Blog #2
Nathan wrote in her book about how residence hall writing, as on doors of dorm rooms, defines who we are. How true is that statement?
Around Norton house, where I live, the only writing on the dorm room doors are either profane words, graphic images or quotes from movies that pertain to nothing. On one of the doors in Norton, aside from the penis’ on the dry erase boards, there is a quote that says “I like pasta” next to a drawing of a person’s face. What about that statement or even the drawing defines the person inside the room? Nothing, aside from the fact that he likes pasta but how defining can that be about a person.
In our class discussion people spoke about how some people left notes for their roommate or even little inside jokes on the dry erase boards but does that define who they are as people? When I think about what defines me as a person I think of what makes me who I am. I enjoy playing baseball competitively and playing other sports for fun, I like to go out rather than staying in and I enjoy going to malls to hang out and shop for clothes, shoes and whatever else is there. I could go on forever about what I like to do and what I don’t but it is those actions of what we do that define who we are, not inside jokes on our doors or random movie quotes written around the residence halls.
Aside from the writing on the doors, there are countless signs and papers posted up all over the residence halls; papers advertising for an upcoming event for whom to elect for class president. There are so many chalk drawings on the sidewalk advertising for upcoming sporting events or different fraternity functions. In a way these words define college life. While they advertise for upcoming things that are happening around the campus, they also give an insight into what the students of the campus are up to, assuming that a good amount of people attend the events. Most of the events are run by the students as well so the events advertised on the sidewalk of the campus show what the students of the campus care about and what they put their time and effort into.
Defining a whole campus with words and signs would be impossible but it’s those words that show give outsiders and inside scoop to what the students do at night and on weekends or whenever the events are taking place.
How will technology change the writing around the campus? Will everything switch from chalk drawings to email? And if this is the case, will those emails now be the defining features of the college campus or was it the physical act of putting the effort into drawing in chalk on the sidewalk or printing hundreds of copies of a flyer that has a good chance of being covered in graffiti the next day that defines a campus and the people that make that campus what it is?
In my opinion to define a campus with words and signs it has show the effort and dedication that the students took in organizing the event or their passion for whatever sporting event that is taking place. Anyone can email the whole campus something that took them two minutes to write up and then be done with it but when someone actually cares enough about something to send their night advertising for it outside for however long it takes, that is truly what defines a college campus.
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