#but the impact this had on freshman me…monumental

[lesbianboyfriend]

this was literally life changing

[waitmyturtles]

Love In The Big City: Reflections on the Novel, and Episodes 1 and 2 of the Television Series

(Writing this with big ups to the LITBC Book Club, led by @lurkingshan and @bengiyo -- I only wish my mom life allowed me to have participated in real time in that project! I am taking the LITBC club's lead and watching two episodes a week of this series. SPOILERS from the novel that may make their way into the series are below -- read at your peril if you're pacing yourself on the series.)

In the midst of my reading the novel version of Love In The Big City over the last two weeks, I've been posting news updates (here, here, and here) about South Korean conservatives, many of them (maybe all of them) Christian, trying to censor and prevent the airing of the subsequent drama series, which dropped this week on TVING and Viki.

I want to note how important and ironic it is, macro-systemically, to note that Christianity has such a looming presence outside of the story itself, with "protestors" (bigots) leveraging "Christian values" as a means of trying to keep this already-brilliant show from being aired.

And if you're pacing on the series like I am, and you *haven't* read the novel, then you've only gotten a little taste for how Christian zealotry, among other issues, has and will affect Go Young throughout this story.

But I'm getting ahead of myself: when I picked up the novel, I was more familiar with the noise and drama associated with the television series than I was with the story itself. I'm going to talk a little about my reactions to the novel, and then offer thoughts on the first two episodes.

I read Proust's In Search of Lost Time (yep, all of it) in my freshman year of college, and Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises two years after. I felt the power of both of these stories strongly in Park Sang-young's novel, from the impact that memories and depression can have on a young man, to the permanence of medical conditions that can drive a young man's life towards otherwise unexplored cliffs of grief and pain.

Even reading a synopsis of In Search of Lost Time is a monumental feat, so let me just say that I felt Proust's madeleine-driven devices of memory, within the novel, from Young's frozen blueberries to the chill of the Marlboro Reds in the freezer. The impact of Young being really, really alone, as connected to the empty freezer and the dwindling blueberries after Jaehee's (Mi-ae in the series) wedding, caught me in a hole of loneliness that I felt for Young -- well before I knew enough of his backstory to be truly devastated.

I'm jumping ahead of myself vis à vis the series, but I also felt Proust even more heavily as I was reading about Philosopher Hipster Doofus Hyung, and I threw back to @lurkingshan as I was reading the book, "goddamn it, we are in yet another circle of hipster doom, huh," well before I learned about the medical turning point this story hinges on. Young's incessant attraction to that POS had me thinking about Proust's narrator's simultaneous incessant attraction and disdain for his companion, Albertine, who is a lesbian in early 20th-century France. While the story between the narrator and Albertine is ultimately a devastating one, Proust's narrator winds through the devastation with an equally devastating arm's-length distance, continually avoiding the true depth of pain that his obsessions would have otherwise rendered.

For me, it's such an apropos comparison to think about as we see Young, time and time again, rationalize the avoidance he has to commitment, all while throwing his energy into the relationships he's able to find himself in, ones that he essentially stumbled upon and never instigated.

The pain of his loneliness only grows as he grows into adulthood, and that, paired with his medical reveal, left me with a boulder in my stomach by the time I finished the novel.

Because I'm me (intergenerational trauma auntie), as soon as I finished the book, I couldn't help but think about Young's own boulders that he silently shouldered -- the thought that Young's medical Kylie would rear its head as a means of aiding Young in rationalizing his own assumptions about wanting vs. deserving long-lasting love, and his habit of taking commitment too lightly, even in the context of an already-established relationship with Gyu-ho.

But I also consider the lifelong trauma he suffered vis à vis his mother as an equally heavy boulder: the fact that Young absolutely internalized his mother's disdain for him as a gay man, his mother trying to "correct" his sexuality through conversion therapy, and then seemingly seeing past her son's reality, horrifically ignoring the emotional development of her son. Besides physical abuse, you couldn't do better than Young's mother in permanently psychologically traumatizing a young man who will already face obstacles as a queer individual in a highly conservative society.

All of this combined rendered me unsurprised -- but, of course, still equally devastated -- by Young's eventually pinball-style life, jumping from menial job to increasingly flippant flings.

What we are treated to in the novel are the thoughts that Young can put together as he steps back and assesses his life, especially at the crushing end of the novel. On the surface, someone on the street could absolutely write off Young as another aloof and aging hipster, disconnected with the world; but we know that that's not the case as Young assesses his dashed hopes for the kind of permanent love that he had once pooh-poohed.

Both Proust's narrator, and Hemingway's Jake Barnes in The Sun Also Rises, could join Young in that aloofness, and our own misreads of these men, to an extent. Not only is Barnes held back in life by a previous wartime injury (to me, this is screaming of inspiration to Park Sang Young's novel and the timing of Young's medical condition, but I'll never know if Park was directly inspired by Hemingway's book), but Barnes and Proust's narrator are also both young men growing into their adulthood, within circles of friends in impactful societies that seem to be full of intelligence and engagement, but are ultimately larded with loneliness and the pain of static ambition and conformity.

The last takeaway from the novel that I'll think about for now, one that I think is already leading beautifully into the television series, is the fallacy that we all have or had as young adults: that our youth would last forever. Young says, at the end of episode two,

"As I looked down at those blueberries, I realized that a time I had thought would last forever had come to an end."

Young has to reckon with the fact that his life, as it stands still in his early 30s, hasn't moved forward. It's only gone backwards, into deep habits of disconnection, despair, and loss. That youth itself could serve as a modality of movement for a young person to hopefully grow into a person with more potential is both heartening and brutal to consider -- especially as Young clearly could not take time in his life to take care of himself, as busy with his mother as he ends up being.

There's a lot more I'll likely say about the novel as the series unwinds, but I'm honestly still internally processing it. I'm also amazed to think that both In Search of Lost Time and The Sun Also Rises have significant connections to queer sexuality in both novels, and I just couldn't help going down this comparative literature brainrot cycle for a few minutes.

As to the first episodes of the series: what can I say? No one does it like South Korea. The acting, the cinematography, what Nam Yoon-su is bringing by way of his mere presence, let alone how he bodily channels Young's sexuality and personality. We're in prestige drama territory -- and already by episode 2, we've been taking into multiple facets of Young's internal strife, and his soon-to-be-revealed lifelong aloofness to commitment, while he still yearns for infinite love.

God, those internal contradictions, huh? In our real life, with our friends who are like that -- those friends drive us INSANE, RIGHT? Proust's narrator is SO THIS. A guy who sits in a chair and whines about what he wants, and complains even more when he HAS what he wants, because it's not perfect? He HAS Albertine at so many times, but he can't make her fully love him, because guess what, she's a lesbian, womp womp? Pick a battle, homey.

And yet. We're still devastated by Proust's narrator. Because one of his ultimate flaws is that he'll never remain still, he'll never be truly satisfied, and that conflict DOES keep him from being able to attain permanent happiness. At least we get to see him age, while we're left to wonder with Young and Jake Barnes.

I'm just too excited to see how Nam Yoon-su renders Young's own conflicts, as they simply grow, throughout his life in the series.

*****

I want to make one quick, totally unrelated note, about the airing of this series. At least to me, maybe only to me, the opening animated title cards of LITBC are really close to the imagery and symbolism of the title cards of Netflix Japan's The Boyfriend, a recent dating reality show featuring gay men in Japan trying to find permanent love. The ultimate pairing of DaiShun has been HUGE in Asia this year, with DaiShun doing fan meets across Asia, including in South Korea.

As @lurkingshan and others have emphasized: Love in the Big City is NOT a BL, it is NOT a romance. It is a deep exploration of the life of a gay man in the city of Seoul.

Inspired in part by Sex And The City? Probably. But LITBC is not nearly as flippant as SATC regarding social obstacles that its main characters face. LITBC delves painfully into the various obstacles that queer men face in Seoul, from social to medical discrimination.

The Boyfriend actually touched a lot on these obstacles as well. Some of the participants were out, but not all of them; one participant, Tae-heon, used the show itself as a means of coming out to his parents.

While some of us have seen the majority of queer content in Thailand turn very primarily towards BL romances, I still believe that Thailand can and will produce high-caliber media about queer life aside from romance, as it did in 2022's The Miracle of Teddy Bear (which I just finished this week, I'm fine, thanks for asking, devastated actually) and in other cinematic pieces. But I also want to note how incredibly refreshing it is to see Japan and South Korea also pick up this thread through The Boyfriend and LITBC, respectfully, producing content out of the usual romance loops that we've come to expect from BL media.

Anyway. If there's a connection between LITBC and The Boyfriend, with both entities talking MUCH more about holistic queer life in society, then I celebrate it, and I want more, more, more of it.

[sataniquepanique]

The Queen of Hellfire: Part One

Part One: Labyrinth

Summary: Two women had a monumental impact on Eddie Munson's life: his mother, and Meg.

Genre: angst, some fluff, Eddie x OFC

Warnings: mentions of DV, mentions of alcoholism, trauma responses, smoking

Word Count: 8.8k

A/N: I'm very interested in knowing Eddie's backstory, so I created something with that in mind. I always imaged Eddie being a shy kid, who eventually grew into the character we know and love. I have a few chapters planned. This is my first go at an OC, so go easy on me <3

September, 1980

The hallways of Hawkins High were stifling; even though it was September, summer still had a vice grip on the state of Indiana with no immediate plans of letting go. Eddie was nauseous. The heat paired with his nerves about the first day of freshman year were eating away at his internal organs; it would be a miracle if he made it through the day without spewing all over the hallway. Running a hand through his hair, he tried to tame the short curls in what he knew was a futile attempt. 

Mental note: never shave your head again, Munson; the growing out phase is painfully embarrassing. 

No one could guess by his calm demeanor that Eddie was fighting the overwhelming urge to sprint all the way back home to Forest Hills, seeking the asylum of his room, back to the safeguard of Uncle Wayne. A neutral expression hid the fear coursing through his body like poison; he had gotten very good at masking over the years, a mechanism he picked up back when he was in the care of his parents. 

He gripped the strap of his backpack tighter, the old canvas bag had seen better days. What was once black, is now a deep, dull gray, littered with small tears, scuffs, and a few painted doodles. Duct tape was basically holding it together at this point, having used it throughout middle school and abusing it almost daily by cramming each pocket full of novels, DnD manuals, firecrackers, and any other bizarre paraphernalia that peaked his curiosity. Money has always been tight, even with Uncle Wayne working overtime at the plant, so back-to-school shopping was non-existent in the Munson household. Any new clothes that Eddie owned were more than likely shoplifted by the young teenager, the rest of his meager wardrobe consisting of thrifted pieces mixed with Wayne’s old hand-me-downs. He had only recently started fitting into his uncle’s clothes, having finally started to grow into himself within the past year. Though they were all still a size too large, Eddie would frequently wear one of Wayne’s old flannels; the threadbare fabric brought comfort on days where he just wanted to disappear. 

Days like today. 

Grasping a class schedule in his fist, Eddie quickly maneuvered the crowded hallways, careful to avoid eye contact with any upperclassmen as he searched for his locker assignment, number 116. Wedged between the biology lab and the library, the small expanse of lockers revealed numbers 105-125. Tongue poked out in concentration, he spun the dial a few times, trying to remember the combination.

31.

17.

…2?

Yeah, 2.

According to the crumpled grid in his hand, he had the earliest lunch period, meaning only two classes stood between him and sneaking outside to read in solitude. Tossing some textbooks into his already over-stuffed bag, he slammed the metal door shut and made a beeline for English. The thought of 40 minutes full of literature calmed his nerves a bit. Books had always been a safe haven for him, even as a young child. His mom had read to him often, almost every night before bed, painting his imagination full of far away worlds and magical creatures. Beneath his bed were always piles of books, hidden away from his father who would more than likely try to throw them in the garbage given the chance. Eddie would escape to his fantasy worlds when things got tough; frequently hiding in his closet to read while his dad was storming around the house in a haze of alcohol and anger. 

In Middle School, he was a frequent flyer in the guidance office, usually for talking out of turn or pulling a prank on an unsuspecting student; but during the end of 7th grade his counselor called Wayne in for a meeting. Eddie was doing poorly is most of his classes, and his uncle immediately jumped to his defense, citing the visible intelligence of the kid, one that the counselors agreed wholeheartedly upon. He wasn’t dumb by any means, he just wasn’t being challenged, leading to him slacking off and not completing any of his work. They explained at length about how smart Eddie was, providing written statements from teachers about his knack for building narratives and the quickness at which he could problem solve. The solution provided was to put Eddie in some accelerated classes, to which he gave a stark refusal. The other kids had already labeled him a weirdo, with his tattered clothes and quirky interests, he didn’t need to add anything else to the list. Eventually, through the coaxing of Uncle Wayne, he agreed to Advanced English. As it turns out, AP English was one of the best things to happen in the young boys life. Mrs. Lewis incorporated so many great literary masterpieces into her curriculum, even doing a deep dive into the writing style of Tolkien, Eddie’s favorite. 

This year, he chose to forgo enrolling into any higher level classes, wanting to make a fresh start in high school; a clean slate where no one knew his name. He could fly under the radar and just be a normal teenager, no more bullies, no more taunts. High school would be different.

———

The exit door was across the cafeteria, flanked by long tables filled to the brim with rowdy students, conversing loudly and adding to Eddie’s already overwhelmed senses. As his eyes scanned the occupied tables, he noticed the numerous other freshman that had seemingly found their respective cliques. A storm of jealousy and sadness formed in his gut; he didn’t have any friends in his grade, so like with most things throughout his life, Eddie was on his own. His two partners-in-crime, Gareth and Jeff, were younger and still in Hawkins Middle, and although he knew he’d see them after school, it doesn’t do him any good as he stands in the proverbial lion’s den. Making friends was never his forte, choosing to keep to himself for the most part. After growing up in a broken home, Eddie had grown accustomed to loneliness; it had made him apprehensive about anyone and anything, so getting into his tight knit circle was an exceptional feat.

Clutching a tattered copy of A Wizard of Earthsea, Eddie hiked his backpack up higher and quickly snuck towards the door to the outside patio before anyone noticed him. Head down as he reached for the door handle, his body crashed into an immovable object. Dazed, he looked up to see the largest boy he’s ever seen, clad in a white and green Hawkins Tigers football jersey, blocking the exit and staring down at him menacingly. 

“Where’re you headed, dork?” He spat, teeth showing somewhere between a snarl and a smile.

Eddie tried to push his way past, “I-I’m just going outside—“

The jock slapped the book out of Eddie’s hand, the paperback losing a few pages as it bounced off the floor. He stared at the large boy’s chest, too afraid to look him in the eye, but also too scared to move. 

“Well…?” The older boy motioned towards the floor, “are you going to pick your shit up or just keep staring at me like some sort of homo?”

The slur caused Eddie’s throat to constrict, bringing back memories of his father hurling the same exact insult at him a few years back when he had first attempted to grow out his hair. Swallowing the bile in his throat, he bent down to pick up his novel, only to be kicked over by the linebacker, head hitting one of the metal chair legs of a nearby table. Eddie shakily started to get up, as the other boy moved to push him over again, only this time someone stepped in between.

“Enough, asshole!” 

Her voice was demanding and strong as she squared up in front of a boy that was at least twice her size. Eddie peered around her legs, trying to make out the expression of the older boy. 

“Fuck you, Meg,” the jock barked, any hint of a smile wiped from his round face. 

Eddie glanced up at the girl as she shifted her weight slightly to one hip. 

“Oh Petey,” she crossed her arms mockingly as she coo’d, “you wish you could be so lucky.”

The jock (now understood as Pete apparently), clenched his jaw, the tips of his ears growing pink.

“Go back to your gang of fuckin’ losers, crazy bitch,” he steps closer to the auburn haired girl, looming at least a head taller, but she doesn’t flinch. Eddie watches as she tilts her gaze upward to meet Pete’s beady eyes, straightening her spine as a threat.

“I’ll show you fucking crazy, Petey boy. Is that what you want? Remember what happened last time?” Her voice was calm, but something in the tone visibly effected Pete. He pushed past her, glaring down at Eddie still cowering on the floor. 

The mystery girl watched him leave, finally turning her attention to Eddie, squatting down to help pick up the scattered pages of his novel. 

“You okay?” Eye level with him now, Eddie looked at the face of his savior. 

He swears the blue of her eyes is his new favorite color.

Her face was soft as she searched his own for a response. He grabbed the destroyed paperback quickly, averting his gaze, “y-yeah, I think I’m good. Uh—thank you.”

She handed him the loose sheets of paper that had fallen out, “You’re a freshman, right?” 

Eddie nodded, shoving the book in his backpack. His eyes drifted back to her, taking in the numerous patches on her black denim jacket that was a few sizes too large. KISS, Queen, Iron Maiden, and a few other graphics he couldn’t make out littered the worn garment. 

“Do you wanna come sit with us?” The girl stood up, pointing casually over towards the back of the cafeteria. Eddie rose off the floor and followed her finger; a table of four students of varying grades was posted up in the furthest corner, clearly in a heated discussion about something. If he was being honest, he wanted nothing more than to follow this girl, but every part of his body was screaming at him to run away to seclusion. Uncle Wayne’s voice popped in his head, gruff but encouraging, “do it kid, put yourself out there.” Tossing his backpack over a shoulder, he gave a shy nod, and the girl smiled. 

“I’m Meg, by the way,” she held out her hand, a formality which, to Eddie, made her seem older than she was. She couldn't have been more than two years his senior. He cautiously took her hand, squeezing slightly as she shook it.

“Eddie,” he managed as they approached her lunch table. 

“Well, Eddie the Freshman, welcome to the Island of Misfit Toys,” she motioned towards her group of friends, and something in Eddie’s chest sparked a feeling that could only be described as belonging. 

The kids before him were all dressed in shades of black, three sporting shirts from bands he loved. One of the boys was standing with a leg perched on a chair, waving wildly while he argued with a mousy-haired kid across the table. A small blonde girl sat beside the latter, laughing occasionally at their antics while she watched the banter like a tennis match.

“Guys!” Meg called, breaking the attention away from the raven-haired boy on the chair.

“This is Eddie, he’s gonna sit with us, today’s his first day,” she said, rounding the table to sit next to the tall kid that was still leaning on the plastic chair, the one who was now glaring at Eddie. The group went around introducing themselves, the small blonde named Kate was very sweet and moved her bag for Eddie to take up residence next to her. The boy beside her was Rick, he wore a weathered denim jacket atop a Led Zeppelin tee that reeked of weed; his incredibly chill demeanor made Eddie instantly like him. A boy named Matt was seated at the end of the table doing homework. He had round glasses that made him look extremely smart, not to mention the stack of textbooks in front of him with numerous papers and bookmarks scattered throughout. The tall argumentative boy finally sat down next to Meg, reaching across to steal a carrot from her lunch. After a few silent seconds, it was clear he had no intention of introducing himself.

Meg pulled her lunchbag away from his reach, “…and this is Adam, he’s a piece of shit,” she joked, the boys angular face finding her cheek where he placed a chaste kiss followed by a playful bite. She smiled, giving him a shove as he grinned deviously. 

