T16 Staff Member of Term

It’s hard to believe the first day of Term 17 is coming to a close. The amount of posting that has already taken place at the Opening Feast has been incredible, and the Author Café has been full of people dropping in and out since morning. The excitement for the start of term seems to be contagious. But before we get truly get lost in the plots, friendships, drama and pranks that are surely coming up, we on the Admin Team want to take a moment to congratulate our newest Staff Member of Term. Our staff members do an incredible amount for the site IC and OOC, from writing reviews to posting lessons, and this award is reserved for the author who went above and beyond in putting time and energy into RMI during Term 16.

And so, for all her wonderful work and cheerful enthusiasm, the Admin Team would like to recognize the author of Mary-Louise Clarke, our old librarian, as the new Staff Member of Term. This decision was quick and unanimous on our part, so clearly has she stood out when it comes to her staff responsibilities. She has been consistent in getting her lessons and other work done on time and will stepping up this term as our new Spellwork professor and Head of House for Lyra. She has also developed Mary-Louise into a hilarious, if somewhat terrifying, character who is fantastic to post with. As librarian, Mary-Louise seems to have had a slew of bad experiences but nevertheless has maintained her forthright verve and penchant for propriety:

She unknowingly inherited the two kneazles, Sir Balan and Sir Balin, who live in the Reference Center: “In the beginning she had thought Sir Balan was just putting on a bit of holiday weight, nothing to worry about. Except after some careful observation it became clear that SIr Balan wasn’t a Sir at all and the extra weight? Now that was something to be concerned about. Sir Balan had been expecting her own tiny brood of miscreants.”

Upon stumbling upon a “discarded crisp packet” in the Reference Center, “the image haunted her as she lay in bed at night until the Librarian could cope no more” and resulted in students finding themselves cleaning bookshelves without magic.

And finally, one day Mary-Louise walked in to find the Reference Center straight up filled with bubbles: “Bringing her hand to her hair she waded over to her desk and slumped down onto the chair. Shoes now kicked off and discarded she watched warily as children shoved limbs into the bubbles and tossed fistfuls at each other. There was no point expecting much studying to take place today.”

Mary-Louise’s author is in many ways the opposite of the often vexed and exasperated ex-librarian she writes. She can often be found in the Author Café cheerily supporting fellow authors in her characteristically lighthearted and authentic manner, and has been particularly helpful these past few weeks in helping new authors find their way around the site. It’s fantastic having you on staff, Mary-Louise, congratulations and thank you for all your hard work! 

T17 and NaNoWriMo

Welcome, everyone, to the beginnings of Term 17! Orientation Part I has been posted and for those of you with older students, IC summer has begun.

All of us on the Admin Team feel that this is a particularly auspicious time to start a new term because, seeing as it’s definitely past midnight as I’m writing this, November has officially begun and that means it’s once again National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)!

Now, you could go off and try to write a 50,000 word novel. Or instead you could chill with us on the Author Café and attempt RMI’s very own NaNoWriMo challenge. Take on this endeavor and watch your characterization skills develop and your posts lengthen and become more detailed. Side effects might include having your character(s) talking to you incessantly as you try to sleep and generally commenting on your daily life. But it’s totally worth it.

So, what’s this challenge I’m going on about? Read on, daring one!

—    To be eligible, Authors must save their posts in a word processing document that will count their words, and this document must be e-mailed to us (theheads at rmimagic dotcom) at the end of the month to confirm your word count.

—    For each student character you have at RMI, you must write 7,500 words this month to meet our challenge. If you have more than 5 characters, you still only have to write 37,500 words; we'll take pity on you.

—    All posts are eligible for consideration, but please don't spam one board with a gajillion posts just to meet word count. Threads are your friends!

—    By the same token, ORMIs will count towards your word count...but don't be lame and have all of your words come from ORMIs.

—    BUT - caveat - posts done for non-student characters (for example, a younger sibling or parent) will only count for HALF words.

—    Only posts from November 1st to November 30th count.

There you have it! Let the posting begin!

-Robin

Those Magic Changes (Casey)

As you all can probably imagine, running RMI is a time consuming gig. That’s why we try to keep an entire “team” of admins on hand. But recently, we’ve been undermanned. Due to some unfavorable real life circumstances, Ryan is currently on leave from the team and might not be around the site as much as usual. 

