As I am walking back to my apartment from lunch with friends yesterday I caught a glimpse of something unusual. Very out of place for an old-fashioned women's college. For you see, because our campus is split down the middle by two of the main streets in town we have two overpass bridges to allow for easy pedestrian traffic at all hours without the inconvience of waiting for traffic lights.
As I headed towards my building going over the second bridge I happened to glance over at the first to by chance see a friend cross the other. Instead what I saw was a dire warning that immediately captured my attention and caused me to take note.
"BEWARE OF TROLL"
Considering this was a bridge and everyone knows the old fairy tale story, but sometimes you just need to be reminded to "beware of troll". This message was tagged and claimed, but the signature was cleverly small and sideways as to make reading it clearly very difficult even from a close distance.
Why? Why on earth did someone feel the need to tag that particular message on that particular bridge? Did it mean something specific to the area or was it simply a generic message meant for all eyes placed in a heavily travelled area next to a busy intersection?
Everyone has their theories. What if this was an attempt at a wake up call to our little town. Maybe troll refers to the alcohol cops that have been plaguing downtown businesses. Maybe it refers to the tomato crisis. Could have something to do with the state of the world or maybe someone from the catering company on campus is sending out a message about the manager from hell.
Or maybe, just maybe, someone was just being funny and causing a comotion.
Too bad the authorties on campus caught the message today and have quickly painted over it. Considering their normal attention to detail and how quick most projects on campus are completed I'd have to say the job was done by Superman.
Luckily the day of troll will always be immortalized as my phone's wallpaper. I have a feeling this is not the last we will hear of our campus Seer.
I bet it was just someone being silly. It sucks that they spray painted it, though.
I was picturing my own campus as i read this. I went to the University of Minnesota, which you may or may not remember was the college of choice of one Miss Brenda Walsh on Beverly Hills 90210. On the first day of classes that year, someone put a sign on the walk bridge that read "Go Home Brenda."
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
Rest in peace
yourfuneralguy
http://www.lowercostfuneral.com/rbrianblog
There are no moral judgments in this statement,
Troll is also slang for an old unattractive gay man.
I learned this from an older male friend who has at times preferred homosexual activity.
It's also some kind of internet slang for someone who likes to start problems on discussion boards. Or something like that.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
This is awesome. Everyone should chime in at all the possible meanings "BEWARE OF TROLL" could have. I didn't know it was slang for anything so this is so interesting. That is the great part about this fly by night tags. It really makes people think.
Oh, and even though I'm sure some people thought it was horrible that they tagged it in reality it was harmless and not extraordinarily large. They didn't have a problem at all getting it covered and it was entertaining. I wish they would have left the message until the end of the summer.
The Heathen's Guide
LUST (Part I)
LUST (Part II)
I'm generally not a fan of tagging. I live in the 'hood, so it is often gang wannabes slopping up the sides of buildings and garages. Then the city fines the homeowner if it isn't cleaned up in a week. It gets really expensive.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
Private Property is a whole different matter. That is not cool to tag on someone's garage and I hate tags that have no purpose. Like the ones that just have gang names or symbols on them. And fining the homeowner sounds really backwards. If you as the city have failed to prevent such destruction of property it should be your responsibility, not the victimized homeowner, who pays for the damage.
This particular incident was just humourous done by what we believe is one of the local artists, although no one knows which one. We don't have a real gang problem here in my town so I guess that never really came to mind. The situation you deal with sounds horrible and I can not imagine how pissed I would be waking up to a tag on my property. Thank you for your perspective on tagging.
The Heathen's Guide
LUST (Part I)
LUST (Part II)
Google has a really interesting list of possible definitions for the word Troll.
My personal favorite is "sing loudly and without inhibition." I'm inclined to take the warning seriously in that context. Those loud, uninhibited singing folk can be dangerous creatures... especially if a hairbrush is in the immediate vicinity!
-----
Free books need new home.
~Fallon~
"If I fall asleep with a pen in my hand, don't remove it - I might be writing in my dreams."- Pace
-----