Bathroom Philosphies
Feb. 1st, 2002 10:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
azuriteWhen you go to high school, it's really only natural that the bathrooms will be full of graffiti and other some-such tagwork. I've been noticing for a while which stalls in which bathrooms on which floors have what style of writing... because I'm interested in writing, any kind, really, and it's interesting to see what people write.
One of my first ideas for a serious book was sort of based off the recent "Chicken Soup" style books, especially the ones for teens, that really related to teens and the lives they live today. I wanted to call it "The Bathroom Philosophy," and have it include all these strange and inspirational quotes you see littered about a bathroom stall.
At my school, the doors to each of the bathrooms are no more than three feet in length, and each is painted a bright red. People will graffiti on the marble walls if there's no room on the doors (and quite often enough, there isn't), or if they get wind that the admins are going to have the bathroom doors repainted so they can "fumigate" students out of there during class time. ^^; Sneaky little devils, those teachers. Anyways, the paint on the marble looks much tackier than the red paint, so people prefer to write on the doors-- if not those, then the toilet paper dispensers.
On one floor, there's a full-length bitch list. Sadly, some people have gotten to the level where they "top" the #1 listing, and say "All ____ girls." Someone inevitably gets angry at this, and says, "No, it's all ____ because they're all..." yeah, you get the picture. Some people "write back." One person called a bitch was the class president, a very nice and interesting girl who's on three varsity teams. Thus, six or so girls "wrote back" to whoever dared to call her a bitch, saying that the prez was nice, and just because she was class president and on three varsity sports, it was no reason to hate. Plenty of people signed their agreement. It was nice to see people sticking up for each other, even if they were vandalizing in the process.
On one faded puke-green toilet dispenser, it reads: Girls, us girls, we stand accused. We've been physically, mentally, spiritually bruised. (The rest is either a blur or I forgot it... ^^;)
Then again, plenty of people avoid the bathrooms like the plague. One boy commented to me last year, "I'd use the bathrooms at this school-- if I didn't have to use scuba gear to get to the toilets." Ehh... gek. The girls' bathrooms aren't as bad, but they're getting there. It's not the tagging that bugs me, but the papers left everywhere, pads hanging off toilet stalls and the like, and the soap that's either never there or smells strange. I go there as a last resort, can't-hold-it-in-any-longer, wanna-get-away-from-class/some guy, have-to-wash-my-hands-becuase-I-don't-know-what-I-just-touched. ^^; Yeah, and that's when I see those tags littering the doors and the walls, and I wonder.
People really think in bathrooms. People say things like, "It's really sad to see people wasting their time hating on others," and "You must be really bored to write here... I know I am." and "This school sux" (to which, to my amazement, was added-- 'doesn't suck anymore than you do,' or something to that effect) Spirited people tagging? Whoa.
That's why I like my school-- even if I complain about it all the time. ^.~
One of my first ideas for a serious book was sort of based off the recent "Chicken Soup" style books, especially the ones for teens, that really related to teens and the lives they live today. I wanted to call it "The Bathroom Philosophy," and have it include all these strange and inspirational quotes you see littered about a bathroom stall.
At my school, the doors to each of the bathrooms are no more than three feet in length, and each is painted a bright red. People will graffiti on the marble walls if there's no room on the doors (and quite often enough, there isn't), or if they get wind that the admins are going to have the bathroom doors repainted so they can "fumigate" students out of there during class time. ^^; Sneaky little devils, those teachers. Anyways, the paint on the marble looks much tackier than the red paint, so people prefer to write on the doors-- if not those, then the toilet paper dispensers.
On one floor, there's a full-length bitch list. Sadly, some people have gotten to the level where they "top" the #1 listing, and say "All ____ girls." Someone inevitably gets angry at this, and says, "No, it's all ____ because they're all..." yeah, you get the picture. Some people "write back." One person called a bitch was the class president, a very nice and interesting girl who's on three varsity teams. Thus, six or so girls "wrote back" to whoever dared to call her a bitch, saying that the prez was nice, and just because she was class president and on three varsity sports, it was no reason to hate. Plenty of people signed their agreement. It was nice to see people sticking up for each other, even if they were vandalizing in the process.
On one faded puke-green toilet dispenser, it reads: Girls, us girls, we stand accused. We've been physically, mentally, spiritually bruised. (The rest is either a blur or I forgot it... ^^;)
Then again, plenty of people avoid the bathrooms like the plague. One boy commented to me last year, "I'd use the bathrooms at this school-- if I didn't have to use scuba gear to get to the toilets." Ehh... gek. The girls' bathrooms aren't as bad, but they're getting there. It's not the tagging that bugs me, but the papers left everywhere, pads hanging off toilet stalls and the like, and the soap that's either never there or smells strange. I go there as a last resort, can't-hold-it-in-any-longer, wanna-get-away-from-class/some guy, have-to-wash-my-hands-becuase-I-don't-know-what-I-just-touched. ^^; Yeah, and that's when I see those tags littering the doors and the walls, and I wonder.
People really think in bathrooms. People say things like, "It's really sad to see people wasting their time hating on others," and "You must be really bored to write here... I know I am." and "This school sux" (to which, to my amazement, was added-- 'doesn't suck anymore than you do,' or something to that effect) Spirited people tagging? Whoa.
That's why I like my school-- even if I complain about it all the time. ^.~
