I was taking my normal lunch today by myself. Which for a long time, I have greatly enjoyed sitting down and reading a book or magazine.
But today I was thinking about how lunch used to be so different in high school. Looking back at lunch in high school, it was actually a enjoyable experience. Although at the time, there were many pressures of which table to sit at, espicially since our cafeteria got filled to over capacity on many days.
But you could sit at a general table and just relax and listen to the conversation. Perhaps occassionally chiming in now and then. There was a larger structure involved that was very democratic in some ways. Despite certain groups sitting together in certain areas, there was a certain amount of flexibility. You could easily sit down with different groups of people, because of the nature of the long table seating.
I propose a room full of very long table seating is much greater for social interaction than a room full of smaller circle table seating.
Ever sit at wedding at a round table full of duds?
How about sitting at a round table in a loud restaurant and you can’t even hear someone across the table?
Or if you go out to lunch by yourself and you sit a table meant for four and the restaurant becomes very busy and you feel stupid for taking up 3 blank seats?
Well, with long table seating, it brings together the seperate smaller tables. It unifies the seclusion of individual segregation. It eliminates the discriminating divergence. Stand strong for unific table conversation.
they have long tables at Wagamama’s in London. http://www.wagamama.com
it would be cool if social settings like a cafeteria had pods. You go into any pod, it doesn’t matter. Then you select which “room” you want to converse with. Or you could create your own room and don’t allow anyone to enter your room if you want to be alone. That way you have the option to be in a big room and just listen to the conversation or you can be more selective and be in a smaller room with less people. This way there is less social pressure, but all the benefits. Though food fights would much more difficult.
I’ve heard that in Germany and other European places have long tables like you have mentioned. The first time I had the experience of actually eating a meal with other people was at a Paul Bunyan Resturant…the treat you like loggers..and they only serve breakfast..
i like to go to Chipotle and sit at a booth by myself. if i get there first, it’s mine. i don’t care if it gets crowded and people are looking for places to sit. i have rights too – the right of someone who got there at a good time and got a seat as fairly as anyone else. single people have rights too!
on this occasion of your first spudart blog post in the new format, i think you should post some new posts. i know you are busy. this is understandable. but gosh, i’ve got stuff to say!
Speaking of long tables, here’s a super long chair by artists Yvonne Fehling & Jennie Peizhttp://www.kraud.de/en/objekte/stuhlhockerbank-2/
A picnic table wider than the world’s biggest bean sits in Chicago’s Millennium Park:http://www.flickr.com/photos/spudart/8557778735/
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