Well, as a senior looking back, I cannot say college has been everything I expected. But some things that have happened to me have been more unexpected than others.
For example, when I came to college I expected to meet new people with diverse backgrounds. I expected to run into strong and varying opinions on politics, academics, love and life. That's what college is about, right? I was prepared to live with people different than myself. I was prepared for diversity. I was prepared. But I wasn't prepared for the biggest difference I would run into. Pizza.
Yes, pizza. When I sat down with my roommates sophomore year to eat pizza, I ran into a vast uncharted territory of lifestyle and opinion differences that I had never expected.
I reached to take a slice of pizza from the box. "You can't do that!" my roommate shrieked. I looked at the pizza and confusedly asked her why not.
"That's not the next piece," she responded. My roommate-Katherine Stroup, now editor of The Chronicle-proceeded to detail what an uncivilized and uncultured person I was and how my choice of pizza slice was going to cause the world to fall apart. Well, maybe that is not how she phrased it, but this is how I came upon the phenomenon my friends affectionately call Pizza Karma.
According to my friend, when one is eating pizza in a group, the pizza must be eaten around in a circle. A slice can be taken from either side of the space created by the pizza that has already been taken, but a slice must never be taken from between two other slices. When asked about the why's of this mandate, my crazy roommate told me it created harmony between the pizza eaters.
Harmony? I was still confused. According to her, eating the pizza around the circle in this manner kept the pizza eaters from competing. If people took any slice of pizza at will, she asserted, then everyone would be trying to get the best piece. People would selfishly take the piece with the most mushrooms or the perfect amount of cheese. No one would be able to enjoy their pizza because they would be too busy rushing to finish their first slice so they could get first crack at the selection of a second slice. Eating the pizza would become no more than a cutthroat race to the bitter end. The greediest, fastest pizza eater would emerge victorious, and all others partaking of the pizza would walk away defeated. Her pizza rule was only to maintain happiness and friendship within the group.
This is when I decided that the differences I was up against surpassed everything I'd ever expected to encounter diversity-wise in college. Religion, race, sure, I was prepared. Political affiliation and choice of network television station? No problem! But pizza? I thought she must be joking, but this was not the case. When I insisted on continuing to take my slice from the middle of the pizza, it bothered her.
So I tried explaining my viewpoint. I often ate pizza in groups where everyone chose a slice at random, and no friendships were ever dissolved over dinner. I acknowledged that it was true that my motives were usually selfish, as I assumed these motives were the same as everyone else's. I often took the pizza slice with the most mushrooms. Sometimes the "best slice" had the right combination of pepperoni and green pepper. But I never rushed through my pizza to make sure someone didn't get the "next-best slice." If someone ate the slice I wanted, I would just choose another. This never traumatized me.
I also pointed out that just because I thought the piece with the most mushrooms was the best, it didn't mean other people would agree. Perhaps they would hate mushrooms, or would be looking for a slice with onions and extra cheese.
The perfect slice of pizza was different in everyone's eyes. Therefore, letting people choose their pizza randomly would be at least as harmonious, if not more so, than my friend's method. It was quite likely that everybody would want different pieces anyway, and if not, most college students should be mature enough to handle getting their second choice slice of pizza.
So what is the correct way to share your pizza? My friend and I still haven't reached a consensus. When we eat pizza together there's still tension about whose rules will be violated. How do you eat your pizza? Is my friend weird or am I?
Maybe it isn't about weird. When there is talk of living in a diverse society, one usually thinks of the big things like race and religion. Sometimes, though, the little differences, like pizza, can be just as challenging-if not more so.
Heather Morris is a Trinity senior. She encourages you to have a democratic pizza-distribution process.
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