Baking cookies for your TAs as a “department thing.”
BAKING COOKIES FOR YOUR TAS AS A “DEPARTMENT THING.”
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Remember those unwritten rules? The ones that weren't in any official handbook but somehow dictated a part of your life in those hallowed halls. Whether it was the late-night primal scream sessions before finals or the hushed whispers of secret societies, our institutions were rich with traditions. But sometimes, it was the smaller, almost mundane rituals that truly stick with you.
Take, for instance, the curious case of the department cookie brigade. Was it a genuine act of appreciation for our overworked TAs, fueled by a desire to sweeten their endless grading piles? Or a slightly strategic, unspoken departmental expectation, a subtle nod to community that felt as much a social maneuver as a kind gesture? Perhaps a bit of both. You’d gather in the communal kitchen, flour dusting your lab notes, the scent of chocolate chips mingling with the faint smell of old books and ambition.
These were the moments, tucked between demanding seminars and all-nighters, that forged a unique kind of camaraderie. They were the small, often absurd, ways we navigated the intense pressure cooker of our education. Did you love them, or did you secretly resent the time they took from your studies? Either way, they became part of the fabric of our time there, little threads that wove into the larger tapestry of our academic journeys. They were moments of connection, sometimes awkward, sometimes genuinely heartwarming, that defined our departmental 'thing.' What was your department's quirk?
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