For this third day of Spirit Week, we’re examining a student organization…of sorts. It has no annual fees or t-shirts. It doesn’t have an official name. There’s no Constitution, no banal assurances of acceptance and equal-oportunity membership. Quite the opposite — each week, it’s members are reviewed by the group’s leader, who gleefully expunges one unworthy person from the roster.
They are the Facebook friends of Longwood senior Michael Gills. Here is their newsletter: 
(photo credit: facebook.com)
Michael is a writer, a tennis enthusiast, a record-holding Tetris player and, for the time being, our friend on Facebook. He answered some questions from The Longwood Hole about the finer points of winnowing his friend list, and how the Elite 40 originated.
The Longwood Hole: How did the idea of the elite forty come about? What were your influences?
Michael: The idea came from a lot of things, one being the home spam — what do I care if “Emily is soooo sleeepppy”? It’s crazy the things people post that they think we want to read about — when they’re tired, what they ate, how well they did on an exam, etc. It’s just a confession on how boring people’s lives really are. And I would still read it! I found myself clicking on people’s profiles and browsing these meaningless wall posts. I think there’s a real insanity about facebook people aren’t addressing.
TLH: How many people, if any, have realized that they have been removed from your friend list? Did you let them back in? Is ejection permanent?
Michael: I get two or three requests a day, some know they’ve been booted, some think it was just a mistake. I think the latter category is more evidence of that facebook insanity…I mean these people have so many friends they’ve forgotten if I was ever a part of their list. As for reentries, well, don’t hold your breath.
TLH: Who would go first: a kind-hearted acquaintance you barely know, or a total asshole you know intimately?
Michael: The kind-hearted schmuck, no doubt.
TLH: When high noon arrives, do you already have an idea who will be let go? Or do you examine your list carefully, weighing each individual person?
Michael: I often have a person lined up, but last minute acts of redemption are certainly possible. In terms of examining the list carefully, I do the weighing on a completely biased and partial scale. My justice has twelve eyes and x-ray vision.
TLH: How do you feel when you lighten your friend list? Is it cathartic? Addictive?
Michael: I’m a big minimalist, and I seriously enjoy throwing things away. That includes friends. I would call the experience liberating.
TLH: Will it stop at forty, or will the purging continue? A sweet sixteen maybe? Will this continue until there is only one friend left?
Michael: Once I hit 40 I was thinking of letting new friends in — which would mean old friends would have to leave. Taking it down to one might seriously alienate me from people I care about. I mean, could I un-friend my own sister? Stop giving me ideas!
Posted by thelongwoodhole 
Boy, did my Journalism 101 classes ever grouse and groan over the paper I assigned them. You would have thought I was asking for an entire treatise on ethics in contemporary journalism, instead of just twenty-five pages. That’s right, only twenty-five pages. I had a cousin who was sort of slow — for fun, he would type with both his elbows and laugh in this hysteric high-pitched cackle at the randomness it produced on the page. I guarantee he’d give me better researched work than the dreck I have to grade this weekend.
