The Oberlin Review
<< Front page Arts April 15, 2005

How we see it...
Oberlin through the eyes of High School students
 
Rockin’ toboggan: Members of the band Mudvayne. Inset: A toboggan-type sled.
 

I can easily remember being extremely bored on a cold winter Friday night. Take last week for example. I was sitting at home when I thought, “Let’s see Hitch,” but after about twenty minutes, we decided the movie was lame, so my friends and I went to the bowling alley. It was already full, so we were still left with nothing to do, cold and bored on a Friday night. At this point, I had become extremely frustrated and had given up and decided to just go home. Then I watched 8mm and listened to “Not Falling” by Mudvayne, my favorite band. Eventually we did do something the next evening, but we had to go to Elyria to find something to do. This is just uncalled for. Everyone deserves a fun break on the weekend, but in Oberlin everyday seems to be like a Monday — even the weekends.

In the summer, Oberlin can be a cool place, because you don’t need theaters or bowling alleys or any of that to be happy — there are really nice school playgrounds and the reservoir is cool for fishing. The winter, however, is a different story. This is where Oberlin needs help. I know lots of people who use mischief and loitering as a last resort to cure their wintertime boredom. Some people just give in to their boredom and go to sleep, but there are definitely exceptions. If we don’t have anything that we’re interested in that we’re allowed to do, then we will do something we’re not supposed to be doing.

I believe the problem of the mischievous teens and the extreme wintertime boredom can be solved. I have two good solutions: a tobogganing place to help cure the boredom, and also to get better movies at the Apollo that appeal to teens.

People don’t really want to be bored. To help out with that problem, I think that if we got a tobogganing place we could solve the boredom: People really don’t mind the cold if they’re having fun. I know personally that tobogganing is a very fun and cheap thing to do. The last time I went it was eight dollars and you could stay all day if you wanted. There is also the problem that “all day” means you would be cold the whole day too, so I think there should be a little restaurant with stuff like hot chocolate and coffee so you could warm up then go back out and have some more fun.

A few friends and I went to the Apollo and saw Oceans 12. We left really early because it was such a slow movie. I think that the Apollo has lots of teen customers who want more action or comedy. I pretty much know lots of good movies because I love movies and TV. Whenever I talk to a friend, they usually like them too. I guess I like universally interesting films. A really easy way to tell if a movie sold well or not is to go to a Wal-Mart or a Target, and look at the prices of the older movies. Some are 6.99, and some are up to 20 bucks still. I don’t know if it’s a matter of money or what the reason is for the Apollo’s lame movies, but I think if they can’t get new good movies then they should get older ones. I know I would much rather see a movie that got good reviews when it came out like Dogma or Fight Club than Bad Santa three weeks in a row. If the Apollo needs help, I’d be happy to lend a hand — don’t fool yourself people, they do need help.

If we have something to do we won’t get into mischief. We also need to have a public tobogganing place because it would only be the second public one in Ohio, so it would attract business and we could use the profits to fund getting better movies or skate parks and, well, pretty much anything to do.

If we had these things I think a Friday could go something like this: I could wake up and put on my winter clothes and then go tobogganing for a few hours then have some hot chocolate in the restaurant, and after that maybe I could go see an old movie like Pet Cemetary or even a recent one as long as it’s something good.

Roger Perry is a sophomore at OHS. He likes music, movies and Mortal Kombat. This essay was written with the assistance of the Community-Based Writing Program. Contact Anne.Trubeck@oberlin.edu for more information.
 
 

   


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