All of this has meant that Robin and I have been attempting to run the whole shebang while simultaneously keeping up with college and high school respectively. Add in all of the other commitments and struggles we’ve been facing, and you’ve got two extremely stressed admins.

For this reason, Robin and I have opted to invite another admin to our team. We would like to formally introduce you all to… Sasha! She is the author of Cultural Studies professor Estelle Blair and students Lyubov Kovalchuk, Finn DuBois, Reece Campbell, and Kejan and Kaspar Szyszko.

The decision to ask Sasha to join the team was an easy one. Her characters have become a constant on the site, and she has done remarkably well as a staff member. Not only did she step it up enough last term to earn Staff Member of Term, but this term she has continued to prove her mettle by meeting deadlines again and again, writing with innovation, and supporting the community.

Robin and I are excited to have her with us, and we’re confident she will serve to the great benefit of RMI, this term and beyond.

Cheers,

Casey

T16 Midterm Update

Well friends, here we are at the midterm of T16. In fact we’re coincidentally exactly in the middle of midterm itself, making this blog post unexpectedly auspicious. If these words start to glimmer or change color, don’t be surprised.

There’s been quite a bit going on this term IC, from the first Quidditch match between Lyra and Cetus to the auditions and posting of the Cast List for the musical, Grease. The SGA hosted Karaoke Night earlier on and has more upcoming events planned, and the House Elf Initiative (HEI) gathered in the Reference Center for a meeting as well. Throughout it all, Shifty, the school poltergeist, has been causing much mischief in and beyond the classrooms, most recently almost inciting a frustrated Headmaster Abbadi into starting a snowball fight with him.

In addition to the promise of more IC escapades after term resumes, The Admin Team has been working on a few projects that we hope to launch in the near future. Among them include an updated version of the survey to guide us in further shaping RMI to your ideas and needs. We’re also working on getting the Trophy Hall up and running so that the achievements of RMI’s Houses and students are better recognized and remembered. Finally, you’ll be hearing more from the other Admin members over the next few months on this blog as we take turns writing about different aspects of being at RMI, from writing big families to what it takes to come up with a lesson to the adventures of working behind the scenes for the site.

As exciting as it is to talk about plans for the future, there have been some administrative changes taking place this midterm that need mentioning as well. Firstly, I’m sad to say we have two authors leaving our midst: the author of Professor Ward Rosse (the Science Boss) and recent alumna Yevetya Alkaeva, and Julia, admin member and author of Deputy Headmistress Kristina de los Santos and Annalise Hier have decided to retire from RMI. Both have played a core role in our community IC and OOC, from writing heartfelt characters and incredible lessons to helping authors on the RMI Author Cafe while simultaneously bringing the place to life by discussing their passions – space (or should I say spaaaaace) and baking, respectively. Julia has, on top of that, been invaluable as a member of the Admin Team and as Deputy Headmistress. Both authors will be sorely missed, and I'm sure you will join me in thanking them for all they've done and wishing them the best of luck beyond RMI.

In light of the two authors’ departure, I am very happy to announce that Casey, author of Bailey Shepard and the Knights, among others, is our new Deputy Head and has already proven with confidence that he is up to the challenges his new role entails. We are also delighted to see an old face return as Austin, RMI’s founder and ex-Head, will be managing the technical side of the site as our new Webmaster. And now, I open the floor to you. We are currently looking for a Medic, Magical Sciences professor, and Introduction to Healing professor (the Medic can also teach ItH). If you are keen on any of these positions, I encourage you to apply! Alternatively, if you’re interested in bringing back a discontinued class, have an idea for a new one, or just want to find out more about being on staff, you can get in touch with us at: theheads@rmimagic.com. We’re eagerly awaiting your submissions.

There are a lot of changes afoot, a lot of projects in motion, and through it all midterm madness inevitably continues. ORMIs are being written, profiles are being submitted, and preparations for T17 have officially begun. We’ve already accepted our first application for next term!

And so we go.

-Robin

Introducing: Our new staff members!

This term we have quite a few new staff members and we thought that since classes are beginning soon, we would let them introduce themselves to you in their own words. Without further ado, here are Mary-Louise Clarke, Liam West, Adisynne Leppit, and Ryler Tate!

