Defacement of the Underside of a Shelf
What is it that prompts men to "make their marks?" (And yes, I did mean "humanity," but typed "men" simply because I felt like it.) Why do we have these creative urges - these instinctual impulses to tag. We leave a smorgasbord of gurgitated graffiti on cathedral walls, desert mesas, and even the undersides of college dorm shelves. I recall crashing into my dorm bed for the first time, narrowly missing the edge of the shelf above it, then - just as I was imagining that the shelf would remain unoffending as long as I avoided it - it ambushed me with an armada of autographs, a convoy of captions - there they were! hiding beneath my books! Things like I love liesl (so friken much); Perry; Josh is Hott 2006; Carley, LONI, & Jami are sexy!; Candice Rules; me sober=you drunk; we're the same!; Kyle; Courtney; hearts can break stars can't, so don't heart ppl, star them...; Rool X; Stan is HOT!!!; Look in the attic above the bathtub shower. And soooo many more signatures, doodles, crossed off names, and the portions of themselves people want left behind. Every so often, they bounce a few harmless shots in my direction, but today I retaliated. Well, maybe not retaliated so much as swelled their ranks. I suppose allying myself with them is as effective as defeating them - if not more so. This way, less people are hurt. And, I think I wrote the longest message now defacing that shelf's underside: I have the sudden urge to become one in a long line of vandals, so I am adding my graffiti to the desecrated underside of this shelf. Ha! This defacement is strangely liberating. Thanks! -Angela 11/28/2007
Sorta silly. But I think preemptive strikes are the best kind - if, you know, one is interested in strikes and that sort of thing.
2 comments:
Aw! Cute, Ang! And I know what you mean about wanting to leave your mark-I scratched my name into the baseboards of every bedroom closet I ever had. Every time we'd move away, I'd wait till the last minute, and then carve it out. I suppose I ought to do that here, too! I think that maybe the reason people leave their mark is because we need to be remembered-leaving something of yours behind hints of immortality.
I just finished perusing Marissa's blog and saw a comment you made and it occurred to me that I have not commented on your blog recently and that I ought to - if only to reinforce at least one more time that you should keep gracing cyberbia with pieces of you. And then I read this post and all concerns vanished. This semester I've often found your defacement of things liberating; I'm glad you have, too.
See you in the 'verse.
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