Today, I'm going to take a look at a couple of things that have been unfortunately common around the Tower recently.
Blanket Forts -- A blanket fort is a place of refuge. Remember when you were a kid and draped some blankets over a couple of chairs, or maybe built a little hidey-hole with some couch cushions? That's a blanket fort. Ravenclaws retreat to blanket forts for a number of reasons. They may not be feeling well, either emotionally or physically. They may be hiding from the Mallet or needing to replenish their spoon stash. Sometimes they just need a break either from every day life or from some extraordinarily stressful event. Blanket forts appear as needed, though there is generally one set up in the CR. Some dorms have them as well. Mama Eagle LASH has provided some good links to the history of the blanket fort in this post.
Word of the Week -- Spoons. Sometimes a spoon is just an eating utensil, but usually when you see that word around Ravenclaw, it means something else. Spoon theory was first published by Christine Miserandino in the blog But You Don't Look Sick. It is a way of expressing the way some of us need to ration our mental or physical energies. You can be generally out of spoons, or be out of either mental or physical spoons, or not have the spoons for a specific activity or situation. It is a handy shorthand for letting people how you are doing.
Thank you to LASH for her helpful research!
Is there a particular Ravenclaw tradition or word you are puzzled by? Is there some bit of ancient (or not so ancient) Tower history you are curious about? Let us know! You can either reply in the comments or PM omeletsmom or s2five. We'll do our best to answer any questions you have -- or track down someone who can!
