Fellow UChicago alum here, also from a house with hardcore house culture (save Breckinridge!) and I think your comparison to house culture is useful in understanding some of the caveats of GITV moments. Being part of an intense, somewhat insular group with strong traditions and a strong sense of itself can be absolutely exhilarating and foster strong cohesion, as you say, but it also can be alienating to those who are more on the edges. Put differently, I absolutely think we should encourage GITV moments, but that spirit can go too far. Once you start saying “the people who don’t get in the van aren’t real members of [GROUP],” that starts pushing some people away.
With EA as with house culture, I think it’s important to find a balance between cultivating passionate intensity and acknowledging that folks have other things going on and can’t always commit 100%; important to cultivate GITV moments but also acknowledge and build systems and traditions that acknowledge that you can’t always get in the van—and, furthermore, that often folks with more privilege can more easily get in the van. If you have a shift at work or have to care for your kid, you can’t go on spontaneous trips in the same way that a person with fewer obligations might.
Fellow UChicago alum here, also from a house with hardcore house culture (save Breckinridge!) and I think your comparison to house culture is useful in understanding some of the caveats of GITV moments. Being part of an intense, somewhat insular group with strong traditions and a strong sense of itself can be absolutely exhilarating and foster strong cohesion, as you say, but it also can be alienating to those who are more on the edges. Put differently, I absolutely think we should encourage GITV moments, but that spirit can go too far. Once you start saying “the people who don’t get in the van aren’t real members of [GROUP],” that starts pushing some people away.
With EA as with house culture, I think it’s important to find a balance between cultivating passionate intensity and acknowledging that folks have other things going on and can’t always commit 100%; important to cultivate GITV moments but also acknowledge and build systems and traditions that acknowledge that you can’t always get in the van—and, furthermore, that often folks with more privilege can more easily get in the van. If you have a shift at work or have to care for your kid, you can’t go on spontaneous trips in the same way that a person with fewer obligations might.
I think this comment is really good and that it better articulates one idea I was trying to get at with the original post. Thank you!