The Druds

In yesterday's blog post, I explored the possible reasons for why we had a high drop out rate at Artesia High School in the late 70's and early 80's. However, the explanations given mostly affected the boys. I really didn't go into what made the girls leave school. The girls accounted for about a third of the drop outs.

Some girls dropped out because they got married and pregnant, but not necessarily in that order. However, there were some other girls who had less than desirable reputations. I called them "Druds." Honestly, I don't know where I came up with that term. It probably is a shortened version of "Drug Sluts," but "Druts" doesn't roll off the tongue very easily.

It seemed like the Druds would just indiscriminately hook up with guys who bought them alcohol, weed or any other intoxicant that was likely illegally obtained. They would then consume whatever item was on hand and then go into the back of the car or pickup, take their clothes off and get down to business. The strange thing is that I rarely saw any pregnant Druds. It always seemed to be the "nice" girls who got pregnant. (More on that in the next post.)

It seems like I never had any actual classes with the Druds. They were typically in the remedial English and Math classes and probably didn't even bother to register for science.

The really bad thing is that I remember most of them when they were all much younger. I could recall when they were filled with sweet innocence. For virtually every one of them, they transformed over the summer. They didn't wear nice clothes or makeup anymore. (For some reason, the guys who slept with them really seemed to go for that "tomboy" look.) They always appeared to be completely miserable to have to go to school. I find it hard to believe that their parents would let this happen to them. However, like the boys, they may have been the children of drop outs themselves who may have done the exact same thing when they were in high school and they saw no need to disrupt a pattern they felt they were born into.

This frame of mind took its toll on one girl who seemed to have everything going for her. I met Rhod in the eighth grade. She was beautiful, intelligent and very outgoing. She was a cheerleader in the ninth grade. All the guys wanted to be with her. (I should note that while I had great admiration for her, I did not see her as a potential girlfriend. She was too much out of my league for me to even consider hooking up with her. This explains why her "name" does not end with a "z.")

She was also elected to be a junior varsity cheerleader for the tenth grade. After the first couple of spirit assemblies at the school, I noticed she wasn't on the cheer squad any more. I didn't know what happened. I still saw her around school, but I saw that she started dressing like a Drud. I guess she had somehow had her first sexual experience and decided she didn't want to be a "good little girl" anymore.

The last time I saw her was during my junior year. I was at the Circle K. I saw her waiting in the passenger seat of someone's car. I waved at her. She waved back. I was very saddened to see what she had become. In the ninth grade, I thought she was destined for greatness. That night, I just saw her destined to a lifetime of meaningless hook ups and no opportunity to go to college to achieve something substantial. It didn't bother me to see most of the other girls become Druds, because I somehow expected that of them.

I found Rhod on Facebook. She lives in Hagerman, a small community about 20 miles north of Artesia. She got married to someone, but her relationship status lists her as single. It looks like she had one daughter (whose last name does not match either of Rhod's). She did not age well. If I were to see her on the street, I would have never recognized her. However, she does appear to be happy in her photographs. I hope there was a lot of positive stuff in her life to make up for everything else that went wrong.

I'm certain there are Druds who were able to make better lives for themselves, but I have no reason to try to find out if they did. Rhod is that one exception.