Free for the Holidays

At Santa Barbara High, it is the last day of school before break. By the time you read this, you will have noticed that the downtown shopping population has increased by over a thousand. (Look closely and you will see that the majority of shoppers are under 18.) Come Monday, you will be able to have a meeting at that deli you can never go to because there is usually a crowd of boisterous kids there from 12:15 to 12:45. You will be able to drive on Anapamu Street past the high school at 8 a.m. without waiting in a 10-minute long traffic line. But there will be more obnoxious drivers and more obnoxious gossipers elsewhere around town.

Today, Friday, December 18, we celebrate our release from our bubble into full-time society for two weeks. Today for “A Cappella” class we will sing in the halls, and in Madrigals we’ll exchange secret Santa gifts under our four-foot tree. The smart teachers will put on movies because they know it will be physically impossible for information to enter our brains. The others will attempt lessons. And as part of a tradition, there will be snow on the senior lawn, proving the fact that our school is clearly the best in the district.

The people who really get into it will dress up and wear Santa hats. The administrators that never smile will for once be jolly, and the ones that do will be especially ecstatic.

I can only imagine graduation: today on steroids.