The Observer, February 1, 2008
Volume XL, Issue 15
A Fresh Perspective: Grumbling brings freshmen together
One measure by which a freshman might mark his progress into his second collegiate semester is by his ever-maturing command of the Case in-joke.
Fondly, if not a little embarrassedly, we freshmen might remember the earliest days of the school year, when light conversation with classmates began, ended, and sometimes depended upon little sardonic jabs at the institution of Leutner.
The oft-scoffed quality of that dining hall was always a convenient bridge across the chasm of experience; food is universal, and if two students share little more than a school, they are also likely to share at least a common familiarity with its cafeteria.
In the first weeks of our Case careers, it was a relief to turn to the subject of Leutner in conversation: we could all seek harmony and agreement in our gleeful collective ridicule of it and all it stood for, and we could avoid the strain of coming up with more original jokes in the overbearing heat. Thus, throughout September, at many an awkward conversational juncture, a group of floundering Case freshmen could be found expounding together upon that mystical and all-pervasive inferiority that haunts Leutner.
Further into the year, however, as fewer and fewer conversations were with new acquaintances, and circles of acquaintance turned into circles of friends, the reliance on such set fare gradually lessened. The subject of Leutner food, like similar tentative first jokes, has quietly faded – now devolved in form to a mere brief, knowing allusion, not an independent topic in itself. And poor old abused Leutner probably breathes a sigh of relief that we have other things to talk about.
Though it was dying towards the end of last semester, the SAGES question stands to be usefully resurrected with the dawn of a new one. Once again, we may all have the opportunity to anchor the occasional flailing conversation by the introduction of that saving query, "What SAGES are you in?"
Not only is there always sure to be an answer to this magical question other than a terse "yes" or "no," but it segues conveniently into a glib and comfortable session of congenial SAGES bashing. The reputation of SAGES is perhaps the second most universal Case in-joke, after the one about everyone being geeky/nerdy/uptight/either-engineering-or-pre-med/in-love-with-his-computer. (And of course, the latter multi-incarnated jibe hardly ever gets old, either.)
Again, in this case as with Leutner, we may all mark our advancement by the increasing sophistication of our banter on the subject of SAGES. We are now armed with more than feeble, inherited prejudices against the system; we have gained the initiation that is experience. Before, we could merely echo overheard opinions about the program; now, we have truly earned these same opinions, and can grumble alongside the most entrenched of veteran Case grumblers. The culture is now ours for the abusing. Welcome us to the ranks!
