Hazel Goes to Prom

Hazel Plopper leaving the Train Station on Route to the Swan Hotel

Hazel Plopper lives in a three bedroom town house at 2 Glenn Close in Cloverdale with her mother, father and 12 year old sister Snip. She is a senior at the Comprehensive School and vice president of the school’s Goth Awareness Society.

It’s prom season throughout the Shire, a fact that was always on Hazel’s mind. She desperately wanted to go to prom, but being a goth, and having sworn away all ties to normality she was obliged to display a face of disdain whenever the subject was brought.

Deep down inside, Hazel was like any other 17 year old girl. She wanted to be asked to the ball by her very own version of Prince Charming - black hair, black eyeliner, piercings and chains. As the Prom loomed ever closer, Hazel nearly gave up hope of being asked and planned on joining the other members of the club in a Prom boycott and barbecue at the park.

A week before the prom a note was shoved into her locker through the air slits on top. It was a piece of white ruled paper with the word PROM written in black marker followed by a question mark and phone number. Hazel’s heart jumped. She shoved the note into her notebook, quickly changed her expression of joy into one of disgust (required when walking through the school’s hallways), shut her locker and went to her third period. Her mind reviewed every Gothic boy wondering who sent the note. She ignored the teacher. He was teaching prime numbers, something she had absolutely no interest in, along with all the other seniors in the remedial pre algebra class.

The bell rang for lunch. She texted the number and left a short message which read, “Ya, whatever. Who?” She went into a stall in the second floor restroom and waited an answer. Her phone peeped. The message said “Garth, ya whatever.” She screamed, bringing two girls to the stall door to see if she was alright. They backed away the moment they realized it was Hazel Plopper. She was too weird for their taste.

Hazel was overjoyed, in a very Gothic sense. Garth was had more tattoos than anyone else in the school except the boys PE teacher. It would be a perfect night.

Garth arranged for tickets to the ball, held in the Swan Hotel in Capital City. He would already be in Capital City getting a special tattoo for the event. Hazel arranged to travel by train and meet him at the hotel for dinner before the prom.

Together they had an great time looking like they hated every minute of the prom while loving it more than anyone else in the room. That night, for a few hours, they teetered into the normal world, or as close as they felt they could enter without loosing their core of anarchy.

It was Hazel’s Night to Remember.

The Gift that Changed a Mind.

Cloverdale’s Comprehensive School’s Snowboarding Club presented this park bench made of old snow boards to the school's headmaster during the School Council meeting last month. The gift shocked many in the audience due to the fact that the headmaster banned the Snowboarding Club in November citing liability issues involving a dangerous sport sponsored by the school.

He insisted the ban had nothing to do with his rabid dislike of many of the members of the club. Its a well known fact the Headmaster considers snowboarding an anti social sport enticing young people to rebel against society’s standards in dress and proper grooming.

Last year the Headmaster ordered new dress standards for all students in an attempt to force the snowboarders to get their hair cut and wear their pants at waist level and not around their “backsides”. The snowboarders led a student rebellion against the new policy. They took the new dress code before the school council and argued for their right to express themselves through dress. In a surprising decision the council overturned the headmaster's new standards by a vote of 4 to 3 stating that student dress couldn't be limited unless it was vulgar, revealing or encouraged the use of alcohol, drugs or tobacco. The deciding vote in favor of the students was cast by a council member who happened to own the local ski shop on the Coastal Highway.
The Snowboarding Club was banned shortly after the dress code was overturned. Of course it was the headmaster's way of striking back at the students for their campaign against him.

During the presentation of the bench to the Council, the former Snowboarding Club President Ian Grimes spoke on behalf of the club.
“We’d like to present this gift to the school. It is our way of thanking the council for your support. We made the bench ourselves from our old boards so it means a lot to us. It is a gift from the heart,” he said while holding his right hand over his heart and pausing a moment so the emotion could be emphasized.
The bench was carried into the room by two of the club's honor students. Snickering was heard throughout the hall. Dozens of students attending the meeting broke into loud whistling and applause. The Headmaster’s face turned white at the sight. His wife was overhead whispering “Ghastly,” to the wife of the Assistant Headmaster.

The President of the School Council acknowledged the gift on behalf of the school. The students asked for permission to place it at the front of the school near the general drop off and pick up zone. The Council agreed, ignoring the Headmaster’s obvious head gestures to the negative.

The bench sat near the school's front doors for two weeks then disappeared to the back of the school where it sits today near the maintenance shed. The students moved the bench the day after the headmaster reversed his decision and reinstated the club. In his decision the headmaster wrote that any activity that got students up and moving was worthy of the school's support.

The Club’s strategy paid off. The destruction of several of their older boards was well worth it.

Cloverdale Weekend Television. New Artists for Review

A young Australian Singer Jordan Jansen

Its 3 for 3 at Everything Over a Dollar in Cloverdale.

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Cloverdale Weekend Television. Songs of Praise. Bach's St. Matthew Passion

Cloverdale's Sunday Weather.

The sky hangs dark in gray and white, undecided on moisture yet the possibility is real. Umbrellas would be a wise choice for the church goer. Winds will remain restrained but at times gusting. The sun, hidden in the A.M. will emerge in the afternoon after tea, leaving a late afternoon walk quite enjoyable.