The Written Word and Life "At Home"
The written word is a powerful tool. It is everywhere we look, and it helps to define us as human beings. College residence halls are no exception to being transformed by this medium of self expression. We write to make a part of ourselves available to everyone. It is a social activity, and it has the ability to transform the emotions associated with an environment. This can be seen in Rebekah Nathan’s book, My Freshman Year. Nathan states that she noticed many instances of college students showing their individuality when she walked through college dorm halls. Students put magazine clippings of seemingly random phrases on their room doors; Nathan noticed that, when observed more closely, the phrases “…create[d] a carefully constructed impression of freethinking and individuality” (24). The magazine clippings served as a medium of self-expression for the students. The students needed a way to quickly let others recognize a facet of their personality, and the clippings seemed served the purpose well.
The written word can also be used to create certain feelings about an environment. Nathan writes about a seasonal change of signs in the residence halls she visited. The signs started as “get involved” messages that encouraged students to join clubs and student organizations. By the middle of the semester, the signs had changed to academic advice and conflict resolution messages. Some may claim that this change simply satisfies the purpose of adding variety to the residence halls, but I believe that it is associated with a certain emotional response that the RHA wants to create. I have noticed a similar situation in my residence hall. There are many posters on the walls of the dorm that encourage students to join student organizations. I expect that by the middle of the semester these signs will be replaced; in fact, I have already seen some of the mid-semester posters in the RHA office.
I have witnessed a situation in my residence hall in which a negative atmosphere was created simply by messages that were written. The problem started when a group of people wrote obscene messages on the bulletin boards in my dorm lobby. Staff members found the students and made them take down the messages. The students now have to create new designs for our bulletin boards, complete with new, more positive, messages. This situation further shows the dedication of the RHA to create a positive atmosphere in the residence halls. Something as basic as one obscene word was enough to generate uneasiness in the dorms, which the RHA caught onto immediately.
The writing that surrounds us in residence halls helps to transform the environment into one that we are comfortable living in. We use writing to express ourselves, which helps make our college dorms more like our homes. Writing is also used to inspire certain feelings in readers. “Get involved” messages are meant to encourage us to join student groups, while academic advice messages can boost the morale of students. If there is one unifying theme to the positive messages, it is that they help to transform the environment into one that feels like we are welcome there.
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