final(?) thoughts

oh man...it's been an exhausting few days! finally pulling everything together and setting everything up around campus. but it's been really cool to see how people have interacted with the installations, especially within the last two days, and i'm looking forward to seeing how people continue to add on. It was so different setting up my installations yesterday morning all by myself. i really enjoyed going with amy and jeannie to set up their projects. it was fun because we were all accomplishing something	*
together and we could help each other with placement. but setting up my own alone made the installation in pray-harrold especially difficult (the banner was long and hard to tape to the wavy green wall). i was happy to see that a couple people (so far, although more might have been added since i last checked) had interacted with the installment in the home zone. but i feel there could have been more responses had i not put the poster up in the basement hallway of downing. i can always move it to the main	*
floor where there's much more foot traffic. i consider the “words of wisdom” installment in mckenny a great success! the letters were on the middle table in the sitting area overnight last night, and i was happy to see that they hadn’t been removed. there are some really neat words of wisdom that people left for their fellow students and themselves: “ships in a harbor are safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” “you have to start small to make it BIG!” “a person can only call you what you are...” “get your cake and eat it too.” “don’t eat the yellow snow!” “above all else guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” the haiku book that i set up in the student	*
center was also responded to with enthusiasm! a friend of mine was eager to add some of his poetry (i think he wrote 4 or 5 haikus). it’s interesting to see the mood of the haikus span from silliness to more thought-provoking. here are some entries: in america babies are born all the time that is really neat nothing beats the bliss the infinite perfection	*
of music at night scott came to starbucks asked me to write a haiku so look, here it is in love don’tcha know won’t pick boogers or fart loud gotta be on my swag love was nothing more than a well-dressed dream in blue dancing through the door	*
don’t leave your purse there what if somebody stole it? then you would be sad this is a pit stop the journey so much longer don’t stop, not there yet last night i got to talk to two girls that had written a haiku in the book and were really curious about it. that was so rewarding!	*
i plan on keeping the book and the “W. O. W.” letters visible for people to interact with, probably both in the student center for the rest of the week. this entire project turned out so differently for me (and i’m sure for each one of us) during the actual execution...it was relieving and exciting when everything really fell into	*
place with the installments. i would have liked to spend more time working with everyone else in the group drumming up ideas and research and helping with the construction and placement of installments, but we all did a great job with our own topics, i think. it was definitely a unique experience working with this group on such an engaging project. i liked the collaborative nature of our work and greatly benefited from the contribution of everyone’s ideas to the project. i had a lot of fun doing it!	*