“Eddie,” Adam turned his focus towards the other side of the table, eyeing up the new freshman, “we were just discussing our latest campaign,” 

“—you mean Meg’s slaughter-fest?” Matt interjected, looking up from his work.

Meg smirked from across the table, putting her hands up in defense, “Listen, it’s not my fault you’re unlucky in combat.”

Eddie’s heart skipped a beat, “Wait…are you talking about Dungeons and Dragons?” He asked quietly.

The table stared at him like it was obvious. 

“Yeah, we have a weekly party that gets together. We rotate houses and make a night out of it,” Kate chimes in, her eyes were kind as they blinked up at Eddie. 

Uncle Wayne had gifted him with a Dungeon and Dragons Basic Set for Christmas a few years ago, not entirely understanding what it was, but knowing that his nephew was so enthralled by anything fantasy that he was eager to contribute to the boy’s interests. Eddie was hooked the second he saw the cover, quickly involving Jeff and Gareth to create a small adventuring party. They learned as they went, letting Eddie take over DM duties and hosting one-shots almost every weekend. The three of them had been teased in middle school for playing, but it hadn’t bothered Eddie because he at least had his friends by his side. He wasn’t about to give up D&D now that he was in high school, but he was also not about to advertise the fact that he played, afraid of the ridicule he’d face at the hands of older kids. He understood the perception of the game, the claims of satanic indoctrination and ritualistic practices. To say he was shocked by the open admission of a functioning high school D&D party would be an understatement. 

“Do you play?” Meg’s voice brought his heart rate down, meeting her gaze with a shy smile.

“Uh, yeah. I’m not very good though…” he looked down at his hands, knowing that he was selling himself short.

“Gotta start somewhere, right?” She offered happily.

He felt safe with her, something he hadn’t experienced this quickly since being taken in by Uncle Wayne. 

“I actually DM for my party,” Eddie mumbled, not sure why he was being so open with this group of strangers.

Meg’s eyes went wide, “Wow, really? That’s amazing!”

Eddie liked the way her eyes crinkled at the edges when she smiled.

“I DM for this group—“ she motioned towards her friends.

“—yeah and she’s fucking ruthless,” Adam rolled his eyes. 

The sound of the bell made Eddie jump, the shuffling of the cafeteria growing louder as everyone made their way to the next class. Meg stood up, swinging her bag over a shoulder as she bent down to whisper in Adam’s ear, “Yeah, but you like when I’m ruthless.”

He smirked, pulling her down into a fierce kiss before she returned to full height, running a hand through Adam’s dark curls.

“C’mon Eddie,” she motioned to him, “I’ll walk you to your next class.”

He practically jumped to follow her, trailing behind as she effortlessly weaved her way through the throngs of students. She asked him questions about himself, something that threw him off; no one ever really cared enough to inquire about his interests, save for Wayne. Consistently being written off as “the problem kid”, growing up he was always being told by adults that he was “too much” or “annoying”; the comments shut him down, at least in public, forcing him into a reserved shell that only broke around the three key people in his life. Meg seemed to have no problem opening up to him, and Eddie was a little jealous of her confidence. Even the gait in which she walked was one of self-assurance, and he struggled a little to keep up, occasionally tripping over his own timid feet. Meg gave him more insight into her world; she was a junior, her other hobby is writing, and her favorite band is Queen. Eddie wanted—no, needed—to know more. He wanted to discuss literature with her, wanted to drive around and listen to A Night at the Opera with her singing every lyric beside him. 

“The party is meeting tonight to do a planning session for the next campaign, wanna join?” Meg stopped at Eddie’s World History classroom, spinning on her heel to face him.

The invitation gave him pause. He felt weird joining a different party from his own, but he didn’t want to pass up any chance to get closer to her.

Swallowing any bit of apprehension, Eddie nodded. 

Meg suddenly grabbed Eddie’s hand, pushing up his flannel sleeve and uncapping a pen with her mouth. Scribbling onto his forearm in a rush, she winks as she starts to walk backwards down the hall. 

“That’s my address, come over at 7!” She calls before turning around. 

Eddie looks down at the note on his skin, tracing a finger where she had held so delicately onto his wrist.

———

By the time they got to Meg’s house, Wayne was already 100% tired of hearing about her. Eddie had talked about her the entire ride over, annoying the daylight out of his uncle who had graciously offered to drive the boy across town on his night off. When Eddie jumped out of the car, Adam’s yelling from inside the rancher permeated the front walk; he couldn’t tell if it was serious or in jest. Eddie rang the doorbell, hands shoved into his pockets nervously. Just as he glanced back at Wayne driving off, the door swung open, Meg breaking into a wide smile at the sight of him. 

“Hi!” She chimed, opening her mouth to say something else but interrupted by another outburst courtesy of Adam.

“—DUDE! Come on!—“

Eddie grimaced slightly and looked at Meg’s annoyed expression, “What’s got him all revved up?”

She rolled her eyes, “Who fucking knows…” 

Moving over and motioning him to come inside, she shut the door and ushered the him into the living room where the rest of the lunchroom crew had gathered around the coffee table. Meg took a seat at the head of the table, as Eddie moved towards an empty spot next to Rick. 

“Eddie,” she called, “sit next to me, as a fellow DM I’d love to get your input on some stuff.” 

He bowed his head as he took a seat beside her, trying to hide the rush of blood to his face. 

The session went well, Eddie had never played with this large of a group before and it was a lot more fun than the threesome he was used to. Towards the end of the night, after a particularly divisive decision, Adam got agitated again. Eddie watched from the end of the table as he argued with Rick and Kate, voice rising as he stood and began to point his finger aggressively at the two of them. Eddie felt his heart start to race, an involuntary reaction due to his early years of hearing his parents violent outbursts. Clasping his hands together under the table, he willed his body to stop shaking, taking deep breaths through his nose. 

Adam slammed his fist onto the table, scattering miniatures and making Eddie jump. 

Meg leapt up and put her hand on Adam’s forearm. 

“Adam, babe,” she said softly, “everything’s okay, please calm down—“

“—Shut the fuck up, you don’t know what you’re talking about,” he slapped her hand away, and Eddie felt a surge of emotion. He watched as Meg slunk backwards, rubbing the hand Adam had hit. Her eyes were glassy as she sat back down next to Eddie, and he instinctively reached to take her hand in his. She looked at him sheepishly, and he watched as his favorite shade of blue clouded over. 

Adam stormed out shortly afterward, slamming the front door and revving the engine on his truck loudly before peeling out of the driveway. Eddie hadn’t let go of Meg’s hand, rubbing small circles over her knuckle, the same thing he did to comfort his mother when he was younger. 

The rest of the party cleaned up, slowly starting to joke and goof around again. Meg released Eddie’s hold, and walked the newcomer to the door when she saw Uncle Wayne’s headlights outside. Holding the door as he left, Meg grabbed the back of Eddie’s sleeve before he walked away. 

“Hey,” her voice was low and sad, “thanks for coming, sorry for…all of that, he—“

“—don’t worry about it,” Eddie interrupted, he frankly didn’t need to hear any excuses for Adam’s shitty behavior, and he wasn’t about to listen to Meg apologize for something that wasn’t her fault, “I had a lot of fun, see you tomorrow?” 

Meg nodded, a small smile playing at her lips, “See you tomorrow, Eddie the Freshman.”

Visually tracing the water stains on his bedroom ceiling, Eddie couldn’t stop his mind from drifting back to Meg, but more specifically Meg and Adam. He didn’t like the way Adam spoke to her, arrogance seeping out of every syllable he spoke. More importantly, Eddie hated the way Adam touched her; full of aggression and disrespect. She deserved passion without anger, tenderness backed by admiration, love without the jagged edge of pain. 

Eddie mentally argued with himself; maybe he’s just projecting. He barely knows Adam, he could just be having a few off days and isn’t actually a bad guy. Meg’s smart, and he desperately wanted to trust her judgement, but a small voice in the back of his head was screaming.

He’s seen this dynamic before.

———

Eddie searched for Meg in the sea of students the next morning before homeroom, hoping to catch any glimpse of her auburn hair or black denim jacket. Rick and Kate stopped by his locker when they caught sight of him anxiously waiting. They wasted no time in reiterating how much fun the previous night was, giving no mention of Adam’s episode. The first period bell rang, a cue for the three of them to go their separate ways. He gave up looking for Meg with a sigh. He’d catch her at lunch, but he’d also have to see Adam, which created a pit in the bottom of Eddie’s stomach.  

He practically bolted towards the lunchroom at 11:00, eager to sit with his new found friends. Slowing down as he approached (he didn't want to seem desperate), he saw Meg laughing at something Adam was whispering in her ear. Seeing them happy caused conflicting emotions, Eddie was relieved to see them getting along, but he also yearned to be the one making her laugh, to be the one that could get that close to her. He set his bag down and took the empty seat next to Meg. She turned immediately, smiling broadly as she playfully bumped his shoulder.

“Hey fresh meat,” she sang, “how’s your second day going?”

Eddie stifled a nervous laugh, opting to shoot a sarcastic grin her way instead. 

The rest of lunch was uneventful, something he was grateful for. The five of them joked around and talked about making plans for the weekend. Adam was actually kind of funny, and very charismatic; Eddie could almost see why Meg fell for him. The shrill cry of the bell echoed through the cafeteria, and Meg groaned as she grabbed her bag off the floor.

“What’s up?” Eddie asked, concerned at her pained face.

She shook her head, “It’s nothing, I have to meet with my guidance counselor this period to talk about my ‘future plans’ after high school,” she feigned a gag. 

The dramatics made Eddie laugh, “What’s wrong with that?”

Meg shrugged as they walked side by side from the lunchroom, “Nothing, really, I just…wanna do life my own way. I don’t want to be told what I should do, y’know?” 

Eddie stops at the intersection of two hallways, “What do you want then?”

She stared off into the distance thoughtfully, “…I want to write. I’ve always wanted to be a writer. It’s also partly why I’m the DM of the party,” she chuckled, “I’m the only one that can actually keep up a good narrative.”

Her sincerity made Eddie’s heart soar. The second bell rang, and she quickly took to the opposite hallway, “Want a ride home later?” she called.

Eddie nodded a little too quickly, and Meg shot him a smile before opening the door to the guidance office.

“See ya later, Munson!”

———

Slumped against the brick wall outside the front of the school, Eddie waited for Meg after the final bell. Carefully picking through each face that streamed past, he finally caught sight of her as she pushed past the doors. His stomach dropped when he saw her defeated expression. Jogging over, he fell in step as she strode towards the parking lot, avoiding eye contact with him. 

“Hey!” He bumped her shoulder like she had done to him earlier, trying to be chipper in the hopes of being the one to lift her spirits, but she wouldn’t crack.

She walked him over to a black Dodge Dart, unlocking the door and sliding behind the wheel. Eddie waited as she leaned over and unlocked the passenger side, quickly throwing his bag onto the floor and settling in next to her. They sat in silence for a beat, Meg staring straight ahead while Eddie watched anxiously. If she was anything like him, she would talk when she’s ready, she didn’t need someone prying incessantly. 

In a single burst of energy, she smacked the steering wheel with her palm as hard as she could. Eddie’s eyes widened in alarm as he reached for her, pausing and thinking it better to not touch at the moment. 

“FUCK!” She yelled, throwing her head back against the headrest, eyes falling closed with a sigh.

He watched as her chest rose and fell, paying attention to when it started to slow.

“Hey…” he whispers softly, “what happened?”

Meg rolls her head to look at him, eyes dull and tired. 

“They’re threatening to make me repeat a year,” she scoffs, and Eddie can hear the pain behind her words.

He shakes his head in disbelief, “For what? You’re super smart!”

Meg lets out a sad chuckle, “Thanks dude, but that doesn’t mean shit apparently. I’m failing math and gym, and Ms. Kelly said that I need to have at least one extracurricular activity to graduate next year,” She rubs her eyes with the heels of her palms.

A few seconds pass before Eddie speaks up, “…how do you fail gym?”

Meg coughs out a loud laugh, and he smiles knowing he caused it.

“You refuse to participate, that’s how,” she turned the key in the ignition and looked over at him, “Wanna go somewhere? I don’t really want to go home right now.”

Eddie grinned, rolling down his window and pulling a loose cigarette from his backpack, “Of course, I have nowhere else to be. You got a lighter?”

When Meg didn’t answer, he looked over and she was staring at him with an incredulous expression.

“How fucking old are you, dude?” She giggled.

“Fifteen, why?

Meg shrugged, “Don’t you think you’re a little young to be smoking?”

Eddie pulled a face, “Weren’t you just telling me earlier how you don’t like when other people tell you what to do?”

She laughed again, pushing in the cigarette lighter on the control panel, “Fair enough. Did you at least bring enough to share with the class?” 

She held out her hand expectantly, wiggling her fingers as Eddie dug through his bag, emerging with another cigarette. He stuck them both in his mouth, pulling the now popped lighter and holding the smoldering coil to both tips. 

Passing one to Meg’s waiting fingers, he took a drag of his own.

“I could’ve done that myself, y’know,” she smirked.

Eddie rolled down the passenger window and blew a steady stream of smoke outside, “Pretty girls don’t light their own cigarettes, didn’t you know that?”

Out of his peripheral he caught her shy smile as she pulled out of the parking lot. 

———

Turns out ‘somewhere’ is a secluded bank along Lovers Lake, and according to Meg it’s her favorite place to hide from the world. She backed in along the tree-line, her expert maneuvering a sign she had done this many times before. Once parked, she hopped out, opting to leave the battery running in order to keep the radio on. She jumped up onto the trunk, taking a seat to look out at the water. Eddie followed suit, pulling one boney leg up towards his chest. They hadn’t spoken on the drive, just sat and listened to music with the late summer air rushing through the open windows. The lack of communication wasn’t awkward, in fact it made Eddie feel at ease. He had watched how the afternoon sun highlighted the red in Meg’s hair as it danced in the breeze, how her lips moved when she sang along to Led Zeppelin, closing her eyes a beat longer than a blink when she really resonated with a lyric. Now that he was sitting closer to her on the trunk, he mapped the light smattering of freckles on her nose. She turned to look at him, and he felt the blush bloom in his cheeks at being caught. 

“So, Eddie Munson,” Meg smiled, “tell me more about yourself.”

“W-what do you mean?” He stuttered, not used to the attention.

“Tell me about your family, tell me about your hobbies,” she hugged her knees, resting her head against them.

“Uh, well, I live with my Uncle Wayne. I’ve been with him since elementary school, since…since my dad went to jail…” he looked down at his hands. 

He’d never admit it out loud, but he was embarrassed of his father. Even as a young child, he couldn’t ignore the whispers around town about the ‘no good Munson’s’, not to mention the dirty looks and disapproving head shakes from people in the grocery store when they passed by. The first time Eddie was caught shoplifting, the clerk at the convenience store called the police, resulting in him sitting in the back of a squad car until Uncle Wayne came to pick him up. As he sat and stared at the metal cage separating the front seat, he heard the officer outside speaking to his partner, “—gonna end up just like his old man at this point. Wouldn’t surprise me honestly—“

Eddie hated his dad; hated the way he treated his mom, hated the way he had complete disregard for his own son. He would never end up like him.

He’d make sure of that.

Meg’s head quickly rose from her knees, eyes full of sympathy, “Oh, Eddie, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up any bad shit…I had no idea—“

“—it’s okay,” he waved it off, shooting her a quick, sad smile, “I’m not upset or anything, Wayne takes good care of me. He’s more of a dad than my actual father could ever hope to be.” 

Meg nodded, “What did your dad go to jail for, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Eddie laughed, “What didn’t he go to jail for. He won’t get out for a while, not that he was really ever present to begin with…”

“What about your mom?” She whispered, afraid of the answer.

Eddie’s stoic as he looks over at her, “She’s dead. About a year before dad went to prison. He was always a piece of shit, but I think something about losing her really sent him off the deep end. Even after all the shit he did to her, there’s a part of him that still cared. At least, that’s what I choose to believe.” 

He felt something warm touch him, looking down to see Meg’s hand wrapping around his own. 

“Fuck him,” she whispered, and Eddie nodded.

“Fuck him,” he said proudly, smiling back at her, “What about you, Dungeon Mistress? What’s your origin story?”

Meg shrugged, gazing out at the water, “Not much to tell, honestly. My dad is a businessman, he’s in Indianapolis a lot for work but he’s a lot of fun when he’s home; we’re really similar personality-wise. My mom—“ she tapers off to take a deep breath, “—my mom is…complicated.”

Eddie squeezes her hand, “How so?”

“She’s got these expectations, ones that she forces on me specifically since I’m the oldest. She’s a teacher, so she has this crazy obsession with proper education, and I have no other choice but to go to college.”

“Don’t you want to? Go to college I mean…” He asked.

“Absolutely, I need to get out of this town. She just wants me to be a teacher or a doctor or something like that; she doesn’t support my writing, says I can’t make a living with it and she won’t pay for school unless I major in something practical. She ‘refuses to have Jack Kerouac for a daughter’,” she furrows her brows, shaking her head in the process, “we fight a lot, about everything pretty much. Nothing I do is every good enough for her. I just…I don’t want to have a career that keeps me here. I want to get out.”

No one had ever been this vulnerable with Eddie before, nor had he ever spoken about his own upbringing openly. Sure, his friends knew the story, but they had watched most of it unfold in real time and didn’t need to ask questions. Until this point, nobody else had been worth opening up to. 

Meg and Eddie fell into another comfortable silence, hands clasped as the sun set below the horizon. A flock of geese flew over the lake, a sign that summer was finally coming to an end.

Meg let go of Eddie’s hand and laid against the back window to stare at the indigo sky.

“What am I gonna do about school…” she groaned as Eddie leaned back next to her. 

“Well,” he thought out loud, “My best friend Jeff is like, a genius. He’s still in Hawkins Middle, but he’s been doing college level math shit for a while; something about wanting to get into MIT or whatever. I could ask him if he could tutor you?”

Her eyes sparkled as she looked over, “Yeah? That’d be awesome, thank you.”

Eddie nodded, “As for your extracurricular, do you have any like…talents or hobbies you can put to use in a club or something?”

Meg laughed, “Fuck no. I can’t play a sport to save my life, I have almost zero coordination, I’m not a chess genius, and I can’t sing or act well enough to join the theater kids.” 

Eddie hummed in thought, gazing up at the emerging stars, “Play any instruments?”

“Besides air guitar? Nope.”

Eddie grinned, scratching his cheek as he wracked his brain for an idea.

Just as Meg mumbled a small “I’m so fucked,” it hit him.

“What about D&D,” he sat up, looking over his shoulder at her confused expression.

“What about it…?” She responded suspiciously.

Eddie hopped off the trunk and faced her fully, “Start a D&D club. I guarantee the entire party would join, maybe we could even gain a few closeted players too. We could still meet once a week, but we would have a permanent spot at school to play.”

Meg rose up on her elbows, eyes narrowed, “Eddie, Principal Higgins would never allow us to start that up, you know what they say about D&D—”

“—Who gives a shit!” He threw his arms out, “It’s worth a shot, and if we make a convincing argument, maybe it’ll work.”

Her eyes softened as she sat up fully, “…will you help me?”

“Of course, with anything you need.”

