Submitted and Written by Lauren, Ms. Stussypants

It’s amazing that sometimes I can barely remember basic math but can still draw a “stussy symbol” (also called a “Super S” in some regions) without hesitating. I remember these stylized “S’s” being drawn on every available scrap of paper, but unless you knew the secret of the lines, you were out of the cool club. We called them “stussies” but I don’t think they had any relation to the Stussy company that was popular at the time. Everyone thought that this was a unique symbol that only they and their friends knew how to draw, but talk to your friends from around the country and you’ll find out that they too knew how to make a super cool “S” out of 14 lines.

We called them Super S’s where I grew up, so I went all New Yorker and fact checked Lauren’s story. She’s 100% correct, as far as I can tell.

Submitted by Jessica H

Personally, I don’t really understand these. I remember them being all the rage, but why? Were they a summer camp thing? And why lizards? Please answer my questions in the comments so I can sleep at night. I’ll post the best responses.

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Submitted and Written by Rachael G

Kids today would just hate this. Were we so easily amused??? I remember them being wooden and plastic and often had a big plastic needle and yarn. They were often in shapes like a cat, an apple, etc. Are these even still made?

Submitted and Written by Brian D

It was the original playlist. There was no real way to get individual songs off of all your different cassettes, and there was no such thing as a multi-disc CD-changer, much less a “Shuffle” option on an iPod! All you could do to get your favorite songs from differentartists on to a single collection was man your stereo, blank tape inserted and at the ready, listening to your favorite radio station, and prepared to press that “RECORD” button the instant they started playing a song you liked and wanted to capture!

It wasn’t easy! You had split seconds to determine if those first few beats were indeed the song you wanted. You had to avoid DJ’s babbling through the beginning of songs and try and hit “RECORD” as soon as he finally shut up. Miss the timing? Rewind –> Stop –> Play over and over and over again to get the tape back to the proper spot and ready to try recording again. And then, what if that damn DJ started babbling before the song was finished?! Or the radio station inserted their call letters or a jingle in there somewhere?! There was no telling when the next time the station would play that song again, or if you’d even be around to hear it!

I think back and remember making mixtapes with Third Eye Blind and Sugar Ray on them. Hmm…

Submitted by Colleen S

Magic Slate was a peel-back dry erase board, kind of like a poor man’s, goody-bag friendly Etch-A-Sketch. I was never able to draw anything especially impressive on a Magic Slate pad, but then again, I was thankful that it was so easy to erase — I’m sure my third grade teacher would’ve been upset about the portraits I was doodling of her.