DC's Final Post

Unfortunately, I was not able to do any of the documenting
myself. However, thanks to the rest of my group, a couple of the images were
documented. Much of the process for me was maintaining anonymity and yet not
being a vandal. At about 2:30 in the morning last Wednesday, I set out with a
backpack containing a small box of chalk, my fixative spray (to see if it might
provide some weather proofing), and I was covered in mostly dark clothing
(though still wearing shorts). The temperature was cold, but thankfully, the
wind was virtually nonexistent and I felt very comfortable out there and very
aware.
I made my way over to the valley and found my first spot to
mark. Being in the home section and attempting to address the issue of “breaking
practicality”, I sought to get people out of their comfort zones. I wanted to
write something like “do something different for an hour before going back to
your room”, but it was just too wordy and the chalk gets eaten up like crazy.
Having planned my location for the best possible privacy, I needed something to
pull people to this area. So I wrote the words “follow the trail” with several
arrows leading people to the location of the sign. I ended up writing “Try
something new today” and I decided to test my fixative spray on this. As I was
spraying, I noticed a man who must of worked custodial in the Dining Commons
building taking out garbage, so I booked it to my bookbag (which was set aside
with everything but the spray) and grabbed it and ran until I was at the
staircase on the hill by university pond.
I proceeded towards my next mark, the student center. Being
in the recreation zone, I decided to write “Stop what you are doing in 1 min.
and make something happen!” This of course was slightly ruined by the melting
snow off the awning in the morning and it was filled in by others in the group.
Thanks! In order to gain attention from other entrances in the SC, I wrote a
little sign saying “Go around” to point people to the other entrance. It is important to note here that I avoided
people’s prying eyes as I worked. I chose to avoid the computer lab entrance as
it was too busy and I also had to avoid weather and possibly cameras as best as
possible in making my markings. So if I did do one right in front of an
entrance, it had to be quick, and I had to be facing the other way.
As I was venturing over to Mark J in the “research zone”, I
wanted to get people to avoid using the internet for researching as is too
common now. Everyone googles answers too readily and rarely uses their own
ingenuity. Being that they were still doing construction and one of the
construction workers was outside smoking, I had to be extra stealthy. I set my
stuff aside except for the piece of chalk I would use and went towards the spot
I had picked out, hugging the wall. I even used the camera on my phone to
stealthily peak around the corners (it is very small and I never snapped a
photo, I just looked at the screen in camera mode). Noticing he was gone, I
proceeded hastily in writing my words and made my way out of there. I wrote: “Don’t
use the internet to research anything today”. Then I quickly ran off to my next
location picking up my pack on the way.
The next place I went to was the “old/abandoned zone”. I
searched around for a while trying to find the best place. Many of the places I
thought of were either too hidden or too wet. I finally settled on an outer
wall at Jones-Goddard near one of its entrances. In an attempt to break
practicality, I wrote “can you abandon something you use a lot?” I feel like we
are often too obsessed with things and sometimes need to get away from them.
Our phones and internet and coffee and so on sometimes take us over.
Finally, I made my way over to the busy zone. Again, I
searched for the best place between Pray-Harrold and Quirk to chalk. I was
attempting to optimize visibility (yet remain mostly invisible as I worked) and
stay clear of the weather. I settled on the Pray-Harrold entrance by the
loading docks where many people enter and exit and I wrote: “Skip your next
class to do something nice for someone”. I noticed how so many people use class
as an excuse to not interact with people. But really, how important is each
class? Sometimes, missing a class is detrimental to your grade. But many
classes I’ve had did not warrant my attendance all the time and the same applies
to many other people. We really shouldn’t use class as an automatic excuse and
we should consider the validity of what we’re doing whether it is going to or
skipping class.
In review of the project, it would have been great if I
could have got some spray chalk. I wanted to avoid permanence, but it would
have been easier to apply and it would have lasted a little bit longer. I
thought I could find it in stores, but not even Dick Blick had any. It was so
disappointing. I should have really tried to get it a long time ago, because
even the internet was inaccurate in what stores had or might have it. I feel
that I did a pretty good job at addressing the issue of “breaking practicality”
in spite of my restrictions. I may have had to avoid people and wetness. I also
had fun though as I snuck around the campus using stealth and parkour to
navigate paths through campus.

Pictures for DC

Alessa's Images and Final Perceptions

For some reason my text did not show up under my images nor did my first image. But here is a quick overview.

The image that is not there and for some reason will not post says "Research something fun today," and is located outside of the library. It alwasy seems as if people are walking in or out of the library in a rush because they are so consumed with school work, so I figured maybe this could inspire people to do something fun.

The first and second image state "Don't work too hard!" and "Take time to relax." and is located outside of the Rec IM. Again it always seems that people in this area are obsessed with whatever they are focused on at the moment, and forget to take time out of the day to relax and forget about their troubles. Though I know sometimes excercise can be a stress a reliever, I wanted people to realize there are other ways to relieve stress.

The third image states "Don't let anyone hold you back!" and is located right outside of Buell. Sometimes students, especially freshmen, let their friends and others influence their decisions. Not saying this is a bad thing, but more often than not that influence can have a negative impact on their schooling. It helps to know that you don't have to listen to what everyone says.

The fourth image says "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it" and is located outside of Pray-Harold. This quote is actaully from the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off . Again it seems that students never really have the time time to stop and actually look around at their surrounding and hopefully this quote reminds them to.

The final image says "Can you abandon something?" and is located outside Bowman-Roosevelt, an old dormitory. People never pass by here, and if they do they never really notice it. Hopefully this quote can remind people to remember to never forget something.

I hope that my statements can actually do some good and help those students that are lost, frantic, or in over their heads.

the beginning and the end

hello friends!
perhaps it's too late to announce (i really should have posted this yesterday), but i set up my project installations yesterday morning, and i hope you will discover the two that are left and contribute your words!
i would upload the photos i have of my installations, but i'm having a little trouble with my friend's camera...hopefully remedied by the end of the day.
one installation that i put up yesterday was sadly taken down by someone, and i suppose it's my fault for having set it up in a not-so-good place (although i think it's perfect!). i posted a big sign ("FINAL EXAMS" in big black letters) on the nice wavy green wall across from the elevators on the first floor of pray-harrold at around 8 in the morning, and it was gone by the time i came to check on it around 4. hopefully some of you saw it there and interacted with it?
i set up the second installation in mckenny, on the round table in the middle of the big sitting area...three cardboard letters, "W", "O", "W" and a little sign. i went back to the building at around 9 pm to retrieve the letters, thinking maybe a custodian or someone would toss them out. the doors were all locked, but i could still see them on the table. maybe they're still there this morning? i hope so. it was nice to see that people had written on them. (if you'd like some "words of wisdom", please go to that round table and check out the installment!)
i am currently watching over my last installment, a blank haiku book i made, at the top of the stairs on the second floor of the student center, on the starbucks side. if you have a free moment today, come by and add your own haiku to the book!
as a side note, it was nice to see amy's "hug me!" tree sign yesterday morning as i went to set up my stuff. it added a smile to my day!
i will do my best to have pictures of everything on here as soon as someone can help me with this strange camera (i'm so very technologically challenged). hope everyone's week is going well! see you this afternoon.