Meg slid off the trunk, a smirk forming as the cogs in her brain started to turn, “What would we call it? It needs a cool name, something that sounds mysterious but doesn’t scream ‘nerd alert’.”

Eddie turned to look out at the lake again, running a hand through his short waves, wracking his brain for an idea. 

From behind him, Meg starts rattling off any thought that popped into her head, “What about ‘Dragon Riders’?”

Eddie huffed out a laugh, “That definitely screams ‘nerd alert’.”

“Knights of Hawkins High?”

“Hmm…no.”

“Board Buddies.”

“You’re fucking joking, right?”

Eddie squinted over the expanse of the shoreline, deep in thought. He heard Meg kick some dirt behind him. The radio hummed from the open car windows, the dull sounds of Highway to Hell filling the air.

—Hey momma, look at me,

I’m on my way to the Promised Land,

I’m on the highway to hell—

Eddie spun around. 

“Hellfire.”

Meg looked up from her shoes, “What?”

He smiled broadly, “Hellfire Club.” 

Everything clicked into place, Meg matching his expression as she walked closer.

“Hellfire Club,” she whispered, relishing in the way it flowed off her tongue, “You’re a genius, Eddie Munson.”

She held out her pinky, “Co-chairs?” 

Eddie wrapped his finger around hers, solidifying an unspoken alliance.

———

It had a name, but Hellfire Club needed to have a full write-up of details before it could be presented to Principal Higgins for approval according to Ms. Kelly. The next few weeks were filled with organizing and brainstorming sessions, at first only involving Eddie and Meg, but after they brought the idea up to the lunch crew, the unofficial club had a full roster. Everyone was ecstatic about Hellfire, at the possibility of having a stable meeting place, of bringing D&D to the forefront of the school’s population and not just a shadowy hobby practiced at home. They wanted to show the world that Dungeons and Dragons was an inclusive, fun, escape from the mundane daily drain of the world. All of Eddie’s free time was spent planning for the presentation; he was an almost daily fixture at Meg’s house now, talking animatedly about every detail that came to his brain as he ate dinner with her family. She never made him feel weird or stupid, she listened intently and would bounce outrageous ideas off him in return, eliciting eye rolls from her younger sister. 

As D-Day approached, Eddie was inseparable from Meg, spending every lunch period hunched over a notebook with her as they planned. 

The day before the presentation, Adam slumped into the seat next to Meg, slamming his backpack onto the cafeteria floor dramatically as his eyes connected with Eddie’s. The emotion behind them wasn’t kind. 

Meg paid him no mind as she reached over and stole one of Eddie’s chips, he broke away from Adam’s stare and smiled at her. 

Adam coughed, attempting to get Meg’s attention, “You wanna come over after school today?”

She shook her head, shoving a notebook back into her bag, “Can’t, sorry. Me and Eddie have to put the finishing touches on the final presentation for tomorrow.”

Adam let out a strained laugh, “You’re fucking unbelievable, y’know that?”

His tone made the table fall silent, Meg stopped rummaging through her bag to look up at him.

“What are you talking about?”

He shook his head in disbelief, dark hair flopping in front of his eyes as he stood up and grabbed his bag, “I haven’t hung out with you in weeks, you’re constantly ‘busy’ or so you say,” he made dramatic air quotes, and Eddie watched as Meg visibly deflated.

“I am busy, Adam. I need to get this club approved, I need to do this to be on track for graduation next year,” she was trying her best to sound calm, but he was only getting more frustrated.

“Oh yeah, so you can run away to New York or LA for college?” He spat.

“Adam please,” she sounded exhausted, “don’t do this right now…”

“Or are you just trying to spend more time with your new boy toy—“ he walked up behind where Eddie sat and pushed the back of his head towards the table aggressively.

Meg shot up from her seat and grabbed Adam by his arm, pulling him away, “What the fuck is your problem? Eddie didn’t do anything to you, he’s helping me build all of this.” 

Adam stared at her, eyes narrowed in anger, “Whatever you say, Meg.”

Kate appeared behind him, putting a small hand on his forearm, “C’mon, we have to get to Bio,” She offered Meg an apologetic smile, leading Adam out of the cafeteria but not before he shot her one last disgusted look. 

Eddie stared at the lunch table, unsure of what to say or do. He felt Meg’s presence settle next to him again.

“You okay?” She whispered, reaching down to pick up her bag again.

Eddie nodded, “I don’t have to come over tonight if you don’t want me to…”

“Don’t be ridiculous, of course I want you to,” she shut his offer down immediately.

“But Adam—“

“No, Eddie, please. Hanging out with you is the best part of my day,” she stood up without further explanation and walked out of the cafeteria without looking back.

———

“Do you want to run over it one more time?” Meg flopped back onto her bed, landing beside Eddie who was cross-legged amongst a sea of papers and notebooks. 

He shook his head, “Not unless you really want to, I think you’ve got it down.”

She rolled onto her side and smiled up at him, “You really think so?”

Eddie shot her a look, “Of course I do, you’re a really good speaker,” he picked up a few loose sheets of paper and waved them around, “and all of the outlines and campaign examples you’ve written are amazing.”

“Really?” She whispered, doubt lining the edges of her words. He realized at that moment that the confidence he had first admired was shallow, and deep down Meg was just as insecure as him.

Eddie grew serious, “Yeah, they’re really good. You’re a great writer.”

Meg closed her eyes and rolled onto her back, “Thank you…Adam hates it. Says I ramble too much, and the words I choose are pretentious,” she gave a short, sad laugh.

“Or maybe Adam’s just a moron that can’t understand anything past a fifth grade reading level…” Eddie muttered a little too loudly.

Meg’s head shot over in his direction, mouth open in shock but quickly erupting into hysterical laugher. It was infectious, and Eddie joined in, falling back next to her and laughing up at the ceiling. 

As they came down from their fit, Meg grew quiet, and Eddie grew bold.

“What’s Adam’s deal?”

“Hmm?” She rolled her head over, eyebrows raised.

“Today at lunch, he made a comment about you ‘running away’.”

Meg hummed again, “Oh that. Yeah, he uh…he doesn’t support me going away to school.”

Eddie furrowed his brows, “Why?”

“He’s content here. His entire life has been in Hawkins, family hasn’t moved anywhere in generations. Adam’s life is…cushy to say the least. Dad has a job lined up for him after he graduates this year, so his future is already set. All he wants is a nice little housewife to come home to at the end of the day, and that is not going to be me. I need to get out of here, I need to explore the world, and Adam holds that dream against me.”

Eddie watched as she stared upwards, gazing at something a million miles away. 

“Has he ever…touched you?” He whispered at the popcorn ceiling.

“How do you mean?” She mumbled. It was already out of his mouth, he couldn’t take it back now.

“Has Adam ever hurt you?” He dared to look over, and watched as her jaw tightened. It took a few moments for her to speak, swallowing dryly before confessing into the cool air of the room.

“…once,” it came out as a whisper, and he watched as her eyes glassed over.

“What happened?” His voice was paper thin; it was taking everything to not scream. He wanted to find Adam and make him pay. 

“I uh…I didn’t want to have sex with him one night. He got upset and accused me of seeing someone else…and he shoved me into a wall. Hit my head on a shelf and cut the back of it a little.” 

Eddie watched as a solitary tear escaped and ran down into her hair. He searched for her hand and grabbed it, interlocking their fingers, “Why are you with him?” 

She wiped her eyes with her other hand, “He’s a nice guy, you just need to get to know him, Eds.”

He felt a deep rage start to smolder in his chest, words spilling out before he could stop them, “My mom used to say something similar about my dad…”

Meg looked at him, eyes wide and brimming with tears. She didn’t respond, and Eddie just stared back. Anger faded to sadness; remembering all the times he had stood between his parents as his father hurled beer cans at his mom, spewing accusations and insults as she cowered against the kitchen floor. Eddie had been too young to help his mother, but he refused to let Meg end up a part of the same cycle.

———

  The last time Eddie was this anxious, he was playing in the Hawkins Middle School talent show in front of the entire student body. He sat on a bench outside of the principal’s office, tapping his converse against the linoleum floor. He couldn’t hear Meg talking through the heavy wooden door, but he would occasionally catch the low grumble of Principals Higgins’ voice. She had been presenting their Hellfire Club proposal for 15 minutes now, assuring Eddie she could fly solo and leaving him in perpetual purgatory outside the office door. 

After 18 minutes (not that he was counting), the door groaned open, and Eddie’s slender body leapt upright from the bench as Meg slowly emerged stone-faced. 

“What happened?” Eddie whisper-screamed, falling into step with her as they exited into the deserted main hallway.

He pestered her with questions in the short walk to cafeteria, Meg silently leading the way with a straight face. With every second of silence, Eddie’s heart dropped further into his stomach. They had worked so hard on this, Meg had been so excited.

She swung the cafeteria door open, a cacophony of voices and laughter smacking them in the face as they weaved towards the table in the corner. Eddie stood behind Meg nervously as she approached the group, all of them immediately ceasing conversation to hear the verdict. 

“Well…” Meg stated, looking down at the folder in her hand. 

Eddie inhaled sharply, waiting for the hammer to fall.  

“…I hope you’re all free next Friday, because the inaugural meeting of the Hellfire Club is at 3pm!” She slammed the folder onto the table as the rest of the group cheered. 

Eddie exhaled the breath he was holding as Meg spun and threw her arms around his shoulders. He squeezed her middle, bending down to whisper into her ear.

“You did it.” 

Her hair smelled like strawberries, and the smile she returned when pulling out of the embrace was as warm as the summer sun.

Eddie glanced past Meg’s face at Adam seated at the table.

If looks could kill, he’d be six feet under. 

———

Now that it was an official club, Hellfire needed some advertisement. A sign-up sheet was promptly posted to the main bulletin board by the front office, and was just as quickly defaced. Scribbles of ‘losers’, ‘nerds’, and ‘freaks’ littered the lined sheet, a few doodles of the devil accompanied the monikers. They had assumed it would happen, knowing full well the general attitude towards D&D, so Meg had multiple copies on hand to replace any that were ruined. 

The first official meeting was held on the auditorium stage, Kate had pleaded with the drama instructor to let them use the space when it wasn’t being utilized for the theater club. It was overall much more of a conducive environment to play, plenty of room and the addition of miscellaneous props from old productions created a mystical ambiance. The first session was the start of a new campaign Meg had made, and so far it was brutal in the best way. The gameplay adrenaline paired with the new meeting spot had the group buzzing, bringing them all closer as friends. 

Winter passed through the state of Indiana like a freight train, pummeling it with snow so thick that Eddie swore the blisters on his hands from shoveling would be there for the rest of his life. The ground finally thawed in late March, leading into the final two months of his Freshman year. 

Hellfire was such a key factor in his life now, not only playing but also learning how to better run a campaign. He still hung out with Jeff and Gareth, recounting the events of that weeks club meeting to them every time. Eddie didn’t have to convince Jeff too much to help tutor Meg in math, the second he met her, he understood why Eddie was so enamored. They made a recurring bi-weekly date to study algebra, with Eddie sometimes tagging along just for fun. Both of his younger friends couldn’t wait to make it to high school, knowing that spots in Hellfire were waiting for them.

As the school year wound to a close, Eddie felt a shift in the group of people he’d come to call his friends. Adam and Rick were graduating, leaving not just the school but also Hellfire behind. Meg had offered an invitation to keep playing, but Rick had plans to travel out west for a bit, and Adam flat out refused, citing his need to put ‘childish things aside’ now that he was going to have an adult career. The statement had made Eddie bristle when he heard it, and he knew that Meg was upset as well. Her face remained neutral as she stared at Adam, but Eddie saw the hurt in her eyes. The cracks were forming, and Eddie could only hope it was just a matter of time before the dam broke.

The last day of school was almost as stifling as the first, and Eddie cringed as he felt a bead of sweat drip down the back of his neck. His hair was getting longer, almost out of the weird growing-out phase, and it was taking some getting used to. As he slammed his locker door shut for the final time until September, sound of running footsteps caught his attention. Meg was running down the hallway, pushing past the dozens of students clamoring to leave for the summer. She collided into Eddie at full force, wrapping him into the biggest bone crushing hug. Though caught off guard, his smile was so wide he thought his face might rip in two. Meg pulled back, thrusting a piece of paper into Eddie’s face.

“What is this?” He took a closer look, it was her final algebra grades. A solid C.

“Holy shit! You did it!” He handed the page back to her, eyes full of pride.

“No Eddie, you did it. You’re the one that got Jeff to help me. You’re the one that helped create Hellfire. I can’t thank you enough,” she stared at him, admiration and gratitude spilled from every part of her. 

“What about gym?” Eddie chuckled as they started to walk out to the parking lot.

Meg unlocked her car, “Oh, yeah, I have a week of summer school for that.”

He laughed as he slid into the passenger seat, “I still don’t understand…”

“I’m never going to run the mile, Eds, I refuse,” she started the ignition, pulling out of the lot to head to their spot by the lake. 

Adam and Rick’s graduation was that night, and Eddie had promised he’d come along for support, but for now he was content sitting beside Meg next to Lover’s Lake, talking about their big plans for next year; her last hurrah at Hawkins High, and the year she’d pass the Hellfire torch to Eddie.

[clevelandstate]

Film Students and Safe Sets

Written by Lauren Koleszar // The Vindicator

*This story has been edited slightly for length*

Film & Media Arts is one of the most hands-on majors at Cleveland State. It relies on massive collaboration and in-person filming that normally requires between ten and thirty cast and crew members for upperclassmen producing junior- and senior-level professional content. New COVID-19 guidelines require a “Safe Sets” certification, and students have been limited to crews of ten people or less on a set at one time. Camera departments that normally run on four to five students are being managed by two if they’re lucky. Students are choosing to produce scripts that need only a few actors and can be filmed at safe, easily accessible locations. Students are desperately working on pre-production and editing from home; and when on set, they’re filling multiple crew positions to make up for the absence of the much larger number of students who are normally able to work on one set together.

In spite of these challenges, film students at CSU are producing impressive creative content and becoming multi-faceted filmmakers as they take on many new responsibilities that are ultimately shaping them into better equipped professionals who will have a wide range of skills and experience.

We talked to film major Davis Chu, whose freshman year at CSU coincided with the opening of the university’s new film school in the fall of 2018. The initial lockdown hit during Davis’s second sophomore semester, and he took us through his personal experience and observation of the evolution of student filmmaking at CSU over the course of the last year.

LAUREN KOLESZAR: Elevator pitch. Who are you, what do you do and what interests you? DAVIS CHU: Hello there, my name is Davis. I’m a third-year film major, concentration in post-production, with a minor in graphic design. I am also in the Honors college. My passions include: writing, comedy, animation, editing, music, screenwriting, acting, and television. To clarify, when I say “television,” I mean watching it. Although I’m also working on an original pilot for school.

LK: Why are you studying film, and what are some of your favorite films, creatives or influences? DC: I think if life is a circus, then studying film is a trampoline. It may not have the safety net of other more stable fields, but it’s a great launching pad for someone who wants to pursue the arts. 

I’m a film major, but I don’t consume as much film as I do comedy and TV. My comedy influences include the Marx Brothers, Monty Python, Mel Brooks, Larry David, Dave Chappele, Ricky Gervais, Dana Carvey, Marc Maron, Conan O’Brien, John Mulaney, Sarah Silverman, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert...

For TV shows: VEEP, Barry, Fleabag, Atlanta, Master of None, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Arrested Development, Succession, Girls, Seinfeld, Game of Thrones, Rick and Morty...

LK: Film is so hands-on, and most classes changed dramatically with the switch to Zoom. Describe the impact of the March 2020 lockdown on your film classes and projects. What kinds of things unique to film students had to change? DC: The period of January to March was a very slow, then exponential realization that the world was falling apart. I was supposed to edit a student short. My assistant editor was my dear friend Alex Maytin. They were yet to shoot, but the production was underway, and Alex and I were preparing to tackle the footage. It was an ambitious project and it honestly seemed monumental. Little did we know that the lockdown would dwarf our problems completely.

When school announced it was going virtual, Alex and I started brainstorming a potential remote workflow. He was gonna merge and organize the footage, mail it on a USB and I would edit. Like, we really thought the production was still happening. Needless to say, it didn’t.

Everyone in the school had to take on their own projects and oversee it from start to finish. People chose to make documentaries, short narrative films, I decided to make a small series of sketches titled Under Quarantine.

LK: What has filmmaking been like in the era of COVID-19? DC: I think the lasting impact on the film industry will be distribution. We were already moving in the direction of streaming services. But I think the presence of COVID-19 has accelerated the process. My prediction is that studios and creatives will probably lean away from film and into miniseries. I don’t really mind that. Storytelling is storytelling, whether it’s a 120-minute movie or a three-episode hour-long miniseries.

LK: How has your personal approach to creating and studying changed over the past year? DC: I’m definitely not alone in saying I’ve grown a lot in the past year. What changed the most is my approach to learning and creating. I’ve come to the conclusion that almost every skill is learnable. If you want to get good at something, all you have to do is take the time to do it. Last semester, I had a lot more time I could dedicate to my schoolwork (just by removing the time it takes to walk to and from class). I made some stuff I was really proud of. I found a love for animation. I think I have more patience for overcoming learning curves now.

LK: What has changed for the better? For the worse? DC: There are a couple super small silver linings if you look close enough. One of them is the accessibility and flexibility of education. For most of the classes I was taking, the transition was rather smooth. If I’m taking an animation class, and we’re all using our computers anyway, why don’t we take advantage of this great technology and just meet virtually?  

LK: How has the transition been for professors and faculty? In what ways have they helped make accommodations for students? DC: The professors have been incredibly accommodating. Earlier this semester, I tested positive for COVID and [it] wiped me out. I emailed all of my teachers and within a day, every one of them responded with empathy and get-well wishes. Through extensions and exemptions, I was able to catch up and now I’m back! It’s also cool that the faculty are conscious enough that not everyone has access to the same level of technology.

LK: Has there been anything you've learned or had the opportunity to experience because of the impact of COVID-19? Personal or film-related? DC: I don’t know how much of this is related to COVID-19 but I have been pretty introspective lately. I’ve been slowly coming to terms with the Asian-American experience and how race has affected me. With this topic in mind, I started writing a TV pilot for my class. I guess that is one of the benefits of being an arts major. Be it COVID-19 or racism or any problem, we have the luxury of being forced to process our emotions. 

LK: Finally, what inspires you and how do you work to overcome the weight of the pandemic on your college and creative experience? DC: I take everything one step at a time. And I try to remember that so long as I’m doing my part to keep other people safe, that’s all that really matters. Control what you can, set a good example for others, and let go of the rest. And creatively, so long as I have access to tools I can use to make stuff, I’m satisfied.

*To read this article in it’s original, full-length format or to check out other great Vindicator content, visit thevindi.com/post/film-students-and-safe-sets.

