When I went to University in the late 80s the walls of the stalls were filled with commentary and discussions ranging from philosophy, politics, the environment, religion, and in the those ancient days, women's rights. There were few personal comments, though many dissenting opinions around the original writing. When I started working at the University in the mid 90s the writings on the walls of the reading room had devolved into verbiage best left to 12 year old bullies. And then, by the 00s: silence. Acres of unmarked bathroom walls. Not the fresh coat of paint to allow new conversations, but silence. I thought in this ithingy age that the silence would be everlasting. But recently, and in more than one building on campus, I have found signs of life again. Encouraging comments, statements and responses about the environment, women's lives. Is this some Luddite underground emerging? Is it digital babies finding a place where they can not be 'Snowdon'ed. What ever it is, I am glad of it. Anonymous conversation with others of my sex, or those becoming my sex, that can be open and untraced.
The only moment better in the reading room of my educational institution was toilet tennis - which saved my sanity one day of great stress in the mid 90s. I sat down. My eyes wandered to the wall where one small sentence was written. "Toliet tennis: look left", which I did. "Toilet tennis: look right". Which I did. And in a moment, back and forth, I was laughing and my stress fled.
No comments:
Post a Comment