Mary-Louise Clarke, Reference Center Librarian:

"Hello everyone. My name is Mary-Louise, but you can call me Miss Clarke, and I will be your new librarian. With an energetic four year old to run after and boxes still waiting to be unpacked from the move I'm sure you can forgive me for being a little stressed at times. Although, hopefully as long as you remember that a library is a place for quiet and not somewhere to host a party I'm sure we'll get along just fine. If you ever need help finding a good book or simply wish to discuss the wonderful works of William Shakespeare over a game of chess I'll be more than happy to oblige. I'm looking forward to finally meeting all of you and can't wait to get started!"

Liam West, Foretelling Arts Professor: 

"Hello everyone, my name is Liam West and I am the new Foretelling Arts Professor. Not many of you know me, if any of you do, but I look forward to meeting each of you. If anyone ever has any questions my office door is always open. A few things about me: For starters I have been known to sing baritone and if I am ever in the mood you may hear it—I may be grinning but I’m quite serious about this. On a more serious note, I own a great many artifacts that have been used for Divination or are interesting to certain cultures, and if anyone wants to take a look or try them out I would be willing to arrange that. All I ask is that you show some respect and don't judge others for anything. I look forward to the upcoming year all it holds!"

Adisynne Leppit, Theatre Director: 

“Hi, everybody. I'm Adisynne Leppit, but you can just call me Addi. I'm the new musical director. Most of you may remember me, since I just graduated last year. It's going to be weird coming back and sitting at a different bonfire, but I'm pumped to follow the footsteps of great directors like Garen and Abby. All you really need to know about me is if you treat me with respect, I'll return the favor. Just keep your blood prejudices out of my theatre, and I'm sure we'll all get along fine! Also you get bonus Cool Points if you audition for the musical. Leaping Leppits, I'm really excited!”

Ryler Tate, Counselor:

“Hi everyone, my name is Ryler Tate, but feel free to call me anything you want. I am going to be your new counselor. I know it's hard to approach a new face, but I'm excited to get to know all of you and I'm always here to listen to whatever you have to say no matter what. I’m from a small town in New Mexico and I have spent the last few years working as a therapist there. It's great to get out and explore a new state and I'm excited for all of the wonderful things that Colorado will offer. In my spare time I love to take to the skies and play some Quidditch. I'm excited to meet everyone and become a part of the amazing staff here at RMI.”

We would like to congratulate our new staff members and wish them good luck on the upcoming term. Welcome to staff, and moreover, welcome to RMI! If you're interested in hearing more about them, check out their newly uploaded profiles!  

Term 15: Staff Member of Term

Since Term 14, the Admin have been nominating a Staff Member of Term as a way of recognizing a staff author who has gone above and beyond in their responsibilities at RMI. It’s one of our newest traditions and an important one when considering everything that those on staff make possible on the site. Staff members not only write the lessons and events that bring the school to life IC, but also find new authors and act as a base for our community OOC. Our first ever Staff Member of Term was the author of Robert Gallico, Potions professor.

This time around, we would like to recognize and thank the author of Estelle Blair, Cultural Studies professor, for the fantastic work she did during Term 15. Estelle’s author started the term as one of our newest staff members, but she learned quickly and took her new responsibilities in stride. She never failed to get lessons or any other work done on time, if not early. Furthermore, she has developed Estelle into a very vibrant character with a lot of depth. The Australian professor introduced herself in her very first lesson like this:

“My name is Estelle Blair, but that’s Miss Blair to you lot. I don’t want a single one of you referring to me as a Professor, because that’s a term for respected elders, and I’m not quite so old yet as to be an elder. Here, I’m just your respected colleague, and as colleagues, I expect there to be complete co-operation between us at all times.” There was an almost malicious gleam in her dark eyes. “I don’t care that most of you are taller than me, I don’t care that some of you may think this course a waste of time, and I especially don’t care who your parents are. Here, between these four walls, all of us are equals in every way, and if I get so much as a whiff of disagreement I will give you a detention you’ll never forget.”

The Cultural Studies lessons she has written have been, in one word, awesome, and she has done a lot to further the muggle culture our students get exposed to. Estelle’s author also participated in Term 15’s plot by writing a racing challenge that also bridged the magic and muggle. She has been extremely reliable, and on top of that has always offered to do extra work to help out further, and in fact will be doing so as Cetus’ new Head of House this coming term. Thank you, Estelle, it’s wonderful having you on staff and this recognition is well deserved!

A Few Farewells

And so, it’s the end of yet another term.

Orientation for T16 begins on Friday, and we’ve already been seeing some new faces and names on Chatzy. Next term will be an exciting one, as rumor has it a figure from RMI’s past will be returning. But before we look to the future, it’s necessary to take a moment to look back and say farewell to those who will not be joining us next term.