[taylornock]

how cell phones made our lives better while simultaneously ruining them

hi fam!! it’s me, again. are you tired of hearing from me? me too. that’s why I’m here to rant about social media / phone / technology. bc i hate it… but in a loving way???

everyone remembers when they got their first iPhone. seriously. why is that such a monumental moment in our lives? i can hardly remember what i felt like freshman year of high school but can pinpoint the feeling of sheer glee unwrapping my iPhone 6 in eighth grade. i have this thing that is attached to me 24/7 - when I go anywhere (even downstairs) without my phone i feel weird. that is f***ing SAD! PATHETIC. i hate feeling that dependent on what is essentially a pocket robot.

for what it’s worth - phones have done INCREDIBLE things for the world as we know it. for example, this quarantine shit has been testing all of us; and our phones are helping us get through it in so many ways. our phones let us see the faces of those loved ones we are missing, our phones provide us with stupid tik tok content to keep everything light hearted, and our phones let us check in on each other. all amazing things! when we are at school, we have instant access to our lives at home . being able to call my mom whenever i want is something i definitely abuse. “mom, I’m on my way home from Thompson right now and i think i have a brain aneurysm but my bio final is at 11am tomorrow will i make it” … an actual conversation i had with my mom at the end of freshman year. needless to say i was medicated shortly after THAT meltdown. I am such a brat that i don’t know what i would do if i couldn’t text my dad and have him immediately get me the password again to our Uverse account…… god forbid i miss an episode of the bachelor. i have this phone, and that’s what i do with it? abuse its powers to ask my parents for medical advice or a password i forgot? have we lost sight of everything here?

throughout life and especially throughout quarantine… my phone is the definition of a possession that is a blessing and a curse. I’m so grateful to have the ability to bother my friends - whenever i want! the options are endless! i love keeping in touch with people i thought id never hear from again, and being able to talk to so many people in my life and make my heart swell. now, when a conversation with someone other than my two roommates (shoutout parents) is so rare ⎯ that phone is my weapon and i use it to help flatten the curve: flatten the curve of covid19 and flatten the curve of my mental illness 🙃 [humor is a coping mechanism okay let me live] but like, i KNOW i’m not the only one that looks at my screen time and immediately wants to die. how can i honestly be looking at my phone for that long? picking it up THAT many times?????? my phone is the best distraction and also the most toxic - it makes me feel better but has a tendency to bring up all my issues and blast them into the reflection of my blue light glasses...... its called fashion look it up.

to give some examples - let’s open up my most used app: snapchat. I go on snapchat with the best of intentions - to see a memory from a year ago that makes me smile. to respond to my friends and see what their mood today is based on the look on their face. to creep on snap stories and see what everyone’s cooking and doing with their lives. somehow, tho, after spending a few minutes on the app.. i end up with a pit in my stomach most of the time. the person i want to respond hasn’t responded in 4 hours. oh god lets overthink this- they don’t like me anymore and are no longer interested in speaking to me and only respond every once in a while out of pity or because they are uncomfortable. everyone hates you. oh and GOD FORBID someone leaves me on open??! I am not funny nor interesting nor worth a reply - suddenly, i have equated my value to receiving or not receiving a photo of someone’s blank stare. this is extreme, and this is dramatic. but trust me —— this is the hamster wheel always turning in my head. I’m not even going to touch on snap maps; that feature is pandoras box and someone better fucking shut it.

second most used app is instagram. i scroll for hours, i have time limits set for the app acting like i’m actually going to listen to them and get off. lmaooooooooo. i love looking at aesthetic stuff and dogs and food and recipes and my friends’ beautiful faces. but you know what i don’t like? constant nudges to compare myself to others. oh look at her having a party with all of her friends even though we aren’t supposed to be. am i a loser for trying to be safe? oh look at her washboard abs, i’m never going to look like that and will never live up to the standard of beauty society has set for me. look at all of these people in their happy relationships. why can’t i have that? it goes over and over and over. its not like i sit there and think of these things just like that, its a precedent in my mind when i stare at everybody else that i am going to size my own life up against theirs. for years i followed every single elite model / VS angel on instagram to motivate me to do better - to start being psycho about what i did to my body so i could be as gorgeous as them. what kind of fucked up mindset is that? i would literally watch their footage of them eating rice and vegetables once a day and try to copy it. i would watch their runway walks obsessively trying to recreate them in heels alone in my house - like that was all i could imagine doing with my life. did i ever stop for a second to look at that photoshoot of gigi hadid and wonder if she was happy? wonder if the constant pictures she saw of herself ever made her insecure? what was i doing? the day i unfollowed those girls was a monumental day in my journey to a better self image. i didn’t realize the people i thought were my “motivators” were actually my triggers. i have grown to a point in life now that i would much rather eat a stack of chocolate chip pancakes that make me dance in my chair like an infant than practice my runway walk and shame my body in the mirror. and i am so freakin happy! 

i could go app by app for hours. but moving on to the next thing i hate about cell phones - how they have destroyed our biological methods of communication. you hear about those psychos who think the world is destroyed by technology and we are going to be overrun by robots. but hey, I’m with the psychos on this one. i have this amazing friend, Trevor Wright, who without fail at EVERY dinner announces “phones off friends on” and collects our phones into the center of the table. yes, we are 20 year old adults. yes, we hand our phones over to Trevor and let him yell at us for trying to see if ~that person~ snap chatted us back. i have so much respect for him because of this. there is nothing worse than staring at your phones when you could be having a good conversation about life, about love, about laughter + memories, about “do you think hellen keller is real?” anything, bro, anything. anything but snapchat messaging your hoe of the week or mindlessly playing tetris to twiddle your thumbs. we all need to start loving a little harder, and the first step to doing that is to communicate better. communicate smarter. I’m guilty of alllll of the above, don’t get me wrong. and I am ADD asf and constantly playing mindless games just to stimulate my brain. but i need to stop that! even writing this is taking some time away from the dumb shit on my phone - and encouraging me to communicate how i     r e a l l y   feel to my homies that will read this. communication - especially body language - is fascinating. I’ve studied it in  psych, I’ve learned the neurological bases of behavior and why we do what we do. I’ve learned how much our life experience impacts who we are as a whole...and it! is! fascinating! i also think that’s why i love film so much. because it can capture the raw moments of your friends just being your friends, of you just being the person you are, and the world around you just existing as it exists. i love the raw moments; and not just because indy blue posted one youtube video of her slow mo laughing and now thats the only footage i find myself shooting. 😚

im not quite sure what this post is, lol. but - just a rant on technology. so listen to me:

take advantage of technology + social media! it CAN BE GREAT. for so many reasons. but, don’t let technology + social media TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOU. stay true to you - know how to communicate with yourself and your loved ones without the use of a robot. remember that feeling when you setup up your first iPhone? imagine if you could feel that again, with your phone nowhere in sight. if you don’t know how to communicate with yourself yet, start by journaling. WRITE! TYPE! SPEAK! do what you want. getting your thoughts down even without an audience is so crucial to understanding yourself and others. if you don’t like to write, reflect. breathe. meditate. make art. do what makes you feel at peace, and do whatever makes you feel like the world makes a little bit more sense than it does. 

IF YOU ARE READING DOWN TO HERE, I LOVE YOU. I LOVE YOU, SAY IT BACK! LIFE IS A FUCKING HIGHWAY. AND IM SO GLAD YOU’RE ON MY INTERSTATE. <3

xoxoxoxo

gossip girl

[ellies-dln]

OCD and my literacy journey

I have always had very little self-confidence related to my reading abilities. As a kid, when everyone I knew was reading the latest popular Young Adult fiction series, I could never keep up. What some people could read in a couple days, would take me months. It was absolutely devastating. What was wrong with me? Why could I not keep up?

Just a couple years ago–so, too long after this struggle–I was diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, or OCD. I realized that this is what made it so hard for me to read “normally,” as my brain just could not process words and comprehension the same as most people. It is difficult to explain because the disorder is so illogical, but essentially, when I read a sentence, my brain would tell me I did not understand it, even if I fully did, so I would reread and reread, which ended up taking a monumental amount of time. By the time I finished a book or a chapter, I had read it ten times, over and over. This impacted me in every way throughout elementary, middle, and high school, because almost everything involves reading to some extent. Every test I took, took triple the amount of time as other people; every book required for class took so much more time to complete. It sounds silly, but it was so heartbreaking! I constantly felt inadequate, inferior, and different than everyone else. I realize now, though, that this is my experience as a human being; I am different in my own way and have my own struggles, just like everyone else. This is why I love helping others with their writing, and have undertaken this in multiple says, such as being a Writing Tutor and Writing Mentor at ASU. I understand the diverse experiences of struggling readers and writers, and the lack of confidence that comes along with those experiences. I know how debilitating it can be, and I want to do anything I can to help others in their unique reading and writing journeys.

This experience drastically changed my perception of learning, mentoring, and tutoring. From this personal hardship, I have so much more perspective on the various struggles that come along with learning and fostering the skills of literacy. Of course, there is still so much more for me to know, and so much more experience to gain. But this is why I am so excited to be a Writing Mentor this year and help students alongside their individual paths. I have already shared my personal experiences with the ENG 102 professor who I am working with, and she was so wonderful and understanding. She shared similar experiences and made me feel so welcome. I hope I can be a person like this for students: relatable and welcoming, because we all have our unique hardships in life and in school.

This is a picture of me and my friends during my freshman year of college (3 years ago!):

[uscdornsifeadmission]

Go NGOs - Jess Zellmer

Ever since I started volunteering at my first non-profit organization as a high school student, I have dreamed of a career in the non-profit sector. I have a passion for volunteering in the community and creating positive social change. In the future, I hope to have the opportunity to serve as an administrative leader at a large national or international non-profit organization. Therefore, when I was a senior in high school and applying to universities, I sought out a school which would support me in this career goal. The University of Southern California offers a unique, exciting new major: Non-Governmental Organizations and Social Change. When I discovered this major, I knew it was the perfect fit for me. I applied to study NGOs and Social Change at USC, and I have never looked back. The program has proved to be invaluable to my personal and professional development. This program has provided me with exciting courses, excellent professors, and interesting research and internship opportunities. However, my most valuable experience in this program was my participation in a class in New York City and Washington D.C. this past summer.

Within the first months of my freshman year, I was invited to participate in a Maymester, which is a USC summer class where the students and professors often travel to an exciting location to learn. The Maymester was called “NGOs in Global Context”, and it was a month-long course taught in both New York City and Washington D.C. The course offered students a behind-the-scenes glimpse at many national and international NGOs and showed the impact they can have on major social changes and public policy around the world.

I decided to participate in the Maymester and at the beginning of last May, I embarked with 12 other USC students and our professor to New York City. We stayed in dormitories conveniently located along Central Park and only a short walk from Times Square. In New York, we visited 10 major non-profit organizations, including the United Nations, Human Rights Watch, Henry Luce Foundation, and Covenant House. At these organizations, we were able to tour their headquarters as well as have a briefing with leaders of their organizations.

Along with visiting NGOs, my classmates and I had the opportunity to explore New York City. Since I had never been to New York City, I was happy that our professor gave us free-time to sight-see. With some of my classmates, I attended a Broadway show, biked in Central Park, saw the Statue of Liberty, and ate at many delicious restaurants.

After a wonderful week in New York City, my classmates and I boarded a bus to Washington D.C. for the remainder of our course. Our dormitories once again had an ideal location, situated along the National Mall, walking distance from many memorials and the Smithsonian Museums. In Washington D.C., we were able to visit nearly 20 NGOs, including the Center for American Progress, the Roosevelt Center, and Earth Justice. Along with visiting NGOs, I also had the opportunity to sight-see around Washington D.C. and visit Congress, the Supreme Court, multiple museums, and monuments.

This trip was one of my favorite experiences as a USC student, and I feel so grateful that I was able to participate in it. I had so much fun exploring New York City and Washington D.C. with my classmates. Additionally, I learned about so many amazing non-profit organizations, and I made personal connections with leaders at these organizations. Many of the organizations we visited are places where I would love to work someday. In fact, I am still connected with the representative we met from Covenant House. I know that this experience has helped me develop as a professional and prepared me for a career in the non-profit sector.

[sailaway-frmthee-safeeharbor]

My school experience with ADHD

I have always known that I had ADHD. From the time I was a little kid running around playing crazy detailed games of pretend and asking everyone I met questions about any subject a mile a minute. I always knew that there was something unique about the way my brain worked. The problem is, neither I, nor my parents, or my teachers were able to get an official diagnosis until I was 17 and in my Jr. year of high school. Being an only child, with several medical issues from the start and with parents who didn’t really know what to do with me made school, and life in general kind of difficult. Fortunately I was very lucky to have always loved learning no matter how hard the process had been. Math, (like many people) has always been my worst subject. I struggled with learning the concepts in the first place let alone trying to get them in my head enough to bring it to the test or move on to higher levels. And it sure as hell was not for lack of trying. The problem with school and especially teachers who do not understand that people have extremely varying was of learning, is that when it comes to kids with ADHD, we can put in a solid three hours, and only have half a page of work to show for it. It is extremely discouraging when you put all that effort in and you’re so proud of those solid three hours, and go into school the next day and have your teacher rip you apart for “being lazy”, and “not trying hard enough”, and asking the golden question of “why can’t you JUST do the work like everyone else!?”. Sometimes they even do it in front of the entire class. What kid is going to want to keep trying and is going to be motivated to keep learning about themselves and how they learn after a teacher, who is supposed to be your mentor, completely degrades you in front of everyone? The questions of “why cant you JUST…” are really hard to hear when you are young and you yourself would absolutely LOVE to know why the heck you can’t “just do the work like everyone else”.  For me these disheartening questions started when I was in first grade.

My birthday falls in kind of a weird place in late June that made my parents really question if I was ready to go to kindergarten when I had just barely turned 5. I was already reading Junie B. Jones books and loving the work books my mom had given me so they figured it would be fine and it was. I started going to a private Methodist school and had a blast in kindergarten, just like many kids. But the next year really changed everything. I was younger than the majority of the kids in my class and it was my teacher’s first year of teaching. I don’t remember a ton of details from that year because I guess I spent a lot of my childhood desperately trying to forget it; but my parents still talk about how horrible it was to this day. I started to struggle with reading a little bit and the attention deficit was really starting to affect my learning process. It wasn’t that I was having behavioral issues in the class room or that I was being disruptive I just was having a little trouble with the work. I fall more under inattentive type rather than hyperactive type on the ADHD spectrum and what people don’t realize about that is it isn’t always about simple wandering thoughts, but it affects the way you gather, process, and categorize information in your head. At this point it was not a huge problem yet and had I had the little bit of support I needed I would have been fine. This of course was not the case. Instead of supporting me and giving me any kind of guidance let alone kindness, my teacher decided to make sure I knew just how stupid I was. Like I said I can’t remember a lot of detail but apparently I, a previously abnormally cheerful child, came home crying from school every single day for several months. Every day I grew more and more discouraged as any 6 year old would who had a teacher, a TEACHER constantly belittling them every single day. Needless to say after weeks of fighting the school my parents found a way to let me switch to a different class and a different school the next year. This helped me emotionally and helped me get back on track accedemically but the root problem was still there. My grades were ok enough for me to move to second grade but my parents had felt that I was so emotionally devastated by the constant daily humiliation and degradation, that it would be a good idea to repeat the first grade at the new public school. For the first two years the school change had really helped me get back to a productive mindset but again the signs were still there. I had a hard time sitting to study my spelling words and I was often asking to leave class to go to the nurse or the bathroom when I didn’t need to. I didn’t understand why I was doing those things or why certain simple tasks like cleaning my room took me so much longer than they should have. It was my normal. The rest of my schooling through 8th grade was pretty ok. There always seemed to be at least one teacher every year that didn’t really get me and I just had to kind of suffer in silence through it because honestly I didn’t really get me either. My grades were alright, mostly B’s and a few C’s with the acceptation of math. If I would have had any kind of additional support and a better understanding of the ADHD and how it manifested itself in my head then I am positive that I would have gotten straight A’s and would not have had so many emotional struggles in high school.  The biggest thing at that point that got me through school was the fact that I really did enjoy learning and my love of reading. Being able to hyper focus on books has helped me keep up in school and has helped teach me how my brain categorizes information. Hyper focus is a great thing because when you’re in it, you can see how you think and feel in a productive setting. But you have to understand what is happening first. I was not able to make sense of why I could focus on some things and not others, and why I could learn something easily in one class and not the other, until my Jr. year in high school. And honestly it was a really tough process.

The transition to a private high school was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. The classes were so so much harder and the expectations were much greater and I struggled immensely. It was devastating for someone like me who genuinely loves learning, to fail so hard. I desperately wanted to do well and gain more respect from my teachers but I couldn’t even find a place to start. It was an entirely new environment and the teachers were so different from what I was used to. The atmosphere of that high school was built on academic success and athletic accomplishments so there was a lot of pressure to be exceptional. All of a sudden I was in the position again where the teachers did not have a clue how to connect and interact with me and I started to really fall into depression and anxiety. Those questions of “why aren’t you trying hard enough and why can’t you just…” started coming up again and I wanted to give up. I was so depressed because of my failures at school that I barely had a social life because I couldn’t bring myself to make the effort. I felt like because I was so bad at school that I didn’t deserve to go out with friends or even deserve to be happy. With my teachers and the administration making school a kind of hostile unsafe environment, and the constant frustration I felt toward them and especially myself, my depression and anxiety became very damaging. I was self-harming and my anxiety was so bad that I couldn’t ask for any kind of help, not for school work and noy for myself. I ended up failing math that freshman year and it was just an all-around bad situation. This stress and distrust of teachers continued into my sophomore year. Amazingly I was able to get into an honors level history class Jr year because history has always been my passion and for some reason I liked all of my teachers a lot more this year too. I took the fact that these teachers seemed to genuinely care about me more than past teachers had very seriously. I wanted more than ever to do well for myself and to make them proud. It took an extra toll on my anxiety but I was able to start asking more questions. Not just questions in class but I was able to ask my self questions too. My parents had also been asking questions and trying to somehow find out why I had been struggling for so long. Toward the end of that year we were able to get documented in writing that I had ADHD. Once I finally had the actual diagnosis and started to connect the dots I was finally able to understand myself and start to forgive myself for all those years of struggle. So for my senior year I was actually allowed to utilize the school’s intervention specialists and it was amazing. At that point I had a fairly more decent grasp of my brain and how it worked that I was finally able to do a lot of the work on my own. The school had hired new intervention teachers and the one I was assigned that first semester made a monumental difference in my life. She didn’t really help me very much with my actual assignments but just the sheer fact of knowing I had at least ONE person on my side who believed in me, was there for me, and understood where I was coming from made all the difference. I finished my senior year a decimal point away from being on the honor roll.

It was a healing experience to start to finally have answers, but it was also hard at first because I was very bitter about it. I held on to so much anger that all these years of frustration and self-hatred and desperately wondering why, when there was a pretty simple answer all along. It has taken me a while to come to terms with my journey and the impact all of this has had on my life, and I still today as a freshman in college have some days where I really struggle with it, but I can honestly say that I am grateful for the whole experience. All of it. I am at a place now where I know so so much about myself and how I learn and how my brain works in general that I cannot even put into word how amazing it feels. Of course I can still get depressed and I still battle the anxiety every day, and I still encounter huge setbacks but without this amazing and horrible experience I wouldn’t know how to bounce back from it and how to keep going. If nothing else these are the most crucial things I have learned:

NEVER. STOP. ASKING. QUEESTIONS. No matter how defeated you are, no matter how much you want to give up, no matter how much you think you don’t even deserve answers, never stop asking questions because it is how you grow.

