Hello!
I would apologize for not posting in forever, but I don't think anyone cares. If anyone does care, they should probably have expected it. I'm an MSSM student for goodness sakes. Regularly update a half thought out blog that no one holds be accountable for updating? Nah!
A couple of things have happened recently and a couple of things are coming up, so strap in. I have an entire hour to procrastinate my homework, this is going to be a long one.
Most recent news is mostly bad. First: Al-Bears closed. Second: The community is crumbling. I'm going to do the less in-school politicy one first.
Al-Bears. I have no idea if I'm spelling that right. It was a pizza shop and mom and pop type restaurant in downtown Limestone, walking distance from the school. They had cheap ice cream, hot pizza, and greasy sides. What more could you ask of a local pizza place? It was honestly a really great place to hang out and get some non cafeteria food that you don't have to make yourself in a microwave or the tiny dorm kitchen. Date, special occasions, being fed up with the cafeteria. It all happened at Al-Bears. Rest in peace.
There aren't many good places to hand out apart from the school. There was Al-Bears. They had it all, food, chairs, indoor heating. They're not there anymore. Someone else will buy the building, but the new owners won't be there until after I graduate. There's the new bookshop. It opened this year, and it's part of a downtown building project. They have indoor heating, plenty of comfortable couches, books, free coffee and tea. It's pretty great, but it has more of a sleepy cuddle studious vibe than Al-Bears had. And that vibe can be found most places at MSSM. That being said, the bookstore may get more popular now that there's no more Al-Bears. We'll have to wait and see. There are two/three shops and a park that makes up the rest of the downtown. The park is outdoors, which means it gets cold though. The thrift store and Mike's Market aren't exactly prime hangout spots, being shops as they are. There's the Graphics place, but I've never been in there or seen anyone go in there. They look cool? And far too sleazy New York for downtown Limestone? So there's that.
Of course if you want stuff to do there's plenty at the school! Trips, movies, clubs, various events. If you're a nerd I would suggest finding an RPG group to gobble up your spare time. If you have a significant other, go out to the fields at night! Just be careful not to steal anyone's 'spot' if you don't want to be walked on.
Okay. That's done now. Time to talk the second thing: Our lovely crumbing community!
I may be a tad over-dramatic when I say it's crumbling. It's more like a couple of people have thought that it would be funny to chisel out chips of a nice looking statue.
Here's the thing: I came to MSSM to get away from a certain type of person. We all know this person. The one who takes nothing seriously, and doesn't really get the whole respect thing. Like at all. This is the person who talks through class, pokes fun at strangers, and laughs when someone gets offended at something they've done. I came from a school of these people. Then I got to MSSM and it was blissfully different! People were free to voice outlandish opinions, and they would get careful analysis of these thoughts instead of flat out laughter. I could trust random students talking to me, and there's was no blatant disrespect of the classes. People still hated teachers, but the hatred was always because the person felt that the teacher was impeding their learning, not because the teacher was doing their job. Respect is so overused as a goal, but have a community that was thoughtful and cared about each other to some extent was great!
A couple things have changed. And by things I mean people. Some kids got admitted who laughed at the ideals I had come to love. In the past semester, two students found toxic substances in their water bottles, and one student had their room trashed for no reason. It's only a handful of kids, and I know that people like that were already here at MSSM, but enough of them are here now that they can band together in a circle of idiocy.
Enough rant. The staff are doing stuff about it. Discipline will be harder, and faculty aren't afraid to kick people out now. My main worry is that the school wants to keep growing. Part of me wonders if our exclusivity in the past has been what has allowed the MSSM community to be a safe place apart from most U.S. high schools. Time will tell. If you read this and you end up at MSSM, don't be afraid to call these types of people out. Like seriously.
Okay no more politics. Time to talk about the holidays and what comes after them here at MSSM!
Holidays are great. Wing nights involve cookies and movies and gift exchanges. I would warn any potential student that the celebrations tend to be fairly Christmas-central, but I wouldn't worry too much. From my experience with the staff and the students, you should have no problem celebrating anything other than Christmas, or even not celebrating at all.
Lots of teachers are hanging up Mistletoe for the holidays, not as a "kiss under the mistletoe" thing, more as a "Look, a holiday decoration that is allowed in public high schools!" thing. Everyone's looking forward to Holiday Break, coming up right after midterms/finals.
Ahhh Finals. I should probably describe them to anyone unfamiliar with MSSM.
Everyone's stressed. Some schools have things where you can get out of finals. MSSM does not. Because we are a boarding school, we can have our current set-up. Finals Week is the last week before break. Three to four days of it is spent doing finals. There are several blocks of finals, and the finals range from presentations to writing portfolios to traditional tests. On the last day, everyone takes their Math finals all at once. This final starts at 8:30 and ends at 11:30 with a couple breaks in between. (Most finals are only two hours don't freak) The buses then leave at 1:00 that day, and break begins! This year I have no morning finals except for the Math one, which is so incredibly nice. I can sleep in!!! You do need to study for these finals though. I don't care if you've never studied for anything in your life and still gotten 100s on everything, you WILL have to study for these finals.
After break is J-Term, two weeks where you only do one specific class (or trip or internship). Then it's another three weeks, then February break.
I'll be honest with you. This time sucks. It's five weeks of being at school during dark, cold days. This stretch will leave you burned out and tired of everything. If last year the people were any less epic, it would have been absolute horror. Luckily the community was great, and we all pulled through together. Fingers crossed for this year!
That's all. I think this post was a little more pessimistic than the previous ones, huh.
Aw well.
Don't let it scare you off. This place is actually really great.
See ya!
~Samantha Williams
