ANNA CANGELLARIS
Gargoyle staff reporter
Posted Saturday, Oct. 6, 2007

ACCORDING TO MY mother, I have the worst table manners in the family next to my dog, Susan.

A couple nights ago I went into the kitchen for dinner, sat sideways on a skewed chair at the dinner table with one leg crossed on the chair-seat, picked up a piece of broccoli with my fingers and began to eat.

My mother was immediately disgusted. She told me to sit properly and eat with my utensils "like a human being."

Throughout the course of that dinner I was constantly snapped at. I was told not to lean toward my plate, to use my napkin, to try my best not to masticate like a grazing cow, and, of course, to keep my elbows off the table.

Up until that point I was unaware of how apparently terrible my table manners were. I was just eating to fill my empty stomach, not to impress anyone.

My mother says I haven't always been this slovenly. I used to take much care to take small bites, sit up, and use my napkin often. So I wonder, what has turned me into such a messy animal?

Since I had to blame someone or something, I came to the conclusion that my lack of manners was not my fault, but due to the absence of a clean place to eat at school.

During lunch, I usually eat on the go or standing up and don't pay attention to how I ingest my food. This is true for the majority of Uni students who line the lockers and crowd the halls in groups for lack of a place to sit and eat their lunches.

Some could argue that there are tables in the kitchen and couches in the lounge. Yet, can manners truly be inspired when surrounded by sticky surfaces and trash-covered floors and sofas? The lounge is disgusting and constantly on the verge of being closed, the kitchen is filled with dirty dishes, and students leave their trash behind everywhere they go.

The truth is that it is the student body's collective fault that potential eating surfaces are a mess. Though it isn’t every student that has complete irreverence for sanitation, the few of us who do are enough of a problem and reflect negatively on the school as a whole.

The question here is why and how did we get it into our heads that we can throw our apple cores at the ceiling for fun, leave empty pizza boxes and half-eaten lunches on the floor, and expect someone else to take care of the mess? There is something wrong if the level of freedom we are given inspires irresponsibility and disrespect of our environment.

Perhaps in our Uni bubble it doesn't matter if we are dirty fiends who wolf down our sandwiches and spill our drinks, but I think we should start looking to the future and the world outside of Uni where such behavior, according to my mother and yours, is frowned upon.

[Note: An earlier version of this column was published as a staff blog entry on Oct. 4.]