Also, be able to understand the importance of being able to take those little steps to being more productive as victories. Even if you work all day on a paper and that doesn’t seem like enough, you have to be able to reflect on the good things you did that day and really look at the things that went right, so that way it might not take you as long tomorrow. It really does suck having to fail a bunch of times before you can get into the swing of things, but you can find peace in knowing that you will never be perfect. You just have to take those few strengths you may have and make them work for you. It will take a lot of time, and tears, and frustration but the peace that comes from progress and knowing you are doing the best you can is worth all of those tears.

`����

[memorylang]

Mothers’ Day, Driving and Sound | #53 | May 2021

May was been great, hectic. Pentecost, the Judeo-Christian holiday some 5O days from Easter and Passover—this year from May 23, 2O2I—led to monumental shifts in what’s been up with me. So, while we’ve gone back into the Church’s Ordinal Time now, I’ll focus this time on that Easter chunk of May. Tales include my first adventures of licensed Vegas driving, followed by experiences on and before Mothers’ Day 2O2I.

Month of Feels

While in Reno on April’s second-to-last Friday (my last before Vegas), I discovered that Evan Call's original soundtrack to 《Violet Evergarden》 was on Spotify. This delighted me immensely because I’ve for years listened to people’s covers of the soundtrack. The originals hadn't been available.

Back during my last semester of interpersonal group therapy in spring 2OI8, a handful of peers had recommended I see 《Violet Evergarden》 for it helped them to better empathize with others. (I'd gone to counseling to better figure out how to communicate my Catholic feelings about grief.) I went back to China that summer for my second time. Then, during my first weekend after my college junior year classes had begun, I finally watched the Netflix series. That was nearly a year and a half since Mom died.

I loved how the show, through its characters, narrative, settings and score capture so many aspects of grief, displacement, inspiration and comfort. Now in 2O2I, I found that I could listen to its entire score. Tracks that particularly resonated this time with me were “Across the Violet Sky,” “Birth of a Legend” and “Another Sunny Day.” Music guides me to meditations. To my surprise, that last song's title resembles "Another Day of Sun”—another song I deeply enjoy. Mom had called me a ‘sunny’ boy.

To Vegas’ Roads

May 1, 2O2I had my first time driving to and beyond downtown Vegas. My family's house has been on the valley's north side.

My older brother and his girlfriend were the only others living at the house besides me. Since they had activities that Saturday, I'd for the first time drive the family’s ol’ Dodge Ram that accompanied us all the way from Indiana.

Dad had in his usual somewhat joking but actually serious way suggested that I could drive the pick-up around town. Dad had hardly used it, so over the years, strangers have placed offers to buy it. He wouldn’t sell. My using it would probably justify his keeping it, anyway.

While I see trucks more as gas-guzzlers, which don’t jive well with my environmentalist tendencies, I appreciated that Dad let me borrow it regardless. I don’t like driving vehicles that lend themselves to considerably negative environmental impacts. Still, a ride’s a ride.

That Saturday, I was to meet from the Southern Nevada National Peace Corps Association a fellow Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV) and his family at the Las Vegas Wash Green-Up. Despite having lived in Vegas 2OO8–I5 and again in 2O2O, I marveled at having never heard of the Wash. That said, it’s quite a ways south.

In bygone days, my late ma would have driven me to service events similar to the Green-Up if I couldn’t carpool with Kiwanis Key Club friends. Well, I hadn't read that other RPCVs would from the north. So, I hoped driving in this case would least harm the environment.

Sights and Sounds Known

From the house for my day’s trip, I first looked up a Google Maps itinerary that could get me to a shopping plaza in the north and then down to the valley's southeast side. So, on my Surface, I plotted my route, copied the web address, messaged it to myself, found by our house's door the truck’s keys, came outside, unlocked the weighty vehicle, lugged open the driver’s door, clambered in and on my phone booted up the route.

I’ve driven different vehicles over past months and years, training with friends and family. So, I began my familiar routine of buckling up, adjusting the mirrors, making my seat comfortable. When driving alone, I also tap my phone’s Spotify app and start my “Recent Wonders” playlist or another.

The playlist reminds me a bit of my MP3 player habits when I was younger. I used to have to manually pick tracks from my computer’s library to download to my portable player. Since undergrad, though, I’ve had this Spotify playlist I shuffle for about the same purpose. My rotating set usually has between 15O and 25O songs. I prefer under about 18O. 《Violet Evergarden》 tracks comprise a good chunk of the newest.

Maps and playlist ready, I powered on the mighty truck and lurched it forward. As the high vehicle entered the street, I imagined Dad saying something annoying like, it’s a great vehicle for picking up chicks. Sure, it’s certainly spacious, but I prefer modest rides. If my vehicle were to make a statement, I’d rather it concern the planet not status. Still, I work with what we have.

Familiarly, I drove the streets I’d trained on three months earlier to secure my driver’s license. While the truck was the largest thing I’d driven here, roads’ rules were the same. I brought the truck to 24 miles per hour except when stop signs appeared. I piloted from the neighborhood to the main road, where I brought our speed to 33. Then I began north toward the shopping center along streets I’d walked with in middle school.

Arriving, I located the Bed, Bath & Beyond parking lot. Two of my former Residence Hall Association coworkers, including one whose FarmHouse fraternity brother I had become, would wed this May. So, I’d ordered an item from their gift registry to pick up. Afer sitting in Vegas heat, a woman brought me the gift. Success!

Across the Vegas Valley

Gift in possession, I powered back on the truck to begin my first road trip across the Vegas valley. I’d decided against taking freeways, since I figured proverbially that I’d better know how to walk before I run. Besides, Ma hadn’t liked highways. She’d traveled Vegas fine. So, I opted for major side streets.

I regretted avoiding freeways. Perhaps a dozen signal lights in, I realized that much of the trip felt more “stop” than “go.” I sorely underestimated how few roads let me bring the speed up to 44 mph. 35 zones seemed far more the norm.

Yet, I found the southbound view of Boulder Highway breathtaking. I hadn’t foreseen this urban desert’s beauty. The long road showcased the valley flora's summer embrace. I recalled a similar ride 'round Reno with a close college friend before we’d graduated. While I still resolved today to try the freeway back, my journey felt worthwhile.

Environmentalism For Earth Day

As I steered left off the highway nearing the Vegas Wash, its immensity awed me. I slowed the truck as I neared the parking area. With luck, I backed the truck into a spacious place near trees.

I donned the white Panamá-looking hat from my Mongol host family, hopped out and walked to tents where volunteers looked ready to sign folks in. I picked up and put on branded swag like blue planting gloves, a black face mask and a clear clip-on hand sanitizer. I then followed a dirt trail along the Wash. I was wearing too my ol' hiking shoes Mom had bought me mid-way through my college freshman year. To my surprise, the still fit!

I emerged soon where folks were taking potted shrubberies to flag-marked holes. There my RPCV friend found me. This was our first in person meet-up, so I felt surprised how easily he recognized me. He introduced me to his Kyrgyz wife and one of their kids who’d come to serve too. My friend's daughter was sick at home, but this was his son. We chatted a bit about fermented mare's milk, a drink common to both Kyrgyz and Mongols!

I asked him about the service project. He shared how these projects happen here annually. The flowers and shrubs we'd plant would help filter the Wash. I remembered my Key Club and CKI days and felt amazed that our clubs hadn’t participated. Still, as an RPCV, I found that my love of service remained. I carried plants back and forth, burying them throughout the grid.

After we concluded planting, we returned to check-in. Jimmy John’s to-go boxes awaited us volunteers. I walked with my friend to his vehicle, and we wished each other well. I strolled back to the Wash.

A roadrunner stood on a short cement wall by the water. Then it hopped off and disappeared. So, I hopped up, sat down and removed my visor, face mask and gloves. I like nature. I enjoyed the Wash, my chips and a sandwich.

I felt both stronger and vulnerable. When I finished here, no one would come get me. I got to choose when and how I'd head home. So, mistakes were on me, too.

I didn’t like heat much. I finished my food, saved the cookie and walked back to the truck. Heading back before I tired would keep me safer for my hour-long journey home.

“What If I?”

As I drove back toward Boulder Highway, a new thought came: What if I turned left instead of right?

I could visit Mom's grave. She was buried in the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery half an hour south. Dad hadn’t replied whether we’d visit it the Saturday after, being the fourth anniversary of Mom’s passing. I felt a twinge to go now.

But my phone had already lost half its battery. I’d had it on the hour-long drive to reach here. I wanted to still have Maps to help me navigate, as I would soon take on my first valley-wide freeways.

When two desert roads diverged, I took the one I’d traveled by.

Then freeway traffic sucked. But I think I still made better time. There was the difference.

Vegas and Mothers' Day

The next day, which was the Sunday before Mothers’ Day 2O2I, I took back up the task of sorting Mom’s former belongings. My pa had wanted me to organize the room where he’d been letting me stay in the Vegas house, too. Part of organizing that room meant I’d need to move out my mother’s clothes that siblings and I saved. Last spring’s garage clean-up led me to know that we had both plenty of space and large containers. While I worked, I listened to 《Violet Evergarden》 tracks.

Sight and Touch

On one of my sister Becky's visits, she and I ventured into Mom's closet to box and bag Mom's clothes to send to our stepmother’s family in the Philippines or donate. Working with Tita later, I'd identified some to keep. I hung those in the closet of the Vegas room where I was staying.

We'd kept clothes that were either extremely familiar, like her lavender and mauve ones, or rather unique, like suits and Chinese attire. Many of these clothes, I hadn't known Mom had. Not until after her death had I seen these dresses and sweaters. I wondered when she’d last worn them, in what stages of life. She must have liked them enough to have kept them all these years.

In my room, I unhooked Mom’s clothes from the closet and laid them in a large grey plastic bin with a green lid. Its shape reminded me of a coffin, though this was smaller, more rectangular and less imposing. I tried pushing away the coffin thought.

I laid in Mom’s clothes by Marie Kondo’s method, according to thickness. Thus, “最后的，最厚的” /zuìhòu de, zuì hòu de/, the furthest back, the thickest. I placed Mom's Chinese traditional clothes closest to the surface. I supposed that if any of us sought her clothes, perhaps we’d want to see those first.

I was placing the last of Mom's clothes, white and green silk, when I stopped suddenly.

Patterning looked familiar. I turned back to the closet, to its right half where I kept my clothes. I found my Chinese-style shirt I'd purchased in 北京 Běijīng 2OI7. I took my black and red shirt and laid it beside Mom's Chinese clothing.

The patterns similarly repeated stitched dragons and fish on shimmering silk.

Perhaps these were common patterns. But the coincidence felt uncanny. In China after Mom died, I’d made my purchase for thinking the shirt I found looked cool. Now I wondered, had Mom influenced what drew me to choose mine? For had she been there in person, perhaps she'd have recommended the same.

I exhaled a shaky breath. The shirt I'd bought resembled ones I didn't know my mom wore and kept.

“Across the Violet Sky” was playing—an emotional sound.

Mom was with me perhaps.

Sandals, Years Later

On the Thursday that preceded my drive to Saturday’s service event, I needed to get shopping done.

Older Brother wasn’t busy, so he drove me to the North 5th plaza our family had frequented when we were in junior high and high school. Pops now wanted me to replace my plaid slippers, and I’d also noticed my black sandals getting slick on smooth floors. If I went back to Mongolia, I’d need better wear. Ross tended to be my first choice.

Entering with Brother, I recalled that spring 2OI7 trip when Mom took me to this very store before I left for China. Back then, luggage, shoes and sandals were along the right wall. Now they were along the left. We hadn’t needed to sanitize our hands back then, either. But it’s good practice.

A new thought struck me as I tried on sandals. I’d come to replace the very pair that Mom had bought me in this very store. They’d lasted me all these years, back and forth to China and Asia.

Earlier that week, on the Tuesday when I’d leave Reno, I felt amused. I was telling my pastor after we taped the Proclamation how I’d fly to Vegas that night. He mused how they’d need to find someone to fill my sandals.

I prefer sandals to shoes when the weather’s nice. “They’re comfy and easy to wear.” As an inside joke, because our Proclamation recordings don’t tend to show our feet or much below our waists, viewers don’t tend to see whether we’re totally dressed for Sunday Mass. When permissible, I even prefer walking barefoot!

Anyway, I realized on this seemingly mundane Ross trip to find slippers (which I ultimately ordered online) that I’d returned to the same place to replace sandals Mom got me for my first overseas trip.

Having had a long day, I spent some time that evening while finishing my April 2O2I blog story browsing the web. A particular article caught my eye noting how people can visit dozens of real places from the film, “La La Land.” I felt surprised to think that people can actually swing by the film’s iconic locales. I loved that movie.

Coincidences

The day after sorting Mom’s clothes, Monday, my sister Becky messaged me if I or our siblings would come to L.A. for her graduation. It’d be the next Saturday, May 15. I didn’t conflict with any other graduation events that I’d sought to attend. So, I offered to fly in to visit.

Writing of L.A., I also remembered a friend to whom I’d been talking had said she was living there. The evening of after I stowed Mom's clothes, we’d reconnected for the first time in months. In fact, we'd be chatting over video later that night. I let my friend know that I’d be in the city and asked if she recommended places to see.

My friend suggested Hollywood.

Then I remembered—that “LA LA LAND” ARTICLE!

I also realized in that moment that the film's title contains “L.A.” three times. I doubt that that was a coincidence.

Anyway, I felt super stoked for the trip. Not only could I see my sister and my friend—I could see where filmmakers taped my all-time favorite film.

Final Vaccination

Knowing I'd be off to L.A. made receiving my second Pfizer dose against COVID-I9 more exciting. Two days after making arrangements with my sister came Wednesday, Cinco de Mayo. I’d scheduled from Reno to get my last dose in Vegas.

Brother was busy, so I drove again the pick-up. My appointment at one of the College of Southern Nevada campuses. While my pastor had taken me to my Reno appointment, I was on my own today.

Campus didn’t have many signs to indicate where to go. I asked a woman behind a desk, and she told me which way to head outside to find the site. Sprinting to make up lost time, I arrived and showed my verification. All went smoothly, though the National Guard vaccinating me asked where I’d gotten my vaccination card. Turns out that Washoe and Clark had different-looking ones.

I proceeded to a waiting area after. The Guard didn’t say to wait before I left, but I remembered Reno. I took a selfie and posted it to my Story: “Let’s get vaccinated!”

I heard a pop song and thought it sounded nice. I looked it up and felt surprised to learn it was Justin Bieber’s “Holy.” I used to despise the guy’s songs. But, this one made up for it. I like to let go of negativity.

Fourth Anniversary

That Saturday, May 8, 202I came the fourth anniversary of my mother’s passing. Dad had come back to town and indeed agreed with my hope for us to visit Mom’s grave. The trip would also be our first May visit with my stepmom, who borrowed my ol' Key Club fire visor. She’d joined our trip last August as well, for Mom’s birthday, I think.

Getting into Boulder City, we visited first the 99¢ Only Store—Dad’s tradition here.

Dad dropped off Tita and me at the entrance while he went to park. Tita asked whether to get fake flowers again or real ones, so I suggested real. I feel like fake flowers at gravesites seem weird.

Afterward, Tita requested that I pick out graduation cards for my sister Becky, our other sister’s boyfriend and my older brother’s girlfriend. It was at that time I realized that many folks I knew had graduation ceremonies this spring.

Cemetery

Once we got what we needed and Dad did his browsing across the store, we at last made our way to the cemetery. I found first the gravestone of our family friend, Tom Wood. His was on the edge of a row, making his easy to spot. Grasses had started to cover many of the words.

Ants crowded around his stone, so I didn’t stay long. I’d been trying my new sandals and wanted to avoid getting bitten. My recent binging of Kurzgesagt videos led me to know that ants can be intense. Still, beside Papa and Tita, I said my prayers in thanks to God and our friend who’d helped introduce my siblings and me to making the most of our educations in Vegas.

Then I walked over to Mom’s grave. Hers was nearby, across the road. Dad’s friend and my mom both perished on the same day, May 8, 2OI7.

Mom’s grave isn’t hard to find walking from between a tree and a bench by a trash can then down a few rows. From the ground, I popped out a metal cylinder and filled it at nearby faucet. Tita and I would then set into it some of the purple and white flowers she’d purchased for both graves.

In times like these, I tend to want to talk, but Dad looked quieter than usual. So, I let him have his peace. I wish he’d open up more. I guess that from his patriarchal generation or military service, fathers didn’t believe that sons needed to know their feelings.

Meanwhile, maybe the summer-like lush trees here contrasted Reno’s spring. Or perhaps my thoughts of “La La Land” reminded me of what was on my mind when we first visited this Boulder graveyard. Regardless, I felt transported back to 2OI7.

After personal little prayers, I and Dad recounted to Tita how the area looked back then—how we’d buried Mom in a dirt space at what was the section's edge. But now there are more grasses and grave markers for rows from 2OI8, 2OI9, 2O2O and 2O2I.

We noticed a youngish adult woman who seemed a bit frazzled. She held numerous colorful objects including large flowers, searching for something. Tita and I asked her, and she said she was looking for her parents, who’d passed away in 2OI7 and 2OI9. Tita, Dad and I helped her look. We scanned the ground beyond my mother. We found the parents. I felt glad.

Mothers’ Day

The next morning was Mothers’ Day. Since the holiday falls on May's second Sunday, Mothers' Day most always follows Mom's death day.

This year would be my first time celebrating Mothers' Day with my stepmom. We and her daughters convened at a Lucille's Smokehouse Bar-B-Que, which served meals in large portions. It was Tita’s baby grandson’s first time in crowded public, too! I enjoyed watching the way that baby Luke stared with wide eyes at us. White noise didn't faze him.

That day I’d I wrapped the Bed, Bath & Beyond gift that I’d bought for my friends to wed later in May. Pops, Tita and I readied anything else we’d need for the road trip back to Reno. Then began our journey again.

Into Graduations and May’s End

Friday, May 14 would celebrate the Baccalaureate Mass of lovely student coordinators and friends from my undergrad. The next morning, Saturday, May 15, I’d fly with my youngest siblings to L.A. for our sister Becky’s graduation. Then I’d stay behind an extra day for my friend and “La La Land” adventures.

That Wednesday would mark the 2Ist birthday of my youngest sister, Vana, as well as the day when I’d be fully inoculated, May 19! That Saturday my L.A. sister would then drive through Reno, where we’d sing karaoke.

Pentecost would follow on the Sunday after, May 23. Then would be May 3O and the trip with fraternity brothers to California for the long-awaited wedding of my undergrad coworkers—one of whom was also our fraternity brother. Weddings of peers feel so special.

I’ll probably have a second blog story themed around May 2O2I, given its abundance of activities. This summer I’m delighted mid-June to visit the Bay Area and a childhood friend I haven’t seen in a decade. Then at June’s end, after supporting virtual Boys’ State, I'll journey to Seattle to see Becky before my 24th birthday.

