Kimberly Von Randow ’28
Opinions Editor
We the People of Holy Cross, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish a demand for our pool tables in Hogan to be restored, promote the General Welfare (especially in the evenings following dinner time), insure domestic Tranquility (after back-to-back midterms), and secure the Blessings of Recreation to Ourselves and our Posterity (or at least until finals week), do hereby declare that the current state of the Hogan pool tables is unacceptable.
Several weeks ago, without warning, the pool tables fell silent.
Where once there were the sharp cracks of a break shot and the quiet confidence of someone lining up the perfect shot to get the 8-ball in, there are now only two lonely slabs of purple felt and a laminated sign reading “Out of Order.” No cues. No balls. No explanation. Just absence.
The issue is not merely that the tables are unusable. It is that they are mysteriously unusable. It is absolutely possible that by the time this article is published, they will have been restored to their former glory and this will be “old news.” But at the late hour that I am writing this, our beloved campus remains pooless and I cannot let that be.
What happened to the pool balls? Were they borrowed for a physics experiment? Have the cues been recruited into an underground intramural fencing league? Have they all been confiscated by the Sader Center? For weeks, the student body has lived in uncertainty. And in the absence of communication, imagination runs wild and we can only assume the worst.
Recently, great news was provided when a kind worker explained that new parts were coming in soon. So fret not, there is hope for us yet. To me and so many others, the Hogan pool tables serve as a neutral ground, a sacred space to have fun during these cold winter months and bond over losing games because we forgot to call the pocket.
We do not demand revolution or call for protest in the Hoval, though we would be open to a strongly worded group email. We merely request the restoration of recreational sovereignty to the people. Until that blessed day, we remain a campus divided by the absence of pool equipment.
Let it be known that we were promised recreation. Let it be known that we stood patiently before two silent tables in the back corner of Hogan 1. And let it be known that we would simply like to play pool with our friends.
Restore the cues. Return the balls. Reestablish domestic tranquility.
The Union depends on it.
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