“Um… thank you. I’m not much for public speaking, or much for speaking, or, come to think of it, much for the public. And I’m not very good at lying. So let me just say that, in my experience, high school sucks. If I had to do it all over again, I’d have started advanced placement classes in preschool so I could go from eighth grade straight to college. However, given the unalterable fact that high school sucks, I’d like to add that if you’re lucky enough to have a good friend and a family that cares, it doesn’t have to suck quite as much. Otherwise, my advice is: stand firm for what you believe in, until and unless logic and experience prove you wrong; remember, when the emperor looks naked, the emperor is naked; the truth and a lie are not “sort of the same thing”; and there is no aspect, no facet, no moment of life that can’t be improved with pizza. Thank you.”
Daria Morgendorffer was the awesomely sarcastic, witty, and misanthropic teen star of Daria, an animated series that ran from 1997 to 2002. Daria’s sly and dry-witted criticisms about popular culture and social standards made her a cultural icon. But don’t tell her I called her a cultural icon.
— Guest Editor from BUST, Senior Designer Lan Truong
