The Breakfast Room
For a number of years now, pretty much every bulletin board I’ve set up for my own use has had a section called “The Breakfast Room,” in honour of the following scene from Moby Dick:
“Grub, ho!” now cried the landlord, flinging open a door, and in we went to breakfast.
They say that men who have seen the world, thereby become quite at ease in manner, quite self-possessed in company. Not always, though: Ledyard, the great New England traveller, and Mungo Park, the Scotch one; of all men, they possessed the least assurance in the parlor. But perhaps the mere crossing of Siberia in a sledge drawn by dogs as Ledyard did, or the taking a long solitary walk on an empty stomach, in the Negro heart of Africa, which was the sum of poor Mungo’s performances–this kind of travel, I say, may not be the very best mode of attaining a high social polish. Still, for the most part, that sort of thing is to be had anywhere.
These reflections just here are occasioned by the circumstances that after we were all seated at the table, and I was preparing to hear some good stories about whaling, to my no small surprise, nearly every man maintained a profound silence. And not only that, but they looked embarrassed. Yes, here were a set of sea dogs, many of whom without the slightest bashfulness had boarded great whales on the high seas–entire strangers to them–and duelled them dead without winking; and yet, here they sat at a social breakfast table–all of the same calling, all of kindred tastes–looking round as sheepishly at each other as though they had never been out of sight of some sheepfold among the green mountains. A curious sight; these bashful bears, these timid warrior whalemen!
–Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 5: Breakfast
Whether it’s located in an inn or on the Web, the Breakfast Room is a meeting place. It’s an informal, social space where you are welcome to, and ought to feel free to, introduce yourself, brag/complain about the weather where you are, share stories and news, and generally shoot the breeze. No need to be bashful or timid. Here at RCN, we’re none of us bears, or warriors, or whalemen.
July 19th, 2008 at 12:03 pm - Edit
heylars, what do you think about the new design? Unlike the old design, the new one is fluid, meaning that it adjusts to the width of the browser window, which I like. Had to tweak the template (which, btw, I didn’t create) to allow comments on pages, though; previously, it only allowed comments after blog entries.