To Mustache or Not to Mustache?

Yesterday Tina, Carolyn and Haley taught the class about their poem, If.  In honor of the famed poet of If, Rudyard Kipling, they cut out mustaches similar to his for everyone in the class to wear during the discussion.  This activity made my day to say the least.  I could not get control of myself seeing everyone, including Ms. Serensky, in a mustache.  It peaked my curiosity about mustaches and why some men sport this look.  I discovered that the first mustache dates back to 300 BC in a painting of an Iranian horseman.  The last president to wear a mustache was President Taft.  The longest mustache record was worn by Kaylan Ramii Sain of India at 133.4 inches in length.  It also came to my surprise that there is a group called the American Mustache Institute which vows to “fight the discrimination against the Mustached American race in the United States which has been pervasive since the 1960s.”  It ranks mustaches and promotes the health of them.  Apparently mustaches play a larger role in people’s lives then I origionally thought.  The vast information out in the world about mustaches surprises me.  When I simply begin typing “mustache” into Google the most popular options that scroll down include “are mustaches in style,” “are mustaches cool,” “are mustaches creepy,” “are mustaches attractive,” and “are mustaches coming back.”  I never before realized the large amount of hype surrounding this unusual facial hair.  Honestly, I typically mock mustaches for I find them quite comical and I like to point out the especially funny to my friends.  I often dismiss the intellect of certain individuals upon seeing their mustache as well.  This may display me as superfical and shallow but I cannot help myself.  I now realize that the mustache holds a deep history and causes a significant amount of debate.  But in general, if you are not a famous author, grandfather or in the military, I discourage this look.  Although they bring me great joy, it most likely stems from mockery.

Yes Data Sheets

Favor data sheets, more straightforward /easier

Fear of AP English

AP English tends to frighten students.  They know the large amount of work and the huge time commitment.  Students within the class stress constantly about finishing the reading on time and doing well in the competitive discussions. One time, at a swim meet, a group of us were freaking out about how late we would get home, because of all the reading we needed to do.  A non-AP English student commented that “AP English is a way of life, which I would never want to be a part of.”  Although I think that remark is a bit extreme, AP English does play a large part in our lives, as well as the rest of the school.  My friend, Molly, who takes honors English, texted me Sunday morning telling me about her stress dream/nightmare.  In her dream she woke up and went to school, like a usual Monday morning, but as she walked into Ms. Serensky’s room a wave of fear washed over her, as she realized she did not write a poetry paper.  She proceeded to her desk, trying to avoid drawing attention to herself; however, it was no use.  Ms. Serensky knew she did not write the poetry paper and continued to yell at her in front of the class.  Molly woke up in a panic, which gave way to relief as she realized it was only a nightmare.  After she told me this I began to wonder what scared people of AP English.  There are numerous other AP classes that student’s take, which also consist of a large work load, but for some reason AP English draws the most terror.  It causes such stress that those students who do not even take the class worry about it.  Is it the subject of English?  Is it Ms. Serensky?  Is it the amount of work? Most likely a mixture of all. Luckily, I managed to rid myself of this fear, although occasionally I do relapse when a paper or in class writing comes up.  But for many others, they continue to feel stricken with terror of this class, whether they are in it or not.

Words

This week in yearbook we discovered two extra pages available in the back of the yearbook.  After spending diligent time looking through previous yearbooks we found an idea for the page, a list of commonly used words of our generation.  The yearbook staff began brainstorming words which we casually throw around.  Right away we thought of some regular abbreviations “typ,” “glam,” “totes,” “awk,” “bro” and “nbd.”  We also thought of frequently used words like “perch,” “strut,” “browse” and “sick.” Then our grades favorites “chi11,” the "11" naturally for our graduation year, and “for days,” which we attempted to explain to Ms. Serensky first semester and she seemed to look down upon.  The editor-and-chief, Kelly O’Connor, and I continued onto commons to discuss this fascinating topic with our lunch table.  We easily came up with numerous other words which we use.  As I reflect on these words I realize how much language changes.  Even looking through yearbooks from a couple of years ago, the slang and words they use seem so different and absurd.  In general words continue to get more abbreviated and informal.  What would Shakespeare and older poets think of us today?  It makes me wonder how much more language will change in years to come and how the typical abbreviations will eventually seem ridiculous.  But for now it is nbd, so just keep it chi11.