One of the best things about this campus is the stunning amount of creativity that pulses through it. Thousands of brilliant and colorful minds (OK, and maybe a few people who are just plain lucky with multiple choice tests) converge here in Madison, and as a result we have some of the wackiest traditions, most interesting projects and discoveries in the world. But this begs the question-what is art, and what is simply proof that some people have way too much free time on their hands?
Case in point: \Wisconsin Whizdom."" This small book is a collection of those pearls of genius folks have scribbled on the walls in the bathrooms of local establishments. The authors of ""Whizdom"" have sifted through random scrawlings and chosen several which have been assimilated into a small book. If this doesn't make a solid case when arguing that the winters are too long here, I don't know what does.
Was this a good idea? We know there are folks out there are smacking their foreheads, thinking ""A book about funny stuff written on bathroom walls! Golly! Why didn't I think of that?""
But other people are following a whole different line of thought.??
""Wait a minute. People went into bathrooms with pen and paper and actually WROTE some of that stuff down?""
And then there have to be aspiring writers out there, glumly poking their stack of rejection letters and wondering, ""And that was PUBLISHED?""
The press packet actually brags that the small book has covers of cardboard in order to resemble a roll of toilet paper. And then-the piece de resistance-each page is carefully trimmed so it is the EXACT SAME SIZE as a square of toilet paper. Wow.
Unfortunately, the quotes were taken from too few places. Quotes on bathroom walls in Vilas Hall and Helen C. White library are usually great, but this publication overlooked them. (Speaking of local writing on library walls, there's some girl out there who may or may not suffer from a chemical imbalance. If I ran a fraternity, I would seriously consider doing a quick head count, because if one of your boys has gone missing, he may be in serious need of some backup.)
This book had a lot of potential. Unfortunately, it looks like it was put together in haste, and a lot of the expressions chosen are dumb or seem to be private jokes. ""Whizdom"" is supposed to be part of a series, and I hope that when these are put together at other colleges, more time is taken to suss out better quotes.
