#freescott

Dear Scott,

Hanover High misses you so much. I don't understand why you got fired really. People have told me it was because the caf stopped making a lot of money because you were serving healthier food. I don't know if that is true, but if it is I am discussed. Students ask for you to sell healthier options and things that they actually want to eat and when you tried you were fired? This plays into wrongful termination and the problem in America with obesity. It's amazing that kids at this school even want to eat healthy, now was are going to tell them they can't because it will cost to much? And in the rich town we live in? You knew everyone names in the school. That's amazing! There is over 700 kids here and you care enough to learn their names? Your a great person. I don't know about other kids but coming in and talking to the caf guys helped calm me down when I was stressed. It was like taking a break. From the moment I walked into the caf everyday since I was a freshman you all said hi and talked to me about my life. I appreciate every conversation you had with me. After you left the school started to boycott the caf. They wrote letter to the company, made complaints, and calls. We made you letters that everyone signed. We cared. I just wanted you to know that we all miss you and won't give up hope that you'll come back!

Salty

Something I noticed during my job is people want soy sauce with their sushi even when the eel sauce is already on top of the sushi. I can understand people wanting to dip sushi in soy sauce when it doesn't have any other sauce on it, but doing it with eel sauce on makes the sushi taste really salty. This is just my opinion, but I feel at that point the soy sauce detracts from the flavor more than it adds.

So Much Stress, for Such Little Gain

This is kind of just a vomit of ideas.

There just seems to be such little point to getting so worked up over every little thing that happens to you in life. It just seemed to be the norm in this school, so I didn't really question it for a time. "You have to work hard, get into college, get a 'great' job, and live the dream," that was the motto to live by, but what does that truly get you. Sure some great education, but also debt and probably some mental breakdowns. Sure a high paying job to buy more stuff with, but what if it's something you don't want to do and what if it's not even stuff you need? Everyone seems to want and want and it turns into a need, a lust, for what? It is all happiness that we are seeking in the end, so just do what makes you happy what you think will make you happy. Sure you might mess up, but what's the harm of starting over. Everyone in this school is already better off than most of the entire world, privileged, I think you can afford to make a few mistakes. Life is short, so make it meaningful to you (not society or "the man").

What's the Area Under the Curve of Sexism?

I am tired of boys second-guessing my answers to questions. I am tired of boys trying to answer questions I pose at the teacher before my teacher can respond to them. I am tired of boys only asking my male partner about how we did something on our project, even though I know just as well.

Sexism in math and science classes at this school is real, and it gets worse the higher up you go. In my math and science classes, my and my female classmates' views are slower to be trusted and quicker to be questioned. I have checked answers with male classmates who, seeing that their answer differs from my own, try to point out where I have made my mistake. It is only when they see that a male classmate has also gotten my answer that they turn back to their own work.

Math is one of my favorite subjects, but I do not like classroom environments where I am doubted and questioned because of my gender. Or ones in which I feel pressured to suppress my questions – to hide any signs of intellectual weakness – for fear of playing to male classmates' views that girls aren't as good at math or science. And it's hard to not wonder whether this treatment of girls in high school math and science classes relates to the treatment of professional women in STEM fields.

Reading Aloud

Dear Mr. Bourne,

Sometimes, things work out way better than for which you bargained. Which is great. And obvious. Everybody knows this. Although I have to say, there was one time this happened to me, and although it was a minor occurrence in the grand scheme of things, it will forever stick in my brain and be a happy memory that’s pleasant to relive.

My classmates and I were sitting in Mr. Stone’s class in a circle, opening The Tiger Rising to read aloud Chapter 6, I believe. There were some students who were already assigned roles to read, but there were also two more characters being introduced in this chapter, whose parts evidently also needed reading aloud. The part for which I volunteered was the sassy southern mother. After I volunteered, I remember Mr. Stone saying, “Just go for it. Have fun with it and give it your best shot.” And after I read one of my parts, the enthusiastic and encouraging stares I got from all of my classmates were unbelievable as I vaguely heard Mr. Stone jump up and down and yell in excitement for my apparently perfect embodiment of the sassy southern mother in the novel.

That was a fun class, and I guess they may have been right, as attitude is something I most definitely do not lack.

School Routine - Good or Bad?

I am feeling very annoyed with how routine school is becoming. In each of my classes, we follow a weekly routine where the same assignments are due on each day of the week. In my French class, for example, we always have a vocab quiz on Tuesday and a culture discussion on Thursday. Or in my Physics class, we have problem sets due every Tuesday and an X an quiz on Wednesday. I realize that I never do any new type of work -- I do the same type of assignments over and over again, only with different content and increasing difficulty. Sometimes regularity is nice and establishes order, but this is beginning to feel robotic and like my only purpose is to churn out work. 

Halloween and Scary Movies

Today is October 31, 2017. Halloween. What a fun day. I think I can speak for most people to say Halloween can be a fun time of year. Even though I get scared super easily -- and tend to be super jumpy in life in general -- I still love scary things. Scary movies are so much fun. I might be shaking in fear by the end; but the excitement of watching, the anticipation of what’s going to happen next, and the fear of hiding into the backs of your seat; it might make me sound crazy (which I might be just a smidge), but scary movies and Halloween are exciting things to look forward to in the year. This Halloween, I dressed up properly for the first time in a long time. I suppose I can say I was Esmeralda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I dressed up in Hippie-type, Gipsy-type costume and a bunch of people said I looked like that, so I went with it. I ended up at a friend’s house afterwards, and a group of seven of us hung out and ate candy, drove around Lebanon, and then I went home. It was a pretty chill Halloween.