I still hope to return abroad this fall, but January 2O22 seems more likely now. Regardless, I’m doing my best to be ready when my time comes. I’ve enjoyed my year back in America. I hope that wherever I go next, I’ll remember with gratitude this life.

You can read more from me here at DanielLang.me :)

[racingtoaredlight]

RTARL Counterpoint:  In Defense of the Catholic Church

I don’t actually disagree with anything that stark said in his post on Saturday, seeing as I’m an agnostic who’s 17 years removed from any association with Catholocism...I just disagree with stark on general principle.  Well, that and because it’s too easy to simply just say “fuck the Catholic church.”  Actually, the real reason I got inspired to write this is...

One day a few years ago, when the stories about Catholic priests fondling and molesting boys en masse (no pun intended) were all over the front pages, I wondered aloud to my brother Tom whether or not any of our friends and brothers had been molested. He told me that it was more likely than not.

Lets just use some basic assumptions using today’s figures.

There are currently 1,200,000,000 Catholics in the world.  There are 414,313 Catholic priests.  If 6% of priests are child molesters, we can round up and call that 25,000 priests.  Each pedophilic priest would have had to rape roughly 500 children.  Probably a few of those high achievers in Latin America hit that number...but I doubt every pedophile was.  So was it “more likely than not?”

...math is really the only point I had any major disagreement about.  The rest of the disagreements were with stark individually, because I’m a dick.  Sure it’s the COOL! and EDGY! thing to do these days (see: previous sentence), but we do have quite a bit to thank the Catholic church for.  Not that it should excuse a mass pedophilic movement followed by an even seedier cover-up, but the world we live in today has been incredibly influenced by the Catholic church.  Good stuff too.

***

Western Music

We have the Catholic church to thank for Western Music as we know it.  The system of written music that’s still used today was developed from organizing the chanting voices in church.  The spread of this written music went through Europe like wildfire, making it a standardized language that the entire western would could use to communicate musically.

As for the creation of music, patronage or inspiration...your choice, because Catholicism had a massive impact on both.  Each subsequent generation learned and was inspired by music that was written, preserved, spread, paid for and/or inspired by the Catholic Church...even music that’s anti-religious.

***

Art and Architecture

...your move, atheism.

***

Language

Like a disease, Catholic missionaries spread language through the places they conquered I mean visited.  True alphabets are easier than logographic alphabets (Chinese languages, etc), and the Latin alphabet is the most widely used in the world.  The canonic literature of the early Church inspired the development of modern Italian, French and Spanish and braille was founded by the oldest school for the blind that was started by Catholics.

***

Law

The first law school was started by the Catholic Church in Bologna in 1088, after Pope Gregory VII’s series of reforms.  Following his example, sovereignties across Europe adopted the codified system of different bodies of law working together to form a unified front.  The legal principles we use today...important things like habeus corpus, trial by jury, guilt beyond a reasonable doubt...were all born from Catholic legal principles.

***

Education

The university system is Catholic.  Sorry.  Watch soused try to blame student loans on Pope Benedict.  If you need this part spelled out for you, I don’t know what to say...the impact on education by Catholicism has been fucking monumental.

***

Science Stuff

Do you wear glasses?  Thank Catholicism.

What we know about light is important, right?  Catholicism (Roger Bacon).

Space?  Galileo (his imprisonment’s legend isn’t exactly accurate).

Hey, what month is it?  Might want to check your Catholic Gregorian calendar.

The father of geology?  Father Nicholas Steno, another Catholic.

Hey, aren’t Catholics those crazy creationist idiots?  That’s pretty strange considering Father Georges Lemaître came up with the Big Bang Theory in 1966.  Oh, the theory of evolution?  Father Jean-Baptiste Lamarck came up with that in 1829.  The father of genetics?  Catholic Gregor Mendel.

***

Exploration

Magellan, Christopher Columbus, Marco Polo, Bartholomew Dias...this really shouldn’t require much thought.  Despite what we were told in 3rd grade, the world didn’t really think the Earth was flat...Father Diogo Ribiero produced the first modern map in 1529.

***

Conclusion

Obviously I’m not condoning the rape of thousands of children over the centuries, and the subsequent cover-ups...nor am I presenting this as evidence that the Catholic Church is anything worth saving.

Honestly, I’m not sure why I was so rankled by stark’s post on Saturday.  I never had an experience like his...truthfully, I went through 12 years of Jesuit education and there wasn’t even a sniff of impropriety.  I wouldn’t have been surprised if some of my harder-edged Catholicism-inducted educators were reassigned for overly harsh discipline...oh that stereotype was there in spades...all I’m saying here is I just didn’t personally experience anything like stark did.

And it’s not like I’m a Catholic either.  I’m not religious...if anything, the only point stark and I disagree on is in regards to proof...he’s waiting to see evidence god exists, I’m waiting to see evidence that god doesn’t.  We’d both agree though, that the concept of God likely doesn’t exist based on the evidence at hand.

But I still got a little miffed (hence this post).  Stark posits the Catholic church is dying.  I wouldn’t disagree either...the numbers aren’t good, for Catholicism’s side.  And I wouldn’t necessarily even disagree that the Catholic Church should die, that it deserves it.  Covering up child rape on such a level is probably Top 10 horrible macro “things” along with genocide and induced-famine and things like that.

Truthfully, despite saying all that, I’m still on the “reform” side of things.  I wouldn’t be where I am today without my Catholic education...dead serious.  My freshman high school classes were magnitudes more difficult than any non-music thing I ever faced in college.  It was an education I can conclusively say prepared me well for the real world.

And maybe it’s that which still inspires me to (somewhat) defend the institution.  It sounds strange to positively, without any irony, say that my Catholic education cemented a rock-solid moral compass...considering the whole, you know.  But that’s how I feel.

I don’t know if the Catholic church will survive this era...I’d likely agree with stark’s assertion he’ll die under different Catholic circumstances than he entered the world into.  I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing either.  But the Catholic church had an incredible impact on me personally, and an even bigger one on the world as a whole, and it’s important...maybe not important, but it’s [the appropriate word I can’t think of] to remember that they did provide the world we live in with some good things.

The manipulation and bastardization of some elements of Catholicism aren’t a Catholic issue...they’re things that rot the core of almost every institution.  By getting rid of Catholicism you’re not ridding the world of pedophilia...merely chasing the rats from one dark sewer to another.  It’s not the institution itself that covered up those crimes like “don’t let anyone know about the pedos” was written in the charter...it’s the individuals who sacrificed the meaning and philosophy of that institution for self-serving reasons that covered up those rapes.  Hence why I fall on the “reform” side.  Everything needs a purge now and then.

A world without Catholicism would still have issues of massive, institutional pedophilia, unfortunately.  There’s the same issue in just about every organized religion and/or cult.  But a world without Catholicism's other contributions to the Western would would look entirely different than the one we know today.

Ask yourself...if Catholicism legitimately addressed their pedophilic scandals, stepped back from their views on reproduction, adjusted to the modern realities of a globalized world, and still spread their message of living a humble, generous, self-educated life...would they be an institution you would still want excised from the world community?

[winreplace30303]

Seven Compelling Reasons to Invest in University Environmental Design

Seven Compelling Reasons to Invest in University Environmental Design

In the Age of the Internet, it might be tempting to relegate signage to the backseat of your education marketing strategy. But here are seven compelling reasons you should invest in university environmental design from a marketing standpoint.

If you’re familiar with the Caylor Solutions blog, this post might throw you. Digital marketing has been a passion of mine for a long time.

However, offline forms of marketing, like print, are still powerful marketing mediums!

In fact, print and digital marketing are much more successful when they are used together within integrated marketing strategies. You can also combine print and social media marketing campaigns to boost your social media results.

I think most education marketers get how important print marketing is. Brochures, viewbooks, postcards, flyers, one sheets — you name it. We all understand that these print mediums are necessary for a robust education marketing strategy.

But there is a part of offline or real-world marketing that is often undervalued: university environmental design.

University Environmental Design is marketing that lasts for generations.

On many campuses, university environmental design is an afterthought for marketers. We’re not architects, and normally we’re not involved in campus planning or building renovations.

So for most of us as education marketers, university environmental design is a term relegated to nothing more than signage or “wayfinding.”

Now perhaps you love sign design. Or, perhaps you only do it because people need to find their way around the campus. No matter how you see it, I challenge you to take a deeper look.

Signage should be considered as “university environmental design,” because that’s exactly what you’re doing: Creating an environment that helps prospective students make their enrollment decision.

And if you think about it, university environmental design is a marketing workhorse.

How long have the signs, monuments, and art around your campus been hanging high, visible to every prospective student who comes for a campus visit?

University environmental design isn’t about disposable signage projects. It is the thoughtful placement of artful, useful expressions of your brand distinctives that can last for many class generations. It is an investment.

So here they are — seven compelling reasons you should take university environmental design on your campus seriously as an education marketer.

1. Environmental design improves brand awareness.

The number one reason to invest in signage is that it raises your education brand awareness. Not only does common sense tell us that a sign outside will tell people about you, there’s been a lot of research to prove that investing in high-quality, durable exterior signs really does make a difference for the bottom line of your private college, university, or independent school.

In 2012, FedEx conducted a study that found that…

“…eight in 10 (76 percent) American consumers enter a store they have never visited before based on its signs, and nearly seven in 10 (68 percent) have actually purchased a product or service because a sign caught their eye.”

A report from the Economics Center at the University of Cincinnati produced a similar result stating that “Signs are among the most important elements of visual communication… Effective signage can drive job creation, generate tax revenues, and provide quality access to goods and services.”

Sign changes generally had significant, positive impacts on sales, number of transactions and profits. Roughly 60 percent of businesses reported increases averaging about 10 percent.

Sign changes also led to small positive impacts on employment. Nearly a quarter of respondents reported hiring more people.

University environmental design isn’t cheap. Tight budgets may balk at the idea of spending on changing signs with outdated brands.

But according to the studies above, it’s worth it.

These studies show that high-quality signage can be a powerful lead generator, especially for local prospective students.

2. Environmental design brings in the locals.

One of the key insights in the UC study above is that location plays a significant role in the marketing power of signage. A relatively high percentage of people who saw the signs would go in to the businesses to investigate what they had to offer.

As you’d expect, university environmental design is most influential on those who live within the local area and can see your education branded signs.

When you look at this unchangeable fact next to the almost limitless reach of digital marketing, you might be tempted to scrap your signage budget all together. But that would be a bad idea!

An American Council on Education study showed that a large majority of freshman students choose to go to a private college or university school within 50 miles of their home.

That is something to really chew on for all of us who are nuts about digital marketing (which I am!).

It’s almost guaranteed that every one of those local students will land on your website at some point, so having a proper digital content marketing strategy in place is essential. But knowing that the majority of your student body will be recruited from the local market means that marketing to this demographic is key to your success.

Bottom line: Ignore environmental design at your peril.

3. Environmental design attracts attention.

The main signs on your campus simply mark the boundaries of your physical space, like your entrance sign. Most often made out of stone, marble, or some other durable material, these boundary signs are great for establishing the longevity, seriousness, and elegance of your brand.

But they don’t do all that well at catching attention. For that, you need something more engaging.

University of St. Thomas waving their flag via https://ift.tt/2CsMXSM

Sports, alumni events, freshman orientation weeks, and other such high-energy events are perfect opportunities to create and distribute flashy, personal signage to those in attendance.

For example, create branded flags for your fans to wave wildly at sports games.

Feather flag featured on https://ift.tt/2CSDW6y

Feather flags are also a great way to catch the eye of attendees at your next event on campus.

A robust strategy for university environmental design includes high-energy, colorful and cheery attention-grabbers like these to help you get people excited about your school’s brand and what you stand for!

This kind of signage helps turn event attendees into ambassadors as their social media friends and family see them waving your colors at their favorite sporting event.

4. Environmental design makes people feel important and cared for.

Of course, this obviously applies to welcome signs, but it goes right to the heart of hospitality when it comes to directional signage.

But what does that have to do with feeling cared for? Let me explain.

I bet there’s been a time in your life when you needed a restroom… but you couldn’t find the sign.

Frantically, you searched everywhere, but couldn’t find what you needed.

Or perhaps you’ve been on a campus trying to find an event or arrive at a meeting, but you couldn’t figure out any of the buildings. So you wander around until someone takes pity on you and directs you to where you need to go. Or you go online to the school’s website to try and find the campus map.

How did each of those situations make you feel?

Frustrated? Desperate? Vulnerable?

But if there had been a sign, you would have felt something altogether different.

Directional signage to the facilities, to the buildings, or even the info desk, would have made you feel important, welcome, and comfortable.

And aren’t those the exact feelings you want your prospective students to have when they get to your campus? If so then, you’ll need thoughtful, helpful signage.

5. Environmental design can boost web traffic.

There are so many ways you can drive traffic to your digital marketing assets through the elements you create in your school’s environmental design by placing your URL or a text short code on the various signs, vinyl, and print media you have around campus.

Now that the Internet rests in their pocket, it’s easier than ever to drive online traffic through offline marketing.

I highly recommend creating landing pages specifically designed to welcome site visitors who land there from one of your physical spaces. Make sure the landing page content is exactly what they’re expecting to see and gives them the information they’re looking for.

Quick Idea: Brand your school vehicles with your URL.

Don’t just place your logo or education seal on it. People (especially high school students in the backseat) need to know where to go when they see you.

A vehicle wrap by https://ift.tt/2CrUpgX

Think about how many people you see on the road every day. That’s how many impressions you can get with a simple paint branding or vinyl vehicle wrap.

And while you’re at it, consider branding the admissions golf cart…

Check out this cool golf cart wrap at https://ift.tt/2CWgLbk

6. Environmental design creates spaces.

One of my favorite benefits from using signage is that you can create spaces with them, much like how a museum creates exhibits.

When you’re in a museum exhibit, you’re in the same building, often in the same room, as other exhibits, but you feel somehow that this space is all about dinosaurs while the space 10 feet from you is all about cavemen.

Boy looks at a dinosaur at the museum

At your next campus visit day, think of how you can create spaces where prospective students can be surrounded by stories, images, and branding that shows off your brand distinctives.

For example, set up an “exhibit” showing your university’s history. Or one that showcases various service activities. Or series of banners that regale them with your study abroad or student missions programs.

You can also create spaces for parents that demonstrate campus safety or career opportunities for your graduates.

The different kinds of spaces you can create on your campus for your various audiences is only limited by your imagination.

7. Environmental design creates experiences with your education brand.

The whole point of creating spaces on your campus for various audiences is not so that your campus will look cooler than the other campuses that prospective students will likely visit, although creative signage will help you stand out.

The point of creative signage is to create an experience for your prospective students and their families that will make a lasting impression on them.

You and your staff cannot be everywhere all at once, but your signage can be the friendly face, the colorful attraction, or the helpful guide that they need to make an informed decision about their educational future.

Essentially, all education marketing is an attempt to create an experience with potential students that endears your brand to them and promises them similar experiences in the future if they decide to come to your school.

Key Takeaway: Make sure your signage conveys all of your brand distinctives to your audience in a way that will “Wow!” them.

For a really cool idea that would work great on a college campus, check out this innovative sign tool:

Marketing colleges, universities, and independent schools is our thing.

If you like what you’re reading here on the Caylor Solutions blog, why not reach out and contact us?

Helping education marketers like you reach your marketing and recruitment goals is all we do. Your consultation is free, and there’s no obligation.

Featured image by Natalia Bratslavsky via Adobe Stock Dinosaur Exhibit image by Arkady Chubykin via Adobe Stock

This post was originally published at: https://www.caylor-solutions.com/7-compelling-reasons-to-invest-in-university-environmental-design/

The post Seven Compelling Reasons to Invest in University Environmental Design appeared first on edSocialMedia.

https://ift.tt/2Cu8af9

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Seven Compelling Reasons to Invest in University Environmental Design

Seven Compelling Reasons to Invest in University Environmental Design

In the Age of the Internet, it might be tempting to relegate signage to the backseat of your education marketing strategy. But here are seven compelling reasons you should invest in university environmental design from a marketing standpoint.

If you’re familiar with the Caylor Solutions blog, this post might throw you. Digital marketing has been a passion of mine for a long time.

However, offline forms of marketing, like print, are still powerful marketing mediums!

In fact, print and digital marketing are much more successful when they are used together within integrated marketing strategies. You can also combine print and social media marketing campaigns to boost your social media results.

I think most education marketers get how important print marketing is. Brochures, viewbooks, postcards, flyers, one sheets — you name it. We all understand that these print mediums are necessary for a robust education marketing strategy.

But there is a part of offline or real-world marketing that is often undervalued: university environmental design.

University Environmental Design is marketing that lasts for generations.

On many campuses, university environmental design is an afterthought for marketers. We’re not architects, and normally we’re not involved in campus planning or building renovations.

So for most of us as education marketers, university environmental design is a term relegated to nothing more than signage or “wayfinding.”

Now perhaps you love sign design. Or, perhaps you only do it because people need to find their way around the campus. No matter how you see it, I challenge you to take a deeper look.

Signage should be considered as “university environmental design,” because that’s exactly what you’re doing: Creating an environment that helps prospective students make their enrollment decision.

And if you think about it, university environmental design is a marketing workhorse.

How long have the signs, monuments, and art around your campus been hanging high, visible to every prospective student who comes for a campus visit?

University environmental design isn’t about disposable signage projects. It is the thoughtful placement of artful, useful expressions of your brand distinctives that can last for many class generations. It is an investment.

So here they are — seven compelling reasons you should take university environmental design on your campus seriously as an education marketer.

1. Environmental design improves brand awareness.

The number one reason to invest in signage is that it raises your education brand awareness. Not only does common sense tell us that a sign outside will tell people about you, there’s been a lot of research to prove that investing in high-quality, durable exterior signs really does make a difference for the bottom line of your private college, university, or independent school.

In 2012, FedEx conducted a study that found that…

“…eight in 10 (76 percent) American consumers enter a store they have never visited before based on its signs, and nearly seven in 10 (68 percent) have actually purchased a product or service because a sign caught their eye.”

A report from the Economics Center at the University of Cincinnati produced a similar result stating that “Signs are among the most important elements of visual communication… Effective signage can drive job creation, generate tax revenues, and provide quality access to goods and services.”

Sign changes generally had significant, positive impacts on sales, number of transactions and profits. Roughly 60 percent of businesses reported increases averaging about 10 percent.

Sign changes also led to small positive impacts on employment. Nearly a quarter of respondents reported hiring more people.

University environmental design isn’t cheap. Tight budgets may balk at the idea of spending on changing signs with outdated brands.

But according to the studies above, it’s worth it.

These studies show that high-quality signage can be a powerful lead generator, especially for local prospective students.

2. Environmental design brings in the locals.

One of the key insights in the UC study above is that location plays a significant role in the marketing power of signage. A relatively high percentage of people who saw the signs would go in to the businesses to investigate what they had to offer.

As you’d expect, university environmental design is most influential on those who live within the local area and can see your education branded signs.

When you look at this unchangeable fact next to the almost limitless reach of digital marketing, you might be tempted to scrap your signage budget all together. But that would be a bad idea!

An American Council on Education study showed that a large majority of freshman students choose to go to a private college or university school within 50 miles of their home.

