So I just listened to a voicemail from my mother alerting me to the fact that she and my dad are having “Chef’s Special” tonight. Now Chef’s Special is a dish that consists of fried tofu and sauteed spinach and tomatoes. I thought it was good the first time I ate it the summer that I was home between freshman and sophomore year at Bates. However, she then continued to make it regularly and I began to secretly hate it. Finally I decided to publicly hate it at the dinner table. After this moment Chef’s Special quickly became a family joke along the lines of “Oh don’t you miss being home? We’re having Chef’s Special tonight!” To connect this little story to Bates life, I must say in the most basic, superficial way I like being at Bates because I don’t have to choke down Chef’s Special every night. Plus, my mom ended the message with “We’ll click out tofu filled forks together and think of you” which is just an amazing thing to say.
Besides the fact that Bates is wonderful because I know I’ll never see Chef’s Special in Commons, one of the most lovable things about Bates for me is the people. I think it’s appropriate to include in the first post a metaphor I realized about Bates this past weekend. On Saturday, Bowdoin hosted a free show featuring Talib Kweli and Naughty by Nature. The weather was beautiful, the car ride to Brunswick pleasing and one of my friends and I organized a little picnic. As we explored the area we ran into many different groups of Bates students (cliques some might say) and though the Bates population was not giving Bowdoin kids a run for their money in terms of attendance, there were quite a few Batesies at the show. The show was on the Bowdoin quad and as I looked around I realized that all the different groups of Batsies had congregated in the same area. Though we weren’t all holding hands and singing songs, we were all sitting close together and it seemed as if we had all gravitated toward each other. Here is an example where different groups of Bates friends all congregated in a non-Bates environment because at Bates, we like each other and we like being together for the most part. Bates students are friendly, open, know how to have fun and appreciate each other. For me, being a Batesie means being part of a community comprised of members who know how to enjoy each others company wherever and whenever.
Shhhh,
Steph