This is the last term for the author of Christian Philpott and the Havelocks and in addition, the author of Abigail Embers and Braelyn Adams has made the decision to step down from staff, though they will continue to write their student characters. As some of our most senior staff members, Christian and Abby have shaped RMI from the very beginning, and have played a huge role in making the site the amazing place that it is today. Christian was the first staff member to offer advanced courses, before they became an official part of the site. Furthermore, they once wrote an entire musical to put on IC through the theatre department. Abby is one of the founders of that same theatre department, and has been running the ORMI site for years. On top of that, they have put in countless hours of effort behind the scenes, from finding new authors to subbing lessons to working closely with the administrative team to keep the site going. They have gone above and beyond in all that they have done for RMI, and their dedication to the site has been incredible.

This term we are also sad to announce that we are saying goodbye to Austin, RMI’s founder, and author of Aaron McKindy, Drequan Morris, and a slew of other characters. Austin’s vision of creating a supportive community of authors where people of all writing abilities are welcome is the foundation on which RMI stands to this day. Since creating the site from scratch over six years ago, Austin has been a steady force in guiding RMI term-by-term, through the good and bad, at once confident in the site’s strength and unafraid to innovate. Austin has always put authors first, and in their time at RMI got to know many of us on a personal basis, becoming a genuine friend in the process. In creating the site, they have provided a safe space and foundational center for all of us. As RMI authors we are all familiar with magic, and I would argue that Austin is, quite literally, magical, in being the reason we are all here, as a community, today.

To Christian, Abby, and Austin, no amount of thanks will ever cover all that you’ve done for RMI and its authors, on and off the site. To Christian and Austin who will not be returning, we wish you the best of luck in all your future endeavors. Know that RMI is always a home you can return to. You will be missed. 

Some Administrative Changes

Hi everyone, it’s Robin here.

So it’s just one more day before midterm ends and the boards open up again for new classes, threads, and magical goodness. While this break has been relatively quiet at RMI, there have been some changes happening to the site on an administrative level. Ryan, author of Gaston Munro, has done a great job of running the site but decided recently that he has to step down as Headmaster due to real life personal reasons. He will continue to support the site and community as an Admin and staff member.

In short, I am the new Head. This was a really big decision to make, and it’s not one that I made lightly. It’s a change for the site, and there is of course a transition period we’re going to have to go through. But you know, in all honesty I’m excited. RMI is such an amazing place, and it’s really the great community of authors we have here that makes the site so special. You make RMI what it is, and I’m keen to see where we can take the site together.

If you guys have any questions, comments, or concerns you can get in touch with me through the Contact Us Form on the main page or by sending an email to theheads@rmimagic.com. You’ll also find me on the Author Café more likely than not swimming in the chatzy river or riding around on a space shark.

Onward we go!

-Robin

January in the Writing Center: Author of the Month and Writing Challenge!

Happy New Year, everyone!

We’d like to kick start the year by announcing our newest Author of the Month: the author of Cayden Bloom! One of our new authors, Cayden has shown exemplary effort in working to go above and beyond the call of duty, adding more details to her posts and working on giving her character depth and background. In addition to the effort she's put in on her own writing, we at the Writing Center have been continually impressed with her constant presence in our community; she goes out of her way to write with new authors herself in order to broaden her own experiences, but has also been known to encourage other new authors to expand their boundaries as well. The unusually cohesive enthusiasm of our first-year class is certainly fed by Cayden's author, which is particularly impressive because she herself has only been around for a few weeks. 

Congratulations, Cayden, and keep up the excellent work!

When deciding the Author of the Month, the Writing Center team looks for authors who push themselves to improve their writing skills and community involvement. This can be anything from working on characterization to dealing with technical grammar issues to carrying off realistic plots. The Writing Center page offers different worksheets that can be used towards this, and the staff is always available to look at posts or give advice.

Another way you can work on your writing and test your creativity is by participating in our new monthly challenge! This term RMI is going to be hosting a series of competitions to encourage house pride. As a part of this, for the month of January we are challenging you to come up with official house cheers that will be used at these events. You may submit one cheer per house, regardless of which house your student(s) may be in. Submissions are due by January 27th to the Writing Center email. If you have any questions, send us an email or find us on chatzy and we’ll be happy to help. Good luck!