Why are you like this? Like, how you are?

When I was no longer a teenager -- but when the memory of my teenage years was still fresh -- I fell in love with a television show called My So-Called Life. It gave a true, heartfelt depiction of the agony and enchantment of high school, and I adored it.

Claire Danes stars as the naive, exasperating 15-year-old Angela Chase. She ditches her old friends for a cooler crowd. She has a powerful crush on a boy who is probably not as deep as she thinks he is. She is sulky and uncommunicative and demanding. Her voice-over narration is perfectly self-absorbed.

She is also unexpectedly perceptive, and sometimes hilarious.

"People always say you should be yourself, like 'yourself' is this definite thing. Like a toaster or something. Like you can know what it is, even."

My So-Called Life was tragically canceled before the completion of its first season. It has an enthusiastic cult following, thanks in part to reruns on MTV; and the Newport Library has all 19 episodes on DVD.

(Cautionary note: I have a coworker who just said, "I hated that show!" So your mileage may vary.)

Here is a tiny taste of the show:



If you decide you want to learn more about Angela, her hopeless love, her clueless parents, her destructive friends, and the rest of her so-called life, click here to reserve the DVDs.