Archives for the Month of September 2007 on Sean Lojek's Online Journal
The Two Universities
All over the University, there is writing inscribed on buildings, sculptures, and message boards. Close to the freshman dorms are the Peter B. Lewis Building and the Mather Dance Center. Furthermore, all the way on South side, there is Fribley, where students can eat in a restaurant type of environment. In addition to the physical writing around campus, there is also writing all over the Case website. On this website, there is information about professors, there are campus maps, and there is information about upcoming Case events. Although the worlds of Case, the physical and virtual world, are very different, the two compliment each other; without one or the other, the University would not be complete.
While walking around campus, I have noticed many different buildings with writing on them. For example, I have several classes in the PBL, or the Peter B. Lewis Building. Even though I am in the building everyday of the week, I do not know why the PBL was built. In addition to the PBL, there is the Mather Dance Center. I see this building almost everyday as well, but I do not know why it was constructed. Both of these buildings have their names by their entrances, but why are these names on the outsides’ of the buildings?
To answer this question, I did some research on the Case website. On the website, I learned about the Mather Dance Center; the center was built in 1909 for the Flora Stone Mather College. At first, the center was designed as a gymnasium, but, later, it was converted to a dance center.
I also looked up information about the Peter B. Lewis building. In 1965, Peter Lewis took over his family’s insurance company. After forty years, Peter Lewis became the Chairman of the Progressive Insurance Company. In 1999, Mr. Lewis gave $36.9 million to Case’s management school; therefore, this why the building bears his name.
Without using the Internet or Case’s website, it would have been difficult to find information about the buildings. I could have gone to the buildings, and picked up information or asked someone who works there, but it would not have been efficient as looking it up on Case’s website. Consequently, Case’s website compliments the physical campus; when I go around campus and look at the buildings and sculptures and the writing that is on them, I can then go to the Case website to look up information about this writing. This connection aligns the two universities. The virtual university holds information about the physical university, while the physical university represents what the virtual university was built upon.
Writing on The Body Around Raymond Hall
Although people think about tattoos and pen markings when they hear about writing on the body, writing on the body actually consists of much more than permanent and non-permanent markings on skin. For example, writing on the body includes notes, phone numbers, and reminders written on hands, designs painted on the skin, and sayings and pictures imprinted on shirts. All of this writing is due to many different reasons; some of these reasons include to look nice, and to represent someone’s personality. Writing on the body is prevalent around campus, but the most common is writing on shirts and articles of clothing.
Anywhere around campus, people have writing on their clothing. But why do people walk around with slogans and designs on their chest or back? To help answer this question, I asked some people around my dorm why they were wearing shirts with writing on them. I asked Aaron, a neighbor of mine, who was wearing a “Case Western Reserve University” shirt, why he was wearing that shirt. He responded that “…this shirt fits all categories.” Here, Aaron brought up an interesting point, one about the shirt fitting all “categories;” these categories, as Aaron and I discussed later, refer to shirts with different purposes, such as a workout shirt, a lounging shirt, or a shirt that can be worn almost anywhere. Therefore, this observation shows something about Aaron’s character; because he likes to wear simple, flexible shirts, he likes to be comfortable around campus. Moreover, he is not like a female who will sacrifice comfort by wearing high heels to look attractive.
Aaron with his CWRU shirt
Another dorm mate, Kayo, had a different response than Aaron. When I asked Kayo why he was wearing a brown New York Yankees shirt, he responded: “because it matches my hat.” This response shows another reason why people wear writing on their bodies, for fashion. I asked Kayo if he likes the NY Yankees, but he responded that he does not. This furthers the point, Kayo does not like the NY Yankees, but he likes the colors and design of the shirt and how it matches his hat. While Aaron liked his CWRU shirt for its versatility and ease, Kayo liked his NY shirt because of the colors and design. This shows part of Kayo’s personality; even though he may not like or agree with the message on the piece of clothing, Kayo still might wear that piece of clothing because it fits his own sense of style.
Kayo with his NY Yankees shirt
While Kayo was wearing his brown shirt, Vlad, another one of my neighbors, was wearing a shirt with the message: “I put the fresh in freshman.” When I asked Vlad about why he was wearing that shirt, he stated: “can it be as simple as because I do?” This entertaining response is a perfect example of how someone’s clothing represents his or her personality. Vlad is a funny guy; he makes humorous jokes, and wears goofy shirts. Therefore, Vlad’s shirt represents his personality; the shirt has a humorous message, and Vlad is a humorous person. Thus, the shirt with the message on the outside gave a hint to what he is like on the inside, an amusing person.
Vlad with his funny shirt
From my research, I have learned that people’s clothing represents their personality. This may not always be true, but, from my experience, clothing usually gives insight to what someone’s character is like. I know there is a saying, “don’t judge a book by its cover,” but, people are not books.
Stephan being Stephan
Writing Around the Residence Halls
The residence halls, and the surrounding areas, of Case Western Reserve are filled with posters, flyers, billboards, messages, and pictures. These posters usually advertise something school related, such as fraternities and sororities, tutoring sessions, or meetings of different clubs and groups. Occasionally, I will see some flyers describing an off-campus event, like a trip to the beach. These constantly changing signs represent the character of campus life by presenting a magnitude of things to do on or off campus. Additionally, on my residence hall’s floor, there is a colorfully decorated corkboard with some food recipes from Wikipedia. Not all of the displays around the halls are as nice as the one on my floor, but they all provide information and something to look at; however, dissimilar to what most poster and flyer-hangers believe, these advertisements rarely receive a thoughtful review.
Due to the current upsurge of specialized websites and online social networks, including Facebook and MySpace, students no longer solely rely on flyers, posters, and their substitutes for information. By chance, a student may walk by an advertisement for a certain club that they want to join and obtain information about that club. However, most of the time, people do not rely on flyers circulated around the residence halls; students tend to rely on the Internet instead. For example, a person is not going to go around to all of the billboards to search for information about a club they want to join. Rather, that person will search online for that club’s information. This way is not only quicker, but, also, it will provide the student with more information, for more information can be stored on a website than on a piece of paper. On the other hand, online social networks provide the building ground for new relationships, groups, and friendships. People who are on these networks can write to each other, share pictures, and create groups, such as a videogame group where people who like videogames can chat with each other about their gaming stories. Moreover, on the Facebook network, people can write on each other’s “wall.” The “wall” is shown on the front page of everyone’s profile and is a place for people to write each other messages. These messages can include simple greetings to what time a social gathering starts. Teenagers and young adults spend a lot of time on these networks, and, thus, they provide a great and simple way for people to communicate with each other. Overall, because of the current Internet boom, students do not depend as much on flyers for information as they do the Internet.
Even though the Internet is where most people tend to look for information, flyers and posters have not been replaced completely. Yes, the majority of information in the world can be found on the Internet, but the surprise of finding the information you are looking for on a post on your way back from classes is still very rewarding. When we search the Internet for information, we expect to find it; when we are walking back from classes, we do not expect to find when the lacrosse club meeting begins, for example. The writings around the residence halls still define the campus life, but the writings found on peoples’ “wall” define it more; we have entered a new age of society, one where online networking is key. Online, people have formed groups, clubs, networks, and websites because technology has made these things easily accessible to everyone. The old-fashioned flyer will sometimes be noticed but a message posted to someone’s “wall” will always be read.