My daughter, the Wonder Girl, is trying out for pom-pons at the local high school. So every night this week we have schlepped her over there from 7-9pm so she could attend "Pom Clinic"--such an auspicious name. Is she there to get her School Spirit Innoculation?

I have very mixed feelings about this. You see, in my high school, Boondock Consolidated, back in the 70's, the Pom girls were a 'certain kind' of crowd. These girls wore the latest jeans, had the featheriest hair, dated the jocks, went to all the "cool" parties, and there were rumors that the adult Advisor (not a teacher at the school)took them all across county lines each fall to get them all on the pill. (A rumor which turned out to be false by the way, as evidenced by the fact that every year 2 or 3 members of the squad turned up pregnant by Prom.)

Even if you don't know me, you can tell by my description that I was never. pom. material.

However, I am of the school of thought that to quash her pom dream (if she has one) would be cruel and unnecessary. Even as tempted as I am, I have resisted gently and quietly explaining to her that we are not pom people.

We are Drama club people, Chess Club people, Mathletes, National Honor Society people, Band geeks, Swing Choir dorks, takers of extra credit assignments, and Rube Goldberg contestants.

My daughter, however, is some of those things, but other things, too. She was on the volleyball team in 6th grade. She never scored one point the whole season--but she stuck it out. She had fun. She tries out for track every year, then remembers that she hates to run and drops out before the first mile is required-- but up until then, every year she has convinced herself that maybe this year she'll like it! So she tries new things. She was told at the first "Pom Clinic" that most newcomers drop out before the second day--but not Wonder Girl. She's fearless that way and absolutely unafraid of challenging generations of genetic disposition towards the geeky. She is my hero.