Self Reflection

Silly Random Additions to Campus

These were my fun contributions to our five plotted out regions of campus. With a large bucket of chalk in hand and other nifty supplies, Jeannie, Scott and I set out to complete our installations last week. There was much singing of songs from Mary Poppins as well as great brainstorming of other installations we wish we could add to our community. And so we began...

I began with Scott's chosen area. This area focused on wellness, fitness and fun as well as the goals people associate with these ideas. To break up the monotony of the daily "must work out", I wanted to incorporate our beautiful university park as well as the benefits of companionship. For these reasons, my installation here was this:

"Take a walk with a friend ending here."

The gazebo is an excellent spot on campus to take a break from the daily grind, to sit and talk with another and to reflect. Walking with a friend is definitely a refreshing and different form of exercise, one that you may not consider exercise at all! (Subconscious exercising! Huzzah!)
In addition to this "to do", there were arrows added to the surrounding sidewalks to usher pedestrians to the area.
(A note for any future chalkers, make sure you bring a lot! A message can certainly wipe out many sticks of chalk!)

Jeannie's zone was about researching, a common activity for the college student's agenda. This can be grueling and boring. Sometimes we do not get to do assignments on the most interesting of topics. My goal was to provide an opportunity for discussing something completely relevant, current and exciting: the zombie apocalypse! To make this accessible to those pushing their way through their studies, I chose the study rooms in Halle to place this item of interest.

"Discuss your plans for the zombie apocalypse."

As an afterthought, I also added another discussion in other rooms:

"Discuss your plans for the FINALS apocalypse."

For this, my goal was to have students share inspiration and hope with one another to help studying students feel connected to others. I hoped some might even add resources they will use or tips to de-stress during the week so others could use them as well.

In DC's area about our connections and ideas of "home," I wanted to take that even further and connect home with family/friends and the holidays. College students often are short on money (hey, who isn't nowadays?) and buying gifts is on the "to do" list this month. By placing this eye catching sign in a well travelled area (the community laundry room!), I made a suggestion that could make the holidays more meaningful and debt-free.

I learned snowflakes are difficult to draw.

Even if the students did not decide to make a homemade gift, perhaps this would inspire them to bake cookies or participate in other festivities.

In Alessa's "abandoned" zone, I wanted to make a comment on things we abandon. Childhood memories. Goals of "going green." Reflecting on nature. I highly enjoyed finding the perfect tree in a well travelled area and anticipated the reaction to it.

Everyone loves a hug.

The day after I saw one of my friends had actually posted about this on Facebook. It got over 50 "likes" in less than 12 hours. Perfecto!! Many people commented as well saying they had, in fact, hugged the tree. They completed a "to do" without blinking an eye! My final Silly Random installation was placed in the forever-busy Pray Harrold lobby. This area was deemed "The Busy Zone" and for good reason. A normal schedule of a student: class, eat, study, class, rinse, repeat. Especially with finals around the corner...we all know it is a recipe for Major Stress. When I initially began to think about "silly", I thought of my childhood and things that made me happy. Bubbles! Teddy bears! Balloons!
Balloons are for celebrating! They are colorful and bring joy. That is what Pray-H needed this week, a little cheer between the last classes of the semester. Here I posted simple instructions for interaction for this piece. If they chose not to do it, well I hope the random colorfulness brightened their mood.


Some of the answers included Grading, research papers, stress about parking and passing tests. One writer also expressed concern about birds eating the balloons after they were released into the air! (I had not thought about that!) As promised, our little group trekked outside for the ceremony of "releasing stresses" into the night sky.

(Video coming soon, Blogger is having issues!)


Thank you Scott for filming :)

Overall my experience with this project was rewarding. I was glad to connect with other classmates as well as the campus in new and innovative ways. This project has inspired me to do a community art project for my Capstone. We will have to see what comes up! :) It was a pleasure working with DC, Alessa, Scott and Jeannie as well as hearing about all the other interesting projects everyone else came up with!

Hope everyone has a good final week. Remember--add some silly and random into your life!