There are Muzzies in the Chardon School System and they've been there for a long time. They were already an institution by the time I arrived at Chardon High back in the early 70's and according to my daughter, who is currently attending as a freshman, they are still there.
I was not a Muzzie, but I was aware of their covert presence as I walked to school along the access road between the Middle School and the High School, glimpsing them hiding behind trees along the perimeter, doing the things that they did. They would group together in the parking lot, in the restrooms, and near fast-food joints in town. In class, when one would sit behind me, I could often detect a whiff of weed, or alcohol. Sometimes sex. Always cigarettes. For me, interactions with Muzzies were pretty simple - requests to copy my homework, or to borrow a lighter, or bum a spare cigarette - even though it was obvious that I was not a smoker.
I thought every school had Muzzies until I went off to college and compared notes with my dorm-mates.: Jocks - check. Nerds - check. Muzzies ...huh? What are Muzzies? I began to use the word Stoner because it was something everyone understood, but somehow, it left something lacking. Those schools may have had Stoners, but they didn't have Muzzies. I finally became proud of being a Chardonite.
I've had three children attend the Chardon School System, and all three of them at some point have come up to me asking, with a glint in their eye, "Dad, do you know what a Muzzy is?" Like that first question about the birds and bees, it is a day that a parent does not forget.
I did some research on the word Muzzy,and found that it was originally a slang term for marijuana, probably dating back to the Beat Generation. If so, there may have been Muzzies in Chardon since the 50's. The Urban Dictionary indicates that Muzzy is also being used these days as a derogative term for a person of the Muslim faith. Would a Muslim Stoner at Chardon High be a Super Muzzie?
And finally, of course, there's a a Muzzy Facebook page: Muzzies - if you went to Chardon you know what I mean Check it out.
Were, or are, YOU a Muzzy?
Posts
By the early/mid-90s, when I was walking that same access road to the high school every morning, the Muzzies had stopped hanging out there. They had migrated south, to the corner of Chardon Ave. and Downing Dr., where they would all congregate around the blue mailbox to smoke together before the start of the school day. Anybody who went to CHS during that era knows about the "Muzzy mailbox". Last time I was in town I noticed the mailbox has since been removed - I hope they have found a new place to smoke.
ReplyDeleteHow are you gonna take somebody's mailbox. It's just not cool! I posted a link over here on muzzyjones .. look out for melon heads on the show this summer!
ReplyDelete