Complaining only gets a person so far. In fact, it doesn’t get a person very far at all. But sometimes there are aspects of life that bring nothing but irritation, headaches, bad moods, and maybe a bit of feverish anger. Something you don’t even want to get started on. For me, it’s the girls’ P.E. locker room. We have been uprooted from our large, comfortable, well-ventilated locker room and tossed into a stuffy closet with a few toilets. The temperature of the crypt approaches 90 degrees as we change for mandatory exercise during the school day. I will not stand for this. Literally! I’m crouched over due to lack of space and with the hopes that the perfume fog will rise like smoke and I can avoid suffocation by staying low. And it’s not just perfume. You can imagine the kind of smells present after a full 30 minute P.E. session. No better way to get in a bad mood. Bad moods are present after P.E. no matter what because being hot and sweaty during the day is extremely uncomfortable. The uncomfort level rises after walking out of the steam room to go to class. As a girl, other inconveniences arise. I’m talking poofy, Carla Beghin hair. I don’t know how she does it. Anyway, I’m in no mood to take on schoolwork when feeling slightly damp and wondering if the perfume hitched a ride on my clothes. I don’t know what’s worse: smelling like your/other people’s B.O. or smelling like a rotting neroli flower. Flirty. Even after I get over what my dear classmates think of me, I still continue my day in mild frustration. It just doesn’t make any logical sense why we can’t have a usable changing space. I mean, I don’t want to turn this into a feminist issue, but the boys’ locker room is significantly larger than what the girls have. And what’s wrong with the one the girls used last year? Nothing. The girls put their backpacks in there. And don’t even THINK about changing in the bathrooms. They know. I don’t know how. But they know. I hate complaining, I really do, but the only reason girls are subject to this hellhole is because switching to a different locker room would be too convenient. Ok, that’s probably not the reason. But maybe all my complaining will inspire change. I mean, that’s how politics works, right?