I am confident that everyone reading these very words is interpreting them how I desired to express them. That is communication, right? But, at which point do our personal thresholds of language clash, sending us into a perpetuating cycle of misunderstanding. Sometimes I am surprised by the true meaning of words that are a part of my everyday vocabulary but are only understood in context. Last week, full of passion, I came up with a brilliant idea to collectively unite the entire Wesleyan community with a common cause.
As we spread all over the country this summer some of us need a reason to resist complacency and to raise political awareness (spray painting our established design in our respective place). After converting my mental excitement to words on a screen, I e-mailed copies to selected professors and friends. I wanted to send my message to the campus as a Wespeak and I wanted feedback.
After several replies, I re-read what I wrote for the first time and was shocked by how badly it sucked. What I wrote was sloppy, dogmatic, and far from what I was trying to communicate. I edited it and came up with the letter below. I had a professor read it and he told me that only a young and ignorant person would try to pull off something like this. Is he right? Should I pour my heart into something that he says will inevitably fail?
The Bush administration’s deceiving tactics are finally getting exposed on mainstream media networks and his fucking ratings are on the rise. So am I kidding myself, and further completely undermining any potential by exposing my self-doubt? I will just ask Doro, the Wespeak editor, and she’ll know.
Dear Wesleyan Student, Faculty, Administration, and Staff:
Wesleyan, and universities alike have an unrealized potential. We are a “diverse” community in that we represent students from around the country and the world and New York. However, for the most part, our political beliefs do not represent those of the country as a whole. In just three weeks, we will vacate Middletown and diverge to our respective places for the summer. In this time it is imperative that we each take a thoughtful look at the current state of our nation and our potential to influence it.
Despite the varying opinions and political leanings within this community, I think there are two big issues that we can collectively agree upon: first, there is a serious deficiency in this country’s voter turnout, and second, our political leader’s personal ties to oil are inexcusably influential. The latter of these issues is explained in the biographies of our executive branch of our government. Oil is currently the world’s most valuable resource and the truth behind it needs to be exposed not just to liberal Wesleyan kids but to the entire nation. Using Wesleyan as a nucleus, we can educate the uninformed, and raise political awareness through innovative strategy.
I am designing a specific symbol with implicit and explicit meaning. The universal symbol is one of the options in the mix. By utilizing modern technological resources (internet, graphic programs) in concert with the freedoms granted by our country’s constitution, we can construct a dynamic force of opposition through the exposure of vast corruption. With a great design we can engage people throughout this country by attracting their curiosity. The design will be accompanied by a link to an informative non-partisan website that will expose and educate people on the issues addressed hitherto. The website will delineate the facts that mainstream media refuses to confront, while providing links to voter registration and other relevant sources. People can draw their own conclusions. The information must be presented in a way that cannot be dismissed. Within our self conscious and stigmatized society, we must be disciplined in accounting how such a project will be perceived. The objective here is not to alienate anybody in strife for change.
Our design must be powerful. It must stick out from the visual collages imposed upon us everyday. Finally, it must be easily reproducible so that people around the country and world can print and spread the stencil. The image can be further distributed through online organizations. We should also create decals, and solicit the aid of print shops around the country that stand for a progressive cause in printing and spreading the message.
Costs will be left to individuals. Buying a can of spray paint for $5 is more valuable than a mailed donation because the contributor has an actual role in the application of his donation. We can end the proverbial “preaching to the choir” through a symbol that attracts curiosity from others.
In addition to a brilliant student body, Wesleyan has a faculty made up of some of the most prolific thinkers excelling in all the various departments. Each discipline has a lot to offer, and the degree of participation of the diverse resources at our disposal, will define the measure of this project’s success.
If you believe in this project, then I ask you to identify your strengths and volunteer them accordingly. We need artists, techies, and ambitious thinkers, spray painters, and stencil makers. It is time we unite as Wesleyan, as Middletown, and as a country. There is little time to establish our goals collectively, so the first meeting will be this Thursday evening at 5:00 pm in front of the campus center. Questions, contact sfleischner@wesleyan.edu.
Leave a Reply