Culture article sketch
“The Cafe Culture”
You think you would get away from “cliques” when coming to college. Wrong. Morningside is known for its sports cliques.
You don’t really notice these cliques until you go eat at the cafe. There is an unwritten rule about where to sit at the cafe.
If you play football you sit in the middle of the cafe at the “football table.” If you run track you sit in the back far corner of the cafe and sit at the “track table.” If you play soccer you sit at the long table by the salad bar called the “soccer table.”
If people outside of their sports sit at that particular table, people will look at you weird and the sport that normally sits there will sit around you and make you feel unwelcome.
There are tables at the cafe for people that don’t play a sport or not in a club. They sit in the booths or at the small round tables that can only seat four people or less.
The cafe is also known for the TVs playing Family Feud at supper time and getting all the details for the weekend plans. Sometimes people don’t even go there to eat, they just socialize.
October 19th, 2020 at 3:18 pm
If you have graphic abilities, it would be fun to make a map of the cafeteria and where the various groups and teams and organizations call home.
Lots of possibilities for stories. If you talk to coaches you might get a more historical perspective. Nqsh would be a possibility. He used to eat with the team pretty regular. I’d be curious how far this goes back and how it gets enforced. How it gets passed down from year to year. Maxon may also know something. He is the only coach soccer has ever had, so he should know how it settled out for his teams.
Also, maybe, how/if the Caf’s re-design a few years ago altered the balance of power.