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A Typical Friday Morning...

Theo Tellides '19, Editor-in-Chief
Picture yourself in Friday morning Assembly.
You’ve just caught your breath after sprinting up from Forest Lot, and you’re all bundled up because you didn’t have time to take off your winter coat. You’re tired, immensely tired from having gone five nights in a row with lackluster sleep. Dr. Bynum starts speaking into the microphone and your mind begins to wander.

I get in a weird mood when I am in this sleep-deprived state. My mind feels hazy and I start having a much more philosophical way of approaching life. I start to feel that I have an innate knowledge inside me, but I can’t tell what it is trying to tell me. So I start to explore and become consumed in my own thoughts.

My revelations come in two forms, both equally unsatisfying. One is the obvious realization. The idea that sounds amazing for a second only for you to realize it is a message that has been repeated a thousand times before. I often struggle to write editorials for this very reason. Every time I refect on a message that I want to share with the Hopkins community, I feel like I am unable to say something original. Of course we should strive for political unity and increased awareness of economic inequality. Of course college essays are not all bad and provide us with a moment of self-reflection. I’ll spend so long crafting and refning my editorial only to realize that the end result is painfully obvious. So when I question the world around me, it is quite dispiriting that the only answers I can provide are the ones I have heard all my life. I suddenly feel like a fool.

The other revelation is just a feeling. As I drift off into that state between consciousness and sleep, everything becomes hazy. Emotions and images start washing over me. They feel meaningful, but I just cannot piece them together. My head aches from tiredness, and I misinterpret that feeling as some greater sign. Suddenly I stir and jump wide awake as Dr. Bynum announces that we will not have a snow day. I have lost my train of thought and can no longer remember what just seemed so significant.

For the past four years I have been so busy with schoolwork and sports that I never set aside the time to think about myself. My few coveted moments of free time have been spent aggressively de-stressing (i.e. Netfix binging), and now only as a second term senior, I fnally have time to reflect. I can try and make sense of all these unidentifable feelings.

Recently, I have started writing for just fifteen minutes to clear my mind. It can take the form of a short story, a description, or just a stream of consciousness. Writing lets me grapple with my ideas, but without the struggle of it having to make sense. I am just writing for myself, so it’s okay if I am incomprehensible for three or four sentences in a row. The act of writing without an audience makes it feel so much more natural. No longer do I toil over paragraphs only to still feel dissatisfed. When I write for myself, I can’t exactly express the feeling it creates. It’s almost like I am kneading the knots of my mind. Even a short session leaves me feeling more confdent and relaxed.

So I continue throughout my Hopkins day, still in a daze. Ambling from class to class I try to make sense of it all, but as my morning grogginess wears off, my confusion seems to dissipate. I haven’t discovered any answers, rather I am no longer perturbed by questions I used to think were urgent. I am my normal self again, wide awake, cheery, and ready to learn, but I can still feel something deep down tugging at my conscience. I stare blankly at my desk for a few seconds before raising my hand.
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Editor in Chief 
Rose Robertson

Managing Editor 
Hanna Jennings

News
Sophie Denny
Eli Ratner
Anya Mahajan
Claire Billings
Abigail Rakotomavo
Features
Anika Madan
Mira Krichavsky
Sarvin Bhagwagar
Rania Das
Eric Roberts
 
Arts
Shriya Sakalkale
Grace Laliberte
Jo Reymond
Ilana Lewitton
Anvi Pathak
Op/Ed
Teddy Witt
Asher Joseph
Rain Zeng
Miri Levin
Edel Lee

Sports
Amir McFerren
Maggie Russell
Samantha Bernstein
Hana Beauregard
Karun Srihari
Editors-at-Large
Connor Tomasulo
Bar Avraham
Alex Lopez
Chloe Wang

Cartoonists
Hailey Willey
Web Editors
Brayden Gray
Amelia Hudonogov

Faculty Advisers
Stephen May
Elizabeth Gleason
Shanti Madison
The Razor's Edge reflects the opinion of 4/5 of the editorial board and will not be signed. The Razor welcomes letters to the editor but reserves the right to decide which letters to publish, and to edit letters for space reasons. Unsigned letters will not be published, but names may be withheld on request. Letters are subject to the same libel laws as articles. The views expressed in letters are not necessarily those of the editorial board.
     
The Razor,
 an open forum publication, is published monthly during the school year by students of: 
Hopkins School
986 Forest Road
New Haven, CT 06515

Phone: 203.397.1001 x628
Email: smay@hopkins.edu