bathroom blogging
I've recently discovered a new medium that is having problems staying afloat. About a year ago I developed an affinity for a particular bathroom and stall here at WCC to take my daily bathroom breaks. this bathroom wasn't particularly different from any others on campus, it was away from most of the staff locations, so I wasn't going to run into anyone I knew, most likely, and it was rather secluded, which is nice, because some of the bathrooms at wcc have surprisingly revealing doors. with huge gaps or don't close all the way.
Anyhow, this bathroom had amazing political commentary on the walls. I started visiting this bathroom when the troops were just getting ready to go to Iraq. the entire wall and door of the stall was full of people ranting and pontificating about the merits and disadvantages of going into IRAQ. Then the commentary started to change to things about the election as that approached. most of this stuff was really well written and had some great points. every now and then you'd get something that just said BUSH SUCKS or something clever like JOHN KERRY.
I often thought about taking a picture of this stuff, or trying to document it somehow, but it was always there, and I had no reason to believe that it wouldn't be there forever. I'd tried checking out other stalls, to see if they had similar discourse going on, but none were as good as this particular place on campus. But like all good things, this too, must come to an end.
First they tried scrubbing the stuff off. that had marginal effect, the multiple types of pen used to write it up just created half discernible smudging. then they repainted over it all, and it just came back. So they did what was required, and painted that whole stall black. Thats when I realized it was only this particular stall. because I looked all over campus and that was the only one I could find that was painted black.
Now, I realize it's someone's job at WCC to clean things, but this didn't need to be cleaned up! it was damned good political commentary. I felt like I was really reading what people think. There were first and second hand accounts of iraq, transcribed quotes from news articles, and tons of opinions. and damn, it was surprisingly well written.
Maybe I should write a letter or something, get this policy reversed. I should have been taking wide angle pictures of the bathroom stall. it's a shame this is lost forever.
