The Ridge: A Short Story

Imagine that it’s a Tuesday night before your big test. Its 11:30pm, past quiet hours, and you’re finishing up some last studying before you go to bed. Except you keep getting distracted. There is the constant sound of loud music playing below you, the bass hits so loud that you can feel the floor below your feet shaking. Your desk is constantly vibrating making it hard for you to look at the screen without it being fuzzy. You suffer through 30 more minutes of studying that you don’t really know will help, because of all the distractions going on below you. You call it a night of studying to get some rest so that you’re fully rested and ready to take the test at your best. You do all the necessities before going to bed; shower, maybe have

You sit there tossing and turning trying to sleep, while the kids with no courtesy go on throughout the night. Welcome to the Ridge. Now this may not take place at every stack or every community, but here at Beta this is a reoccurring event. The neighbors here have not been respecting the rules of quite hours. They go on and on past quiet hours being loud and obnoxious. Just to have nothing happen to them at all. No warnings, no write ups, just nothing. They get to do whatever they want, and no authority figures (RA’s) take action. In “On Genres as Ways of Being” the author Heilker describes genres as ways of being in the world. One of his examples was describing a desk, and how we have to adapt to its genre in order to be able to use it properly. In a sense that can be applied to this situation. The genre of the Ridge is different than when it is 11 at night. People have to adapt to the new genre of being quiet and respectful to those around them. Instead people aren’t making the change, and ignoring the rules that are in place. If no one is going to enforce the rules, then why even have them in

They say every night RA’s run their rounds at 11:00 pm on the weekdays, and around 1:00 am on the weekends. By having set times for rounds its super easy for kids to just shut everything off or just be quiet for about 30 minutes. There have been multiple times where 11 o’clock comes rolling around, and then the loud noises instantly stop. Then they just pick up where they left off right after rounds are done. With the randomization of rounds that could possibly put an end to that happening. Some arguments that have come across when I have proposed my idea is that 11 is a good time for RA’s to do rounds, it allows them to get it over with and it does not keep them up late. But then you can argue the fact that RA’s signed up for this job. They volunteered their time to enforce the rules of the community, and if they aren’t willing to comply with some new rules to better the community, then maybe the job isn’t for them. Another counter argument I’ve come across is that you could just go to the library to study or do your homework. While that is true, its also 11 at night. This is the time that you are supposed to be able to be in your room and do things without distractions. Or even just go to bed without the worry of people being loud around you. And with randomizing the times of rounds, maybe there wouldn’t be a worry about people violating quiet