That is something to really chew on for all of us who are nuts about digital marketing (which I am!).

It’s almost guaranteed that every one of those local students will land on your website at some point, so having a proper digital content marketing strategy in place is essential. But knowing that the majority of your student body will be recruited from the local market means that marketing to this demographic is key to your success.

Bottom line: Ignore environmental design at your peril.

3. Environmental design attracts attention.

The main signs on your campus simply mark the boundaries of your physical space, like your entrance sign. Most often made out of stone, marble, or some other durable material, these boundary signs are great for establishing the longevity, seriousness, and elegance of your brand.

But they don’t do all that well at catching attention. For that, you need something more engaging.

University of St. Thomas waving their flag via https://ift.tt/2CsMXSM

Sports, alumni events, freshman orientation weeks, and other such high-energy events are perfect opportunities to create and distribute flashy, personal signage to those in attendance.

For example, create branded flags for your fans to wave wildly at sports games.

Feather flag featured on https://ift.tt/2CSDW6y

Feather flags are also a great way to catch the eye of attendees at your next event on campus.

A robust strategy for university environmental design includes high-energy, colorful and cheery attention-grabbers like these to help you get people excited about your school’s brand and what you stand for!

This kind of signage helps turn event attendees into ambassadors as their social media friends and family see them waving your colors at their favorite sporting event.

4. Environmental design makes people feel important and cared for.

Of course, this obviously applies to welcome signs, but it goes right to the heart of hospitality when it comes to directional signage.

But what does that have to do with feeling cared for? Let me explain.

I bet there’s been a time in your life when you needed a restroom… but you couldn’t find the sign.

Frantically, you searched everywhere, but couldn’t find what you needed.

Or perhaps you’ve been on a campus trying to find an event or arrive at a meeting, but you couldn’t figure out any of the buildings. So you wander around until someone takes pity on you and directs you to where you need to go. Or you go online to the school’s website to try and find the campus map.

How did each of those situations make you feel?

Frustrated? Desperate? Vulnerable?

But if there had been a sign, you would have felt something altogether different.

Directional signage to the facilities, to the buildings, or even the info desk, would have made you feel important, welcome, and comfortable.

And aren’t those the exact feelings you want your prospective students to have when they get to your campus? If so then, you’ll need thoughtful, helpful signage.

5. Environmental design can boost web traffic.

There are so many ways you can drive traffic to your digital marketing assets through the elements you create in your school’s environmental design by placing your URL or a text short code on the various signs, vinyl, and print media you have around campus.

Now that the Internet rests in their pocket, it’s easier than ever to drive online traffic through offline marketing.

I highly recommend creating landing pages specifically designed to welcome site visitors who land there from one of your physical spaces. Make sure the landing page content is exactly what they’re expecting to see and gives them the information they’re looking for.

Quick Idea: Brand your school vehicles with your URL.

Don’t just place your logo or education seal on it. People (especially high school students in the backseat) need to know where to go when they see you.

A vehicle wrap by https://ift.tt/2CrUpgX

Think about how many people you see on the road every day. That’s how many impressions you can get with a simple paint branding or vinyl vehicle wrap.

And while you’re at it, consider branding the admissions golf cart…

Check out this cool golf cart wrap at https://ift.tt/2CWgLbk

6. Environmental design creates spaces.

One of my favorite benefits from using signage is that you can create spaces with them, much like how a museum creates exhibits.

When you’re in a museum exhibit, you’re in the same building, often in the same room, as other exhibits, but you feel somehow that this space is all about dinosaurs while the space 10 feet from you is all about cavemen.

Boy looks at a dinosaur at the museum

At your next campus visit day, think of how you can create spaces where prospective students can be surrounded by stories, images, and branding that shows off your brand distinctives.

For example, set up an “exhibit” showing your university’s history. Or one that showcases various service activities. Or series of banners that regale them with your study abroad or student missions programs.

You can also create spaces for parents that demonstrate campus safety or career opportunities for your graduates.

The different kinds of spaces you can create on your campus for your various audiences is only limited by your imagination.

7. Environmental design creates experiences with your education brand.

The whole point of creating spaces on your campus for various audiences is not so that your campus will look cooler than the other campuses that prospective students will likely visit, although creative signage will help you stand out.

The point of creative signage is to create an experience for your prospective students and their families that will make a lasting impression on them.

You and your staff cannot be everywhere all at once, but your signage can be the friendly face, the colorful attraction, or the helpful guide that they need to make an informed decision about their educational future.

Essentially, all education marketing is an attempt to create an experience with potential students that endears your brand to them and promises them similar experiences in the future if they decide to come to your school.

Key Takeaway: Make sure your signage conveys all of your brand distinctives to your audience in a way that will “Wow!” them.

For a really cool idea that would work great on a college campus, check out this innovative sign tool:

Marketing colleges, universities, and independent schools is our thing.

If you like what you’re reading here on the Caylor Solutions blog, why not reach out and contact us?

Helping education marketers like you reach your marketing and recruitment goals is all we do. Your consultation is free, and there’s no obligation.

Featured image by Natalia Bratslavsky via Adobe Stock Dinosaur Exhibit image by Arkady Chubykin via Adobe Stock

This post was originally published at: https://www.caylor-solutions.com/7-compelling-reasons-to-invest-in-university-environmental-design/

The post Seven Compelling Reasons to Invest in University Environmental Design appeared first on edSocialMedia.

https://ift.tt/2Cu8af9

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Seven Compelling Reasons to Invest in University Environmental Design

Seven Compelling Reasons to Invest in University Environmental Design

In the Age of the Internet, it might be tempting to relegate signage to the backseat of your education marketing strategy. But here are seven compelling reasons you should invest in university environmental design from a marketing standpoint.

If you’re familiar with the Caylor Solutions blog, this post might throw you. Digital marketing has been a passion of mine for a long time.

However, offline forms of marketing, like print, are still powerful marketing mediums!

In fact, print and digital marketing are much more successful when they are used together within integrated marketing strategies. You can also combine print and social media marketing campaigns to boost your social media results.

I think most education marketers get how important print marketing is. Brochures, viewbooks, postcards, flyers, one sheets — you name it. We all understand that these print mediums are necessary for a robust education marketing strategy.

But there is a part of offline or real-world marketing that is often undervalued: university environmental design.

University Environmental Design is marketing that lasts for generations.

On many campuses, university environmental design is an afterthought for marketers. We’re not architects, and normally we’re not involved in campus planning or building renovations.

So for most of us as education marketers, university environmental design is a term relegated to nothing more than signage or “wayfinding.”

Now perhaps you love sign design. Or, perhaps you only do it because people need to find their way around the campus. No matter how you see it, I challenge you to take a deeper look.

Signage should be considered as “university environmental design,” because that’s exactly what you’re doing: Creating an environment that helps prospective students make their enrollment decision.

And if you think about it, university environmental design is a marketing workhorse.

How long have the signs, monuments, and art around your campus been hanging high, visible to every prospective student who comes for a campus visit?

University environmental design isn’t about disposable signage projects. It is the thoughtful placement of artful, useful expressions of your brand distinctives that can last for many class generations. It is an investment.

So here they are — seven compelling reasons you should take university environmental design on your campus seriously as an education marketer.

1. Environmental design improves brand awareness.

The number one reason to invest in signage is that it raises your education brand awareness. Not only does common sense tell us that a sign outside will tell people about you, there’s been a lot of research to prove that investing in high-quality, durable exterior signs really does make a difference for the bottom line of your private college, university, or independent school.

In 2012, FedEx conducted a study that found that…

“…eight in 10 (76 percent) American consumers enter a store they have never visited before based on its signs, and nearly seven in 10 (68 percent) have actually purchased a product or service because a sign caught their eye.”

A report from the Economics Center at the University of Cincinnati produced a similar result stating that “Signs are among the most important elements of visual communication… Effective signage can drive job creation, generate tax revenues, and provide quality access to goods and services.”

Sign changes generally had significant, positive impacts on sales, number of transactions and profits. Roughly 60 percent of businesses reported increases averaging about 10 percent.

Sign changes also led to small positive impacts on employment. Nearly a quarter of respondents reported hiring more people.

University environmental design isn’t cheap. Tight budgets may balk at the idea of spending on changing signs with outdated brands.

But according to the studies above, it’s worth it.

These studies show that high-quality signage can be a powerful lead generator, especially for local prospective students.

2. Environmental design brings in the locals.

One of the key insights in the UC study above is that location plays a significant role in the marketing power of signage. A relatively high percentage of people who saw the signs would go in to the businesses to investigate what they had to offer.

As you’d expect, university environmental design is most influential on those who live within the local area and can see your education branded signs.

When you look at this unchangeable fact next to the almost limitless reach of digital marketing, you might be tempted to scrap your signage budget all together. But that would be a bad idea!

An American Council on Education study showed that a large majority of freshman students choose to go to a private college or university school within 50 miles of their home.

That is something to really chew on for all of us who are nuts about digital marketing (which I am!).

It’s almost guaranteed that every one of those local students will land on your website at some point, so having a proper digital content marketing strategy in place is essential. But knowing that the majority of your student body will be recruited from the local market means that marketing to this demographic is key to your success.

Bottom line: Ignore environmental design at your peril.

3. Environmental design attracts attention.

The main signs on your campus simply mark the boundaries of your physical space, like your entrance sign. Most often made out of stone, marble, or some other durable material, these boundary signs are great for establishing the longevity, seriousness, and elegance of your brand.

But they don’t do all that well at catching attention. For that, you need something more engaging.

University of St. Thomas waving their flag via https://ift.tt/2CsMXSM

Sports, alumni events, freshman orientation weeks, and other such high-energy events are perfect opportunities to create and distribute flashy, personal signage to those in attendance.

For example, create branded flags for your fans to wave wildly at sports games.

Feather flag featured on https://ift.tt/2CSDW6y

Feather flags are also a great way to catch the eye of attendees at your next event on campus.

A robust strategy for university environmental design includes high-energy, colorful and cheery attention-grabbers like these to help you get people excited about your school’s brand and what you stand for!

This kind of signage helps turn event attendees into ambassadors as their social media friends and family see them waving your colors at their favorite sporting event.

4. Environmental design makes people feel important and cared for.

Of course, this obviously applies to welcome signs, but it goes right to the heart of hospitality when it comes to directional signage.

But what does that have to do with feeling cared for? Let me explain.

I bet there’s been a time in your life when you needed a restroom… but you couldn’t find the sign.

Frantically, you searched everywhere, but couldn’t find what you needed.

Or perhaps you’ve been on a campus trying to find an event or arrive at a meeting, but you couldn’t figure out any of the buildings. So you wander around until someone takes pity on you and directs you to where you need to go. Or you go online to the school’s website to try and find the campus map.

How did each of those situations make you feel?

Frustrated? Desperate? Vulnerable?

But if there had been a sign, you would have felt something altogether different.

Directional signage to the facilities, to the buildings, or even the info desk, would have made you feel important, welcome, and comfortable.

And aren’t those the exact feelings you want your prospective students to have when they get to your campus? If so then, you’ll need thoughtful, helpful signage.

5. Environmental design can boost web traffic.

There are so many ways you can drive traffic to your digital marketing assets through the elements you create in your school’s environmental design by placing your URL or a text short code on the various signs, vinyl, and print media you have around campus.

Now that the Internet rests in their pocket, it’s easier than ever to drive online traffic through offline marketing.

I highly recommend creating landing pages specifically designed to welcome site visitors who land there from one of your physical spaces. Make sure the landing page content is exactly what they’re expecting to see and gives them the information they’re looking for.

Quick Idea: Brand your school vehicles with your URL.

Don’t just place your logo or education seal on it. People (especially high school students in the backseat) need to know where to go when they see you.

A vehicle wrap by https://ift.tt/2CrUpgX

Think about how many people you see on the road every day. That’s how many impressions you can get with a simple paint branding or vinyl vehicle wrap.

And while you’re at it, consider branding the admissions golf cart…

Check out this cool golf cart wrap at https://ift.tt/2CWgLbk

6. Environmental design creates spaces.

One of my favorite benefits from using signage is that you can create spaces with them, much like how a museum creates exhibits.

When you’re in a museum exhibit, you’re in the same building, often in the same room, as other exhibits, but you feel somehow that this space is all about dinosaurs while the space 10 feet from you is all about cavemen.

Boy looks at a dinosaur at the museum

At your next campus visit day, think of how you can create spaces where prospective students can be surrounded by stories, images, and branding that shows off your brand distinctives.

For example, set up an “exhibit” showing your university’s history. Or one that showcases various service activities. Or series of banners that regale them with your study abroad or student missions programs.

You can also create spaces for parents that demonstrate campus safety or career opportunities for your graduates.

The different kinds of spaces you can create on your campus for your various audiences is only limited by your imagination.

7. Environmental design creates experiences with your education brand.

The whole point of creating spaces on your campus for various audiences is not so that your campus will look cooler than the other campuses that prospective students will likely visit, although creative signage will help you stand out.

The point of creative signage is to create an experience for your prospective students and their families that will make a lasting impression on them.

You and your staff cannot be everywhere all at once, but your signage can be the friendly face, the colorful attraction, or the helpful guide that they need to make an informed decision about their educational future.

Essentially, all education marketing is an attempt to create an experience with potential students that endears your brand to them and promises them similar experiences in the future if they decide to come to your school.

Key Takeaway: Make sure your signage conveys all of your brand distinctives to your audience in a way that will “Wow!” them.

For a really cool idea that would work great on a college campus, check out this innovative sign tool:

Marketing colleges, universities, and independent schools is our thing.

If you like what you’re reading here on the Caylor Solutions blog, why not reach out and contact us?

Helping education marketers like you reach your marketing and recruitment goals is all we do. Your consultation is free, and there’s no obligation.

Featured image by Natalia Bratslavsky via Adobe Stock Dinosaur Exhibit image by Arkady Chubykin via Adobe Stock

This post was originally published at: https://www.caylor-solutions.com/7-compelling-reasons-to-invest-in-university-environmental-design/

The post Seven Compelling Reasons to Invest in University Environmental Design appeared first on edSocialMedia.

https://ift.tt/2Cu8af9

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Seven Compelling Reasons to Invest in University Environmental Design

Seven Compelling Reasons to Invest in University Environmental Design

In the Age of the Internet, it might be tempting to relegate signage to the backseat of your education marketing strategy. But here are seven compelling reasons you should invest in university environmental design from a marketing standpoint.

If you’re familiar with the Caylor Solutions blog, this post might throw you. Digital marketing has been a passion of mine for a long time.

However, offline forms of marketing, like print, are still powerful marketing mediums!

In fact, print and digital marketing are much more successful when they are used together within integrated marketing strategies. You can also combine print and social media marketing campaigns to boost your social media results.

I think most education marketers get how important print marketing is. Brochures, viewbooks, postcards, flyers, one sheets — you name it. We all understand that these print mediums are necessary for a robust education marketing strategy.

But there is a part of offline or real-world marketing that is often undervalued: university environmental design.

University Environmental Design is marketing that lasts for generations.

On many campuses, university environmental design is an afterthought for marketers. We’re not architects, and normally we’re not involved in campus planning or building renovations.

So for most of us as education marketers, university environmental design is a term relegated to nothing more than signage or “wayfinding.”

Now perhaps you love sign design. Or, perhaps you only do it because people need to find their way around the campus. No matter how you see it, I challenge you to take a deeper look.

Signage should be considered as “university environmental design,” because that’s exactly what you’re doing: Creating an environment that helps prospective students make their enrollment decision.

And if you think about it, university environmental design is a marketing workhorse.

How long have the signs, monuments, and art around your campus been hanging high, visible to every prospective student who comes for a campus visit?

University environmental design isn’t about disposable signage projects. It is the thoughtful placement of artful, useful expressions of your brand distinctives that can last for many class generations. It is an investment.

So here they are — seven compelling reasons you should take university environmental design on your campus seriously as an education marketer.

1. Environmental design improves brand awareness.

The number one reason to invest in signage is that it raises your education brand awareness. Not only does common sense tell us that a sign outside will tell people about you, there’s been a lot of research to prove that investing in high-quality, durable exterior signs really does make a difference for the bottom line of your private college, university, or independent school.

In 2012, FedEx conducted a study that found that…

“…eight in 10 (76 percent) American consumers enter a store they have never visited before based on its signs, and nearly seven in 10 (68 percent) have actually purchased a product or service because a sign caught their eye.”

A report from the Economics Center at the University of Cincinnati produced a similar result stating that “Signs are among the most important elements of visual communication… Effective signage can drive job creation, generate tax revenues, and provide quality access to goods and services.”

Sign changes generally had significant, positive impacts on sales, number of transactions and profits. Roughly 60 percent of businesses reported increases averaging about 10 percent.

Sign changes also led to small positive impacts on employment. Nearly a quarter of respondents reported hiring more people.

University environmental design isn’t cheap. Tight budgets may balk at the idea of spending on changing signs with outdated brands.

But according to the studies above, it’s worth it.

These studies show that high-quality signage can be a powerful lead generator, especially for local prospective students.

2. Environmental design brings in the locals.

One of the key insights in the UC study above is that location plays a significant role in the marketing power of signage. A relatively high percentage of people who saw the signs would go in to the businesses to investigate what they had to offer.

As you’d expect, university environmental design is most influential on those who live within the local area and can see your education branded signs.

When you look at this unchangeable fact next to the almost limitless reach of digital marketing, you might be tempted to scrap your signage budget all together. But that would be a bad idea!

An American Council on Education study showed that a large majority of freshman students choose to go to a private college or university school within 50 miles of their home.

That is something to really chew on for all of us who are nuts about digital marketing (which I am!).

It’s almost guaranteed that every one of those local students will land on your website at some point, so having a proper digital content marketing strategy in place is essential. But knowing that the majority of your student body will be recruited from the local market means that marketing to this demographic is key to your success.

Bottom line: Ignore environmental design at your peril.

3. Environmental design attracts attention.

The main signs on your campus simply mark the boundaries of your physical space, like your entrance sign. Most often made out of stone, marble, or some other durable material, these boundary signs are great for establishing the longevity, seriousness, and elegance of your brand.

But they don’t do all that well at catching attention. For that, you need something more engaging.

University of St. Thomas waving their flag via https://ift.tt/2CsMXSM

Sports, alumni events, freshman orientation weeks, and other such high-energy events are perfect opportunities to create and distribute flashy, personal signage to those in attendance.

For example, create branded flags for your fans to wave wildly at sports games.

Feather flag featured on https://ift.tt/2CSDW6y

Feather flags are also a great way to catch the eye of attendees at your next event on campus.

A robust strategy for university environmental design includes high-energy, colorful and cheery attention-grabbers like these to help you get people excited about your school’s brand and what you stand for!

This kind of signage helps turn event attendees into ambassadors as their social media friends and family see them waving your colors at their favorite sporting event.

4. Environmental design makes people feel important and cared for.

Of course, this obviously applies to welcome signs, but it goes right to the heart of hospitality when it comes to directional signage.

But what does that have to do with feeling cared for? Let me explain.

I bet there’s been a time in your life when you needed a restroom… but you couldn’t find the sign.

Frantically, you searched everywhere, but couldn’t find what you needed.

