be completely wrong.” — Chris Ware

10) “I always think that if you’re going to make fun of somebody, it helps to make more fun of yourself. — David Sedaris

11) “So I try to impress that upon my kids, you know, whatever they’re interested in, to not just put everything into one thing, but to stay curious.”— Molly Ringwald

12) “Don’t put anything you do on YouTube until you are 21.”— Mindy Kaling

13) “A friend of mind from a political family told her kids, ‘Don’t do anything you wouldn’t want to read about in tomorrow’s paper.’” — Judy Blume

14) “Collaboration is difficult, but it’s when I’m at my best, and most open to other people. I really like the way that an idea improves through the input of someone else…but working alone is a good test for oneself. I like writing as a way to remind myself that I am capable on my own.” — Carrie Brownstein

15) “I’m obviously already making an effort with this, why pretend that I don’t care?” — Tavi

Tags: Rookie, Tavi Gevinson, to read