The teen scene on Seventh Avenue has a different vibe, a different cast of characters, this fall. Last year’s high school freshmen (now sophmores) are still hanging out in front of the PS 321 playground but they no longer seem to be crowding outside the Mojo patio. They seem a little less hyper, a little less out to prove that they’re cool. I think they’ve  settled into their teenage selves and are a little more calm.

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This year’s freshmen are just beginning to flex their high school muscles. Many have claimed the Mojo patio as a hang-out for themselves. I’ve noticed some of them next to Rite Aid, others on the north/east corner of Third Street, and on the corner of 2nd Street. I also know that Longs Meadow in Prospect Park has become something of a meeting place. (I used to hang out in Central Park when I was in high school but somehow this is a little bit scarier. Everything is when it’s your kid and not you.)

Dispersed to public and private high schools all over the city, this year’s freshman are reconnecting with their old friends in locations all over the Slope. There’s so much to adjust to the first few weeks of high school. So there must be comfort in being with the old familiar. But it’s the good-old-days with a difference. Some of them have a bit more independence – they’ve got Metrocards, money, more mobility – and they’re pushing the envelope whenever they can.

So far,  I am not sensing a hyperness in them like last year’s teens but they are re-inventing themselves and actively declaring new identities.

There’s something about the other Slope kids that brings comfort and confidence. Maybe it reminds them of when they were the oldest kids at their old schools, when they ruled the roost of their little universe. They come back together as if to say, "I know I’m moving on, but I’m not ready to let go of what’s here. Not yet anyway."