That Girl from Derwent dwells on the value of religion this Christmas.
That Girl from Derwent has learned a few more things about prejudice since moving up North.
That Girl From Derwent reckons if you're going to be offensive, you should find a better reason.
That Girl from Derwent considers why it is that some words have wider implications than others.
A similar finding was made by students as they returned after the summer holiday, causing anonymous contributors to write back against the action. Statements calling for more graffiti began to appear on the new walls, with students expressing their surprise that the university would pay to replace the walls in the toilets rather than allow the writing to remain.
Now, I don't know what the writing said last year, I don't recall ever noticing it. But this term, the text was nice. Questions asking "what has made you happy this term?" were accompanied by messages such as "your lovely handwriting", "I have fallen in love" and "I got a first on my procedural essay". On from these, encouragements had been left, especially in the case of one student who wrote that she was happy she had finally gotten over her eating disorder.
The wall also seemed to be a place for students to air their hopes and fears for the future as one student wrote that she is scared of never falling in love - and it was heart-warming to see, instead of being ridiculed for believing in the thing, or being told to stop being silly, people had written telling her not to worry, that it would happen, and that it would be amazing when it did.
Basically, written on that wall was a large amount of good wishes and kindness - far more than we'd normally see in our average rushed and busy university day. That it was written on the wall of a toilet cubicle didn't devalue it - in fact, the unexpected location of such good wishes made them all the more meaningful. Call me sad (and I'm sure a few of you will), but if I had time and was passing, I'd pop into the toilets just to see if anything more had been added to the collection of writings.
It was a sad day I went in to find the walls painted over.
I couldn't understand it, not really. There had been no obscenities scrawled there (actually, there had been one, but couldn't just that have been removed?) and there had been nothing offensive. The writing wasn't in anyone's way - in no way could it have impacted on the running of the university or been detrimental to said establishment's reputation.
So why waste money on removing it?
Deliberately removing the good wishes of many students from their chosen place of expression could be seen as an act of vandalism in itself.
If the university hopes that students will get tired of starting all over again, then I believe it is sorely wrong. Wiping clean the slate each term is only going to encourage people to be more prolific in their illicit writing.
And if they're not careful, students will start to use stronger language. Sad but true, I noticed a few obscenities rubbed into whatever was used to cover up the old messages. They may not be in ink yet, but it just shows how quickly writing can turn to vandalism.
It makes me wonder what next term will bring. Will the University continue to waste money on replacing walls needlessly? Or will people realise that a little more kindness in the world is something to be celebrated, rather than covered up?
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