I remember that we would tug on the ends of our ponytails to make them tighter (rather than retying them), even though we were told -- by parents or teachers, I can't recall which -- that it would get the hair tangled at the end of the day.

I remember that in kindergarten, almost everyone had short hair with ponytails that stuck up from their heads like little fountains.

I remember the thin black rubber-bands we used for ponytails. Later, we would play with shooting paper pellets out of the rubber-bands. If they were shot right, they could go pretty far and really sting. I think I mostly did this on evening van rides home in the 8th or 9th grade against a group of St. Joseph's boys, playing both at hitting each other's team, and at how many unsuspecting pedestrians we could get from the window.

I remember we were not permitted scrunchies in high school, but it wasn't always clear what the difference was between them and thick rubber-bands, so they were occasionally worn anyway. I was always mystified by the word "scrunchy" -- it evoked crunchiness, which did not fit the object at all.