Hello UltraViolet readers! I hope everyone had a good summer (HAGS), while keeping in mind that I am still very much “On Top”. Being a senior–a.k.a. Top Dog–is invigorating: the air smells sweeter and the seventh graders scream ever more melodically. After the Wild West that was the 2021-2022 school year, there are inevitably going to be more rules put in place–and after a school bandit stole my precious $5 ring from the bathroom stall, I can get behind a little more discipline in post-Covid Marlborough.
The uniform is the hot topic on everyone’s minds. And not without reason–last year’s tie-dye sweatpants, bright red puffer jackets and five-inch platforms that graced these halls of learning were a sight to behold. I have dubbed the incredible bursts of color I saw last year the “Uniform Renaissance:” after a period of darkness, the people emerged with newfound creativity expressed through green polos and navy pants. By “period of darkness,” I’m not only referring to quarantine. I am ALSO reminding you that in seventh grade I watched a student get dress-coded for wearing a sweater that was “cream, not white.”
As of right now, I’m content with the new uniform regulations. When Ms. Rosi-Mitchell announced to the Upper School that there would be no further crackdown on Doc Martens and button-down shirts, I heard the platform-shoed community sigh with relief. But why am I suddenly Miss Rules? It wasn’t until I lost my ring that I abandoned my rebellious, anti-uniform ways. That’s right, I’ve circled back to the crooked thievery I experienced last year. I couldn’t be a rebel without a cause AND pine for an item of jewelry that I bought on the Venice boardwalk. (P.S. If you have my ring I’ll pay your ransom, no questions asked. Slip me a note written in cut-out magazine letters and we can make a deal.)
If I’m going to BeReal, I did feel a certain wildness to these halls last year that I had never experienced at Marlborough before. While the lax uniform policy wasn’t harmful in itself, I believe that the lack of rules seeped into other areas, and subsequently students felt comfortable taking candy from lockers and doing other possibly Not Honorable things! Either a little more uniform isn’t a bad thing, or being a senior has officially made me an old crone. If you have a take on this subject and you’d like to tell me about it, come and find me–just look for the girl with her (now fully in uniform) black button-down… and tragically ringless fingers.
