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Nacho Temple, Medusa Megan Johnson, Wellington
At a camp in the middle of nowhere, there’ s got to be some rules— but it can’ t be TOO strict, because it’ s geared towards children. At the camp I was at over the summer, the best rule by far is the“ nacho rule,” where if it’ s“ nachos,” don’ t touch it. It tells kids to keep their hands to themselves, and on their own things. I was training to be a counselor, so while I wasn’ t trusted with campers of my own, I was paired with a counselor and three little girls. Their favorite thing to do was listen to my mythology stories, after being introduced to them while stargazing one night. These stories ranged from“ Theseus and the Minotaur” to“ The Myth of Creation.”
One day, I was telling the story of how Medusa turned from a beautiful lady to an ugly gorgon, and the girls were lost in my words. When I got to the part where Medusa and Poseidon have an affair in Athena’ s sacred temple, the way I explained it was“ Medusa did something she shouldn’ t have in a place that wasn’ t hers,” mostly because I had no idea how to explain an affair to children. Then one of the girls gasped, exclaiming,“ Medusa got turned ugly because she broke the Nacho Rule!” All the girls started flooding me with questions and concerns, such as“ if we break the rule, will we turn into Medusa?” and“ I took someone’ s water bottle, I’ m going to turn ugly!” All of them started crying and screaming, with the scenario ending as I explained frantically to supervisors that I hadn’ t harmed the children— I’ d just told them stories.
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