The Midterm Entertainment Board

May 28, 2010 4:49 AM

Welcome to Alaska! by The Midterm Entertainment Board

It ought to have been expected that the Cascade Hall would be appropirately decorated for midterm with the addition of several hundred icicles and an illusion of steadily falling snow. The students would indeed find this as they entered the Hall, but they would also be greeted with banners bearing the golden stars of the Alaskan state flag, and numerous columns of solid ice. At the entrance to the hall was a notice, and on each table was a leaflet bearing the same information. The flag was at the top, and below was the following:

Alaska is the largest state of the US by area and has a longer coastline than all the other states combined. Alaska has more volcanoes than any other state, and has more than three million lakes. The climate of the interior of Alaska is subarctic; in the winter, the temperature can fall below -60 °F. Due to the northern climate and steep terrain, relatively little farming occurs in Alaska. The primary crops are potatoes, carrots, lettuce, and cabbage. Alaska has an abundance of seafood, with the primary fisheries in the Bering Sea and the North Pacific, and seafood is one of the few food items that is often cheaper within the state than outside it. Many Alaskans fish the rivers during salmon season to gather significant quantities of their household diet while fishing for subsistence, sport, or both. Hunting for subsistence, primarily caribou, moose, and Dall sheep is still common in the state, particularly in remote Bush communities. An example of a traditional native food is Akutaq, the Eskimo ice cream, which can consist of reindeer fat, seal oil, dried fish meat and local berries. Influences on music in Alaska include the traditional music of Alaska Natives as well as folk music brought by later immigrants from Russia and Europe.

You are welcome to try your hand at the national pasttime of ice sculpting. Please do not remove sculpting tools from the hall. Thank you.


Throughout midterm, the majority of food provided for students would consist of items mentioned in this notice (though some alternatives would be provided for the less adventurous consumer), and traditional music could be heard at random periods throughout the day. If a student were to look carefully, he might even see a Salmon or two among the cascading water of the falls.
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Amelia Smythe

June 07, 2010 4:58 PM

A Very Merry Winter by Amelia Smythe

The main difference in herself that Amelia could perceive from last year to this, was that she no longer felt like a child. It could have been because she'd been moved up into sixth year, or it could have been her cousin had gotten married over the summer and was now pregnant for Merlin's sake - she was only two years older than Cecily. It was daunting for Amelia to think that in three years time it could be her with the husband and baby bump. Shocking - or it could just be that Amelia had now grown into such a figure that there was no calling her a child anymore. She liked her curves, and wasn't going to diet for anyone - she wasn't fat or anything. As if. She was blonde (it was almost natural... or it was the shade she'd had naturally aged ten. Close enough) and beautiful, and she was a lot smarter than she was letting on. All she had to figure out was what she wanted to do with all this,

All Amelia knew for now was that she did not want to spend her holiday with Ivy. She couldn't explain why - she'd always liked her cousin, and part of her really wanted to know what their new house was like when it wasn't all done up in robbons for the ceremony. Amelia thought, just maybe, it would be too frightening to see a potential glimpse into her own future. She wasn't ready just yet. Yes she thought about betrothals and the like - every girl like her was raised to do so - but Amelia was still young, and she wanted to behave like a child.

The activity in the Cascade Hall presented the perfect opportunity. Amelia had every intention of perfecting her sculpture with charms, but she began cutting an ice block with the tools provided. She had a vague shape in mind, but wasn't giving anything away just in case she messed it up. She particularly wasn't going to tell the person who seemed to be watching her. "It's not a spectator sport," Amelia said.
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