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Living Like Raccoons

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PVS alumnus Peter Kadel (‘18) now attends Virginia Tech. When here, he was a beloved blogger and, among other things, an AP English Language student. In AP Lang, Peter [was forced to] read Annie Dillard’s essay “Living Like Weasels.” An excerpt of Dillard’s essay is reprinted below. Peter reached out to us–seems he had a “weasel” moment while walking to his dining hall. Happily, he thought of us and captured it in writing.


“Living Like Weasels”

by Annie Dillard

The sun had just set. I was relaxed on the tree trunk, ensconced in the lap of lichen, watching the lily pads at my feet tremble and part dreamily over the thrusting path of a carp. A yellow bird appeared to my right and flew behind me. It caught my eye; I swiveled around–and the next instant, inexplicably, I was looking down at a weasel, who was looking up at me.

Weasel! I’d never seen one wild before. He was ten inches long, thin as a curve, a muscled ribbon, brown as fruitwood, soft-furred, alert. . . .

The weasel was stunned into stillness as he was emerging from beneath an enormous shaggy wild rose bush four feet away. I was stunned into stillness twisted backward on the tree trunk. Our eyes locked, and someone threw away the key.

Peter’s Weasel Moment . . .

Annie Dillard’s essay “Living Like Weasels” describes a moment when she made eye contact and had a connection with a weasel. I had dismissed this as odd like I had done with every other thing she wrote. But, I was walking to a dining hall from class and heard a rustling noise from an underground drainage grate, not in much of a hurry, I went over to investigate. As I stood over the grate, the source of the rustling scurried into the underground pipe, seemingly gone forever. But something made me decide to crouch above the grate and wait for the critter to show itself. Seconds later, as if it shared my curiosity, a little triangular head with black and white stripes on the face and grey on the head peeked out from the pipe. The triangular head turned to look up at me, and I found myself eyes locked with a raccoon. I was surprised and enthralled by this little creature. For a few moments we just stared at each other. Then he darted off to continue about his day, and I stood up and went on my way. It wasn’t till later I realized I HAD JUST HAD MY WEASEL MOMENT! But instead of a weasel, it was a raccoon. Now I realize the importance of Dillard’s piece; we all have the chance to experience that moment. And the animal we have it with reflects us. Dillard got the tenacious, scrappy and clever weasel. I got the mischievous, rambunctious, and curious raccoon, a pretty accurate reflection of myself. –Peter Kadel

Undercover–Another recommendation for a party game.

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By James Zheng, with Expert Party Advice

When Editor Holden asked for submissions that “spice up everyday life,” James went back to party games and how to spice up your party life, or how to be the life of the party. (This joke was made by Ms. Zachik, not Holden, for the record).

I did a post about the Werewolves game, and, then, soon after I found more excellent recommendations for party games. The game I am going to introduce in this post is less difficult to learn and more entertaining to play.

Undercover, which is also called Who is the Spy, was generated from a game that appeared in a Chinese variety show consisting of guest interviews and gaming interaction. It became a really popular party board game, and then a game developer created the online version Undercover.

The recommended amount of players is five to eight with one moderator. The most significant part of this game is that the moderator needs to decide on a “major” word and a “minor” word and write them on the paper to hand out later to participants. The “major” word and “minor” word represent the identities of the players. The player who holds the major word is the “civilian”; the player who holds the minor card is the “undercover.” And, to decide what the major word and minor word will be, the moderator needs to find two words that have similar meaning. The words can be anything as long as they are similar. If the amount of civilians is no more than five, the amount of undercover will just be one.

The gameplay of Undercover has the same feature as the Werewolves game–players need to talk during the game process. The players’ ability to express themselves is an important factor in deciding the result of the game. At the beginning of the game, each participant is given a pre-written paper as their identity–civilian or undercover. Then, each of them has to describe what their word is or means. After everyone finishes the description, everyone has to vote for one person who they think is the undercover. When the person is out, the moderator needs to check if that person holds the major word or minor word to decide if the game is still on or finished. The winning precondition for the undercover is when the amount of undercovers is the same as the civilians.

Basic Gaming Rules and Hints:

  • The person who holds the minor word does not know that they are the undercover, so the only way to find out is to listen to everyone’s description to see if they are holding the same or different word, then to guess what the major word is to mask themselves.
  • You CANNOT put the word that you are holding into your description. A person’s description cannot be too short or abstract, but it could be long if the person wants to speak more.
  • If you are playing as a civilian, of course you don’t want to spoil your word too much for the undercover. But, at the same time, your description cannot be too short or abstract; you can be just a little bit specific or try to find the characteristic that the word has. Try to organize your language at a perfect length to let other civilians trust you.       

Depending on what words the moderator comes up with, the game can be played at different levels. Undercover is really easy to learn; the preparation is also pretty simple. Play with your friends and enjoy it!

Editor: Holden Hartle

every boy and every girl, spice up your life

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By Unofficial “Spice” Girl, Makena Behnke

Editor Holden solicits his fellow sentient bloggers as to what spices up their everyday lives. Makena replies . . .

first things first, i like my life. some aspects are rather mundane (washing my face, doing my homework, blah, blah, blah), but i like to think some aspects of my daily life are interesting. i’m not here to tell you what the interesting aspects are because that’s not what this post is about–not a makena-life post. i’m here to tell you how to spice up your life–every boy and every girl.

there are plenty of well-known ways to mix it up–color your hair, buy a whole new wardrobe, travel to Spain spontaneously. i’m all about spontaneity, but not a lot of us are able to pick up and go to a different country or buy a new closet. i present to you a non-list of simple things to refresh your daily life.

research something you don’t know much about. let’s say your great grandfather was from Sweden, but you don’t know anything about Sweden other than IKEA. maybe research what’s happening in their politics or cool Swedish inventions. or, look up some ancient religions and something you’re completely clueless about.

i’m a coffee fan. i’m not picky when it comes to types of beans or where they were grown, etc. i like what i like, and i usually stick to it, but i like trying new things. mix in some protein powder (make sure you actually like the protein powder) or powdered collagen in your morning coffee–provides a health boost, and, maybe just for me, but when i change something small in my daily routine, it makes me a bit happier.

wake up five minutes earlier or set aside five minutes before bed to do some light stretching, or stretch morning and night, whatever you please. stretching before bed would loosen up your muscles before sleep, and stretching in the morning would energize you a bit and get the blood flowing.

maybe you’re completely content with your life, and you don’t need me telling you how to make your life more interesting, but maybe try a couple of these suggestions out and see how you feel. If you hate them, sorry for wasting your time; if you don’t, you’re welcome.

Spice-Up-Your-Life Editor: Holden Hartle