Semester 37: Cabin Reps, Open Mic, and Making Connections

This past week, each cabin elected a cabin representative! Our election process started with nominations where individuals elect people they believe will encompass the values we want to see in our representatives. Their roles are to take the voices of their fellow classmates straight to the faculty. Any concerns, ideas, hopes, and activities we want to achieve in our HMI community, the cabin reps will provide a way for our voices to be fully heard. We are very excited to announce that our HMI Semester 37 Cabin Representatives are Nick, Ian, Julia, Corine, and Perrin! These dedicated humans have already attended their first cabin rep meeting and they have the whole semester supporting them! We can’t wait to see what they accomplish during the semester. Other upcoming activities include a Square Dance, Movie Night, and hiking Mt. Sherman on Sunday!

This week in our environmental ethics class, Practices & Principles, we continued our conversation of developing our own land ethic and talked more about the rights of animals. We had three texts to read, each with different perspectives on animal equality and discussed and debated how animals should and shouldn’t be treated. Our conversation touched on all sorts of topics, such as commercial farming and the domestication of animals. Respect for the earth and all of its inhabitants has been a subject touched on in a multitude of classes at HMI thus far in the semester. In AP United States History, we have had discussions about how the colonizers from Europe treated land when they first arrived here. We have delved deep into analyzing the relationship between the Native Americans and the colonizers. Similarly, in English class, our book Ceremony talks a lot about the more recent relationship between the Native Americans and white people. HMI is unique because it creates distinct connections between all of our classes as well as to our lives. For example, by investigating the meaning of the land ethic, students have begun to determine their own personal land ethics and how that can tie into their lives on campus.

In history we have been investigating the founding of our country and creation of the Constitution. Through examining primary source documents from the late 1700s as well as reading more contemporary texts regarding these foundational papers, we have grasped a greater understanding of how government functions and what its purpose is. In relation to this, we were all given a chance on Monday night to watch the first presidential debate before the election in November. Tons of students filled our main hall to watch the two nominees debate in what was one of the most viewed debates in our history. The entirety of the event captivated our attention and probably distracted us from doing our other work. Regardless, the debate gave all of us a great opportunity to sit down with our peers and enjoy being more interactive with life beyond HMI, as well as watching an event that provided us with much drama and entertainment!

This past weekend was full of relaxation and self-reflection. After class on Saturday, we were given “chill time” to hang around on the hammocks, dive into our readings, and write our P&P essays. After groups rotated through town time, wood chopping, and more “chill time,” dinner was served at 6:00pm. When the plates were licked clean, we had an hour to practice our acts for the first open mic night of the semester. Open mic night was full of beautiful voices and hilarious skits. Julia sang a song accompanied by Rachel and English teacher Josh on the guitar, while Cabin 1 performed a priceless skit called Time Machine while eating 6 bananas each in the span of 5 minutes.

The next morning brunch was served at 10:00am so we could catch up on some sleep or do some yoga with Sunshine, the Spanish apprentice. After brunch, we were given three hours of “chill time” to relax and do homework. Later, we had Sacred Sunday where we were each introduced to a spot in the woods that will be our own individual place of reflection throughout the semester. There, we reflected on our time at HMI and the beauty of nature and our environment. Following our reflection time, we all met in Stuen Hall for a Circle in which we shared thoughts on our relationship with nature and heard Ben Turok’s story about his trip to the Tetons in elementary school. We are all very excited and cannot wait for second expedition, only a few days away!