Punctuation Mark of the Week
Charlie Miller '09

           You thought that you were a stellar grammar student; you thought you knew all the puncuation marks there were. You were wrong. Used most often by people who don't even know that it's an official puntuation mark, the interrobang is one of the most underappreciated writing tools there is. It is technically represented by a hybrid of a question mark and an exclamation mark (link); however, because most typefaces do not have a native character for it, it is most commonly used as an exclamation mark followed by a question mark. It is used when there is either disbelief or an excited question.

For example: You ate my dog!?
                        or
                   Why is there a banana in the toaster!?

           There is a rumor that using an interrobang in a research paper will boost your grade by ten points. Humanities teachers have declined to comment.

The Leaders of Our Time are Inside the Faculty’s Minds
Claire Stanton '11

            Seeing interested students in Memorial Hall is about as common as serving alligator at the Upper – I’m sure it happens, but I never expect it. At the recent student elections, the students weren’t the only ones engaged; the faculty had quite a bit to say about it as well. The candidates were a very diverse group of five girls and five boys, whose ideas were all over the map. There were the upbeat, fun-loving ones, the ‘there are so many improvements’ types, and there were those teetering on controversial. Despite the sometimes harsh tone of some of the candidates in reference to the faculty, the teachers I have spoken to seem very pleased with the elections and their results.
            The elections this year were handled very differently than in the previous years, and in the opinion of the faculty it is a good change. The speeches were thought to be much more focused and realistic in their goals than the articles written before in the Pelican in their stead. Mrs. Bohan commented that many more people were involved and interested this year, and that she herself is “really excited about the candidates that have been selected.”
            In general the new process has gotten much praise, at least from the adult members of the community, and from what I’ve heard, the students as well. The one complaint I have found is that many wish it was not just the members of the fifth form who could vote, as then the elections would run less of a risk of being a popularity contest. However, both the new organization of the elections and the new leaders certainly are already getting plenty of support from the faculty and the student body. It is looking like next year will be a great year, though I’m sure most people like me can’t see far past the looming shadow of exams.

Remembering Sesquiflood
            Tim Coogan '09

            This time third form I was home and St. Paul’s was underwater. It began to rain heavily Friday afternoon. The next morning, I went to my usual classes—Vis Dis, Algebra II and Humanities—not knowing they would be my last classes of third form. Water was rising unusually fast, but the crew races scheduled for that afternoon still took place.
            That Saturday evening was the Japanese Society weekend with Japanese various activities—sumo wrestling, dance dance revolution and a DJed dance. The next day, after waking up to the heavy pounding of rainfall, us students were summoned to Memorial Hall where we were instructed to stay in our dorms for the rest of the afternoon until dinner. We walked into the Upper for dinner to find that the Upper residents had been  making forts and playing games in the Upper common room all afternoon.
            Monday was the last time that the entire student body was together—at a meeting in Memorial Hall. I was woken up on Monday at 6:45 and told to pack a bag for about a week with the hopes that school would be temporarily evacuated. The ordinary five minute walk from Warren to Memorial Hall was transformed into a 20 minute bus ride through Hopkinton entirely around Turkey Pond.
            In order to commemorate the second anniversary of the Flood, the three dorms in the Upper decided to hold a beach themed weekend Saturday May 11. People gathered behind the upper with a barbeque and live music followed by a dance—a good way to positively remember a tough weekend.