I went to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The term "coastie" is used all the time. People use it to refer to people from the East or West Coast of the US, but a lot of times people from the Midwest are also called Coasties. Coastie is code/another name for Jewish, though I'm not sure that everyone in Madison realizes they're talking in code when they say it. I think coasties are gilded ghetto Jewish women who never felt pressure to not be themselves- loud, cliquey, wealthy, dressed in designer clothes, sorority members with raspy cigarette voices. These Jews live in private dorms which are not exclusively but majority Jews.
The Coastie conversation, to me, is just a further extension of the complicated relationship that dominant society has had with Jews for all of history- we're insiders and outsiders, like the dominant group, but not quite and not ashamed of it. We create our own support networks and systems that help us thrive in the dominant society.
I never quite fit in with the Coastie scene and I would love if the anti-sweatshop, questioners of authority, pursuers of justice Jews were the primary group of Jews on campus that were making a splash. And maybe it's time for those who identify with that Judaism to redefine what it means to be a Coastie.
This is a music video that's raised a lot of controversy on campus lately and it's been called anti-Jewish.
