Another year underway, complete with crazy schedules, stimulating and not-so-stimulating classes, beer parties, and social events. The beginning of the school year brings all of this, but it also marks the beginning of a new dialogue. A new "Great Conversation", if you will, appears each year and will forever shape the atmosphere of St. Olaf College. One of the greatest parts about working for the opinions section here at the Messenger is that these two pages are a venue created entirely for facilitating dialogue between students, professors and, once in a while, the greater community at large. It is an exciting place to check out what people are thinking about and doing and creating... So, without much further ado, I would like to welcome all the first-year students and say let the dialogue begin.

Although it usually takes some time for conversation of interest to spark regarding the politics of this institution, there is one issue of great importance which has probably concerned every student at one time or another this year. Need I say much more than "the caf"?

Can someone please tell me what the hell is up with the lines at the cafeteria this year? I know that it is the beginning of the year, and it seems like a silly thing to gripe about, but by the time the cafeteria line extended around the stairway and to the Cage the other evening, I decided enough was enough.

Now, granted, patience is a virtue and there will times in our lives when we will have to wait for things. I am constantly reminding myself that we live in the "instant gratification generation" and that "good things come to those who wait."

Keeping that in my mind, I still think there is something severely wrong with the way Stav Dining Hall is managed and operated. The Buntrock family spent considerable amounts of money so that this college could have a facility which was better designed to foster an atmosphere built upon community. Eating together is a fundamental part of community on this campus. So why do I feel like hitching a ride to Burger King every time I see the cafeteria line?

First, it is a problem of space. Like it or not, the serving area was not designed to serve this campus, especially in the amount of time which students are expected to bus through the dining hall. Breakfast is open from seven in the morning until a quarter to ten from Monday through Saturday. This seems somewhat reasonable. But lunch and dinner? I think it would be beneficial if lunch ran until at least three o'clock everyday, and if something slightly more productive was done with the bag lunch line. What a mess! If lunch ran until three, there would still be an hour and a half before dinner, which seems like ample prep time. Dinner, however is the worst of all. Stav Hall is open between 4:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. - which is exactly 2.5 hours to shove a couple thousand people through a poorly organized and much too small serving area. It reminds of an analogy of trying to push something really large out of something really small and how strenuous that can be.

Once you finally make it up the line and through the door and you get your food, you need a place to sit. Sometimes this gets tricky, sometimes not so bad. The biggest problem with this seems to be large groups, like corridors, trying to sit together. So, you have eaten and you are relatively happy. Your body enjoys food. Until, however, you see the line for the tray return which has extended all the way to the back of the cafeteria. And don't even think about leaving your tray on your table, you are certain to get stopped by the Stav Hall Gestapo - ready to give some lip if you dared to try to sneak out of the cafeteria (God forbid) without dropping off your tray. While I realize that the Stav Hall Gestapo are all really nice people who get paid to stand and watch us bus our trays because it is such a difficult task and that they are simply doing their job, I don't think I should have to allot an hour and a half of my day to breakfast for fear of not making it to my first class on time.

So there has to be some sort of solution to this problem right? Perhaps Bon Apetit could set up some troughs somewhere and fill them with pasta and other hot dishes and we could have a large free-for-all. Perhaps that would be effective. Or what about 24 hour bus trips to Malt O' Meal which would allow St. Olaf students to eat cereal directly from the conveyor belt. Maybe the physics department could engineer some sort of tablet that acted as a dietary supplement which provided the all of the FDA's daily nutritional values plus 2,000 calories. Except that would take all the fun out of eating. But wait, so does eating in the caf. But seriously, I have eaten pizza for the last three nights because I have had had absolutely no desire to eat in the Cafeteria. So what is the moral of the story? Extended hours, more dishwashers, less Stav Hall Gestapo - it's time to do some talking -- to Bon Apetit and administration and whoever else. Let the dialogue begin!