If campus graffiti can call itself art, carrel notes comprise their own complex genre. These thoughts from the lonely and barricaded student form anonymous conversations that probably considered the nature of life, the universe, and whether or not the EDMs are the hottest sorority or not, long before the internet. My discoveries included many lovesick poets, cynics, and seekers of the Deathly Hallows, but also a number of surprises.
From the totally baffling:
“Oprah has HUGE areolas”
To the momentarily contented:
“high school / college / grad school”
To the thankful:
“MOM / Blood, Sweat, Tears”
Concerning:
“BAM, manslaughter”
Mistaken:
“Turn Up Keith Was Here / NO I WASN’T”
And admittedly unlikely.
“me”
There are things we can reach an agreement about:
“SEX is awesome”
And also plenty of criticism:
“Calling things clichéd: Biggest Cliché of all?”
Advice:
“THEY’RE ALL DESTRUCTIVE BEHAVIORS. WRITE A POEM”
And a few confessions.
“I’m depressed.”
To which various solutions were proposed:
“Be your own dad.”
Some more comforting:
“MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU”
…Than others:
“You’re probably nicer than Newt Gingrich… Cheer Up!”
At the end of the day, the Kenyon carrels left me with a ballpoint version of the spectrum Kenyon Confessions: a student body that is variously brilliant and troubling, but never boring.
“Writings on walls can be as beautiful as petals on flowers / Or as ugly as the soul that created them.”
The Kenyon Thrill 
Pingback: A Guide to Library Noise-Levels and Etiquette | The Thrill
Pingback: Kenyon Graffiti: Chalmers Edition | The Thrill