One Graffitti Two Graffitti Three Graffitti More!
Personal writings and graffiti help define our environment as much as, if not more than, published books/papers. They help define our personal preferences, our "gumption". They can help portray our inner thoughts, feelings, and emotions.
More than often not graffiti is seen purely as a destruction of property, or a lash out against the "man". However many times this is not the actually case. Many such pieces of artwork actually carry a deeper meaning, and often a personal message that relates to a certain group of people, or to the artist them self. Frequently the artwork is fraught with spelling, grammatical, or other such mistakes (see the title of this piece). This fact does not however change the point the artist is trying to convey.
When you take a look at the decorations in the hallways in our residence halls, postings, snippets, and dry erase boards are nothing but less permanent forms of expression. Each different design, style and only helps to illustrate the culture and life of those residents. One interesting observation is the difference in such decorations and artwork from housing situation to housing situation. While in the residence halls, often the doors are covered in items that relate at least partially to life as a student. Pictures of athletes, news clippings about their high school accomplishments/friends/ect., even pictures of the individual students.
Doorway decorations in the fraternity houses are substantially different in comparison. While the odd notification may be displayed, more often than not silly and humorous murals are found. This difference could be due to a number of different factors, but in my experience this is largely due to the fact that brothers are more knowledgeable about what each other member is doing, so these boards take on a vestigial nature.
It could also be argued that such decorations actually have not been influenced by the students life, and living arrangements. However, I would like someone to point out the same percentage of apartment doors that are decorated in similar fashions. Oh how about houses in a subdivision? This just helps to reinforce the idea that our culture and surroundings dictate how we protray ourselves to the rest of the world. It is culturally frowned upon if a person were to decorate the front door of their house in this manner.
In my opinion I say let them decorate their doors. Let students express themselves however they feel is necessary. If not, they still will, just in a much more destructive and potentially disruptive manner.
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