Or perhaps you’ve been on a campus trying to find an event or arrive at a meeting, but you couldn’t figure out any of the buildings. So you wander around until someone takes pity on you and directs you to where you need to go. Or you go online to the school’s website to try and find the campus map.

How did each of those situations make you feel?

Frustrated? Desperate? Vulnerable?

But if there had been a sign, you would have felt something altogether different.

Directional signage to the facilities, to the buildings, or even the info desk, would have made you feel important, welcome, and comfortable.

And aren’t those the exact feelings you want your prospective students to have when they get to your campus? If so then, you’ll need thoughtful, helpful signage.

5. Environmental design can boost web traffic.

There are so many ways you can drive traffic to your digital marketing assets through the elements you create in your school’s environmental design by placing your URL or a text short code on the various signs, vinyl, and print media you have around campus.

Now that the Internet rests in their pocket, it’s easier than ever to drive online traffic through offline marketing.

I highly recommend creating landing pages specifically designed to welcome site visitors who land there from one of your physical spaces. Make sure the landing page content is exactly what they’re expecting to see and gives them the information they’re looking for.

Quick Idea: Brand your school vehicles with your URL.

Don’t just place your logo or education seal on it. People (especially high school students in the backseat) need to know where to go when they see you.

A vehicle wrap by https://ift.tt/2CrUpgX

Think about how many people you see on the road every day. That’s how many impressions you can get with a simple paint branding or vinyl vehicle wrap.

And while you’re at it, consider branding the admissions golf cart…

Check out this cool golf cart wrap at https://ift.tt/2CWgLbk

6. Environmental design creates spaces.

One of my favorite benefits from using signage is that you can create spaces with them, much like how a museum creates exhibits.

When you’re in a museum exhibit, you’re in the same building, often in the same room, as other exhibits, but you feel somehow that this space is all about dinosaurs while the space 10 feet from you is all about cavemen.

Boy looks at a dinosaur at the museum

At your next campus visit day, think of how you can create spaces where prospective students can be surrounded by stories, images, and branding that shows off your brand distinctives.

For example, set up an “exhibit” showing your university’s history. Or one that showcases various service activities. Or series of banners that regale them with your study abroad or student missions programs.

You can also create spaces for parents that demonstrate campus safety or career opportunities for your graduates.

The different kinds of spaces you can create on your campus for your various audiences is only limited by your imagination.

7. Environmental design creates experiences with your education brand.

The whole point of creating spaces on your campus for various audiences is not so that your campus will look cooler than the other campuses that prospective students will likely visit, although creative signage will help you stand out.

The point of creative signage is to create an experience for your prospective students and their families that will make a lasting impression on them.

You and your staff cannot be everywhere all at once, but your signage can be the friendly face, the colorful attraction, or the helpful guide that they need to make an informed decision about their educational future.

Essentially, all education marketing is an attempt to create an experience with potential students that endears your brand to them and promises them similar experiences in the future if they decide to come to your school.

Key Takeaway: Make sure your signage conveys all of your brand distinctives to your audience in a way that will “Wow!” them.

For a really cool idea that would work great on a college campus, check out this innovative sign tool:

Marketing colleges, universities, and independent schools is our thing.

If you like what you’re reading here on the Caylor Solutions blog, why not reach out and contact us?

Helping education marketers like you reach your marketing and recruitment goals is all we do. Your consultation is free, and there’s no obligation.

Featured image by Natalia Bratslavsky via Adobe Stock Dinosaur Exhibit image by Arkady Chubykin via Adobe Stock

This post was originally published at: https://www.caylor-solutions.com/7-compelling-reasons-to-invest-in-university-environmental-design/

The post Seven Compelling Reasons to Invest in University Environmental Design appeared first on edSocialMedia.

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Seven Compelling Reasons to Invest in University Environmental Design

Seven Compelling Reasons to Invest in University Environmental Design

In the Age of the Internet, it might be tempting to relegate signage to the backseat of your education marketing strategy. But here are seven compelling reasons you should invest in university environmental design from a marketing standpoint.

If you’re familiar with the Caylor Solutions blog, this post might throw you. Digital marketing has been a passion of mine for a long time.

However, offline forms of marketing, like print, are still powerful marketing mediums!

In fact, print and digital marketing are much more successful when they are used together within integrated marketing strategies. You can also combine print and social media marketing campaigns to boost your social media results.

I think most education marketers get how important print marketing is. Brochures, viewbooks, postcards, flyers, one sheets — you name it. We all understand that these print mediums are necessary for a robust education marketing strategy.

But there is a part of offline or real-world marketing that is often undervalued: university environmental design.

University Environmental Design is marketing that lasts for generations.

On many campuses, university environmental design is an afterthought for marketers. We’re not architects, and normally we’re not involved in campus planning or building renovations.

So for most of us as education marketers, university environmental design is a term relegated to nothing more than signage or “wayfinding.”

Now perhaps you love sign design. Or, perhaps you only do it because people need to find their way around the campus. No matter how you see it, I challenge you to take a deeper look.

Signage should be considered as “university environmental design,” because that’s exactly what you’re doing: Creating an environment that helps prospective students make their enrollment decision.

And if you think about it, university environmental design is a marketing workhorse.

How long have the signs, monuments, and art around your campus been hanging high, visible to every prospective student who comes for a campus visit?

University environmental design isn’t about disposable signage projects. It is the thoughtful placement of artful, useful expressions of your brand distinctives that can last for many class generations. It is an investment.

So here they are — seven compelling reasons you should take university environmental design on your campus seriously as an education marketer.

1. Environmental design improves brand awareness.

The number one reason to invest in signage is that it raises your education brand awareness. Not only does common sense tell us that a sign outside will tell people about you, there’s been a lot of research to prove that investing in high-quality, durable exterior signs really does make a difference for the bottom line of your private college, university, or independent school.

In 2012, FedEx conducted a study that found that…

“…eight in 10 (76 percent) American consumers enter a store they have never visited before based on its signs, and nearly seven in 10 (68 percent) have actually purchased a product or service because a sign caught their eye.”

A report from the Economics Center at the University of Cincinnati produced a similar result stating that “Signs are among the most important elements of visual communication… Effective signage can drive job creation, generate tax revenues, and provide quality access to goods and services.”

Sign changes generally had significant, positive impacts on sales, number of transactions and profits. Roughly 60 percent of businesses reported increases averaging about 10 percent.

Sign changes also led to small positive impacts on employment. Nearly a quarter of respondents reported hiring more people.

University environmental design isn’t cheap. Tight budgets may balk at the idea of spending on changing signs with outdated brands.

But according to the studies above, it’s worth it.

These studies show that high-quality signage can be a powerful lead generator, especially for local prospective students.

2. Environmental design brings in the locals.

One of the key insights in the UC study above is that location plays a significant role in the marketing power of signage. A relatively high percentage of people who saw the signs would go in to the businesses to investigate what they had to offer.

As you’d expect, university environmental design is most influential on those who live within the local area and can see your education branded signs.

When you look at this unchangeable fact next to the almost limitless reach of digital marketing, you might be tempted to scrap your signage budget all together. But that would be a bad idea!

An American Council on Education study showed that a large majority of freshman students choose to go to a private college or university school within 50 miles of their home.

That is something to really chew on for all of us who are nuts about digital marketing (which I am!).

It’s almost guaranteed that every one of those local students will land on your website at some point, so having a proper digital content marketing strategy in place is essential. But knowing that the majority of your student body will be recruited from the local market means that marketing to this demographic is key to your success.

Bottom line: Ignore environmental design at your peril.

3. Environmental design attracts attention.

The main signs on your campus simply mark the boundaries of your physical space, like your entrance sign. Most often made out of stone, marble, or some other durable material, these boundary signs are great for establishing the longevity, seriousness, and elegance of your brand.

But they don’t do all that well at catching attention. For that, you need something more engaging.

University of St. Thomas waving their flag via https://ift.tt/2CsMXSM

Sports, alumni events, freshman orientation weeks, and other such high-energy events are perfect opportunities to create and distribute flashy, personal signage to those in attendance.

For example, create branded flags for your fans to wave wildly at sports games.

Feather flag featured on https://ift.tt/2CSDW6y

Feather flags are also a great way to catch the eye of attendees at your next event on campus.

A robust strategy for university environmental design includes high-energy, colorful and cheery attention-grabbers like these to help you get people excited about your school’s brand and what you stand for!

This kind of signage helps turn event attendees into ambassadors as their social media friends and family see them waving your colors at their favorite sporting event.

4. Environmental design makes people feel important and cared for.

Of course, this obviously applies to welcome signs, but it goes right to the heart of hospitality when it comes to directional signage.

But what does that have to do with feeling cared for? Let me explain.

I bet there’s been a time in your life when you needed a restroom… but you couldn’t find the sign.

Frantically, you searched everywhere, but couldn’t find what you needed.

Or perhaps you’ve been on a campus trying to find an event or arrive at a meeting, but you couldn’t figure out any of the buildings. So you wander around until someone takes pity on you and directs you to where you need to go. Or you go online to the school’s website to try and find the campus map.

How did each of those situations make you feel?

Frustrated? Desperate? Vulnerable?

But if there had been a sign, you would have felt something altogether different.

Directional signage to the facilities, to the buildings, or even the info desk, would have made you feel important, welcome, and comfortable.

And aren’t those the exact feelings you want your prospective students to have when they get to your campus? If so then, you’ll need thoughtful, helpful signage.

5. Environmental design can boost web traffic.

There are so many ways you can drive traffic to your digital marketing assets through the elements you create in your school’s environmental design by placing your URL or a text short code on the various signs, vinyl, and print media you have around campus.

Now that the Internet rests in their pocket, it’s easier than ever to drive online traffic through offline marketing.

I highly recommend creating landing pages specifically designed to welcome site visitors who land there from one of your physical spaces. Make sure the landing page content is exactly what they’re expecting to see and gives them the information they’re looking for.

Quick Idea: Brand your school vehicles with your URL.

Don’t just place your logo or education seal on it. People (especially high school students in the backseat) need to know where to go when they see you.

A vehicle wrap by https://ift.tt/2CrUpgX

Think about how many people you see on the road every day. That’s how many impressions you can get with a simple paint branding or vinyl vehicle wrap.

And while you’re at it, consider branding the admissions golf cart…

Check out this cool golf cart wrap at https://ift.tt/2CWgLbk

6. Environmental design creates spaces.

One of my favorite benefits from using signage is that you can create spaces with them, much like how a museum creates exhibits.

When you’re in a museum exhibit, you’re in the same building, often in the same room, as other exhibits, but you feel somehow that this space is all about dinosaurs while the space 10 feet from you is all about cavemen.

Boy looks at a dinosaur at the museum

At your next campus visit day, think of how you can create spaces where prospective students can be surrounded by stories, images, and branding that shows off your brand distinctives.

For example, set up an “exhibit” showing your university’s history. Or one that showcases various service activities. Or series of banners that regale them with your study abroad or student missions programs.

You can also create spaces for parents that demonstrate campus safety or career opportunities for your graduates.

The different kinds of spaces you can create on your campus for your various audiences is only limited by your imagination.

7. Environmental design creates experiences with your education brand.

The whole point of creating spaces on your campus for various audiences is not so that your campus will look cooler than the other campuses that prospective students will likely visit, although creative signage will help you stand out.

The point of creative signage is to create an experience for your prospective students and their families that will make a lasting impression on them.

You and your staff cannot be everywhere all at once, but your signage can be the friendly face, the colorful attraction, or the helpful guide that they need to make an informed decision about their educational future.

Essentially, all education marketing is an attempt to create an experience with potential students that endears your brand to them and promises them similar experiences in the future if they decide to come to your school.

Key Takeaway: Make sure your signage conveys all of your brand distinctives to your audience in a way that will “Wow!” them.

For a really cool idea that would work great on a college campus, check out this innovative sign tool:

Marketing colleges, universities, and independent schools is our thing.

If you like what you’re reading here on the Caylor Solutions blog, why not reach out and contact us?

Helping education marketers like you reach your marketing and recruitment goals is all we do. Your consultation is free, and there’s no obligation.

Featured image by Natalia Bratslavsky via Adobe Stock Dinosaur Exhibit image by Arkady Chubykin via Adobe Stock

This post was originally published at: https://www.caylor-solutions.com/7-compelling-reasons-to-invest-in-university-environmental-design/

The post Seven Compelling Reasons to Invest in University Environmental Design appeared first on edSocialMedia.

https://ift.tt/2Cu8af9

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Seven Compelling Reasons to Invest in University Environmental Design

Seven Compelling Reasons to Invest in University Environmental Design

In the Age of the Internet, it might be tempting to relegate signage to the backseat of your education marketing strategy. But here are seven compelling reasons you should invest in university environmental design from a marketing standpoint.

If you’re familiar with the Caylor Solutions blog, this post might throw you. Digital marketing has been a passion of mine for a long time.

However, offline forms of marketing, like print, are still powerful marketing mediums!

In fact, print and digital marketing are much more successful when they are used together within integrated marketing strategies. You can also combine print and social media marketing campaigns to boost your social media results.

I think most education marketers get how important print marketing is. Brochures, viewbooks, postcards, flyers, one sheets — you name it. We all understand that these print mediums are necessary for a robust education marketing strategy.

But there is a part of offline or real-world marketing that is often undervalued: university environmental design.

University Environmental Design is marketing that lasts for generations.

On many campuses, university environmental design is an afterthought for marketers. We’re not architects, and normally we’re not involved in campus planning or building renovations.

So for most of us as education marketers, university environmental design is a term relegated to nothing more than signage or “wayfinding.”

Now perhaps you love sign design. Or, perhaps you only do it because people need to find their way around the campus. No matter how you see it, I challenge you to take a deeper look.

Signage should be considered as “university environmental design,” because that’s exactly what you’re doing: Creating an environment that helps prospective students make their enrollment decision.

And if you think about it, university environmental design is a marketing workhorse.

How long have the signs, monuments, and art around your campus been hanging high, visible to every prospective student who comes for a campus visit?

University environmental design isn’t about disposable signage projects. It is the thoughtful placement of artful, useful expressions of your brand distinctives that can last for many class generations. It is an investment.

So here they are — seven compelling reasons you should take university environmental design on your campus seriously as an education marketer.

1. Environmental design improves brand awareness.

The number one reason to invest in signage is that it raises your education brand awareness. Not only does common sense tell us that a sign outside will tell people about you, there’s been a lot of research to prove that investing in high-quality, durable exterior signs really does make a difference for the bottom line of your private college, university, or independent school.

In 2012, FedEx conducted a study that found that…

“…eight in 10 (76 percent) American consumers enter a store they have never visited before based on its signs, and nearly seven in 10 (68 percent) have actually purchased a product or service because a sign caught their eye.”

A report from the Economics Center at the University of Cincinnati produced a similar result stating that “Signs are among the most important elements of visual communication… Effective signage can drive job creation, generate tax revenues, and provide quality access to goods and services.”

Sign changes generally had significant, positive impacts on sales, number of transactions and profits. Roughly 60 percent of businesses reported increases averaging about 10 percent.

Sign changes also led to small positive impacts on employment. Nearly a quarter of respondents reported hiring more people.

University environmental design isn’t cheap. Tight budgets may balk at the idea of spending on changing signs with outdated brands.

But according to the studies above, it’s worth it.

These studies show that high-quality signage can be a powerful lead generator, especially for local prospective students.

2. Environmental design brings in the locals.

One of the key insights in the UC study above is that location plays a significant role in the marketing power of signage. A relatively high percentage of people who saw the signs would go in to the businesses to investigate what they had to offer.

As you’d expect, university environmental design is most influential on those who live within the local area and can see your education branded signs.

When you look at this unchangeable fact next to the almost limitless reach of digital marketing, you might be tempted to scrap your signage budget all together. But that would be a bad idea!

An American Council on Education study showed that a large majority of freshman students choose to go to a private college or university school within 50 miles of their home.

That is something to really chew on for all of us who are nuts about digital marketing (which I am!).

It’s almost guaranteed that every one of those local students will land on your website at some point, so having a proper digital content marketing strategy in place is essential. But knowing that the majority of your student body will be recruited from the local market means that marketing to this demographic is key to your success.

Bottom line: Ignore environmental design at your peril.

3. Environmental design attracts attention.

The main signs on your campus simply mark the boundaries of your physical space, like your entrance sign. Most often made out of stone, marble, or some other durable material, these boundary signs are great for establishing the longevity, seriousness, and elegance of your brand.

But they don’t do all that well at catching attention. For that, you need something more engaging.

University of St. Thomas waving their flag via https://ift.tt/2CsMXSM

Sports, alumni events, freshman orientation weeks, and other such high-energy events are perfect opportunities to create and distribute flashy, personal signage to those in attendance.

For example, create branded flags for your fans to wave wildly at sports games.

Feather flag featured on https://ift.tt/2CSDW6y

Feather flags are also a great way to catch the eye of attendees at your next event on campus.

A robust strategy for university environmental design includes high-energy, colorful and cheery attention-grabbers like these to help you get people excited about your school’s brand and what you stand for!

This kind of signage helps turn event attendees into ambassadors as their social media friends and family see them waving your colors at their favorite sporting event.

4. Environmental design makes people feel important and cared for.

Of course, this obviously applies to welcome signs, but it goes right to the heart of hospitality when it comes to directional signage.

But what does that have to do with feeling cared for? Let me explain.

I bet there’s been a time in your life when you needed a restroom… but you couldn’t find the sign.

Frantically, you searched everywhere, but couldn’t find what you needed.

Or perhaps you’ve been on a campus trying to find an event or arrive at a meeting, but you couldn’t figure out any of the buildings. So you wander around until someone takes pity on you and directs you to where you need to go. Or you go online to the school’s website to try and find the campus map.

How did each of those situations make you feel?

Frustrated? Desperate? Vulnerable?

But if there had been a sign, you would have felt something altogether different.

Directional signage to the facilities, to the buildings, or even the info desk, would have made you feel important, welcome, and comfortable.

And aren’t those the exact feelings you want your prospective students to have when they get to your campus? If so then, you’ll need thoughtful, helpful signage.

5. Environmental design can boost web traffic.

There are so many ways you can drive traffic to your digital marketing assets through the elements you create in your school’s environmental design by placing your URL or a text short code on the various signs, vinyl, and print media you have around campus.

Now that the Internet rests in their pocket, it’s easier than ever to drive online traffic through offline marketing.

I highly recommend creating landing pages specifically designed to welcome site visitors who land there from one of your physical spaces. Make sure the landing page content is exactly what they’re expecting to see and gives them the information they’re looking for.

Quick Idea: Brand your school vehicles with your URL.

Don’t just place your logo or education seal on it. People (especially high school students in the backseat) need to know where to go when they see you.

A vehicle wrap by https://ift.tt/2CrUpgX

Think about how many people you see on the road every day. That’s how many impressions you can get with a simple paint branding or vinyl vehicle wrap.

And while you’re at it, consider branding the admissions golf cart…

Check out this cool golf cart wrap at https://ift.tt/2CWgLbk

6. Environmental design creates spaces.

One of my favorite benefits from using signage is that you can create spaces with them, much like how a museum creates exhibits.

When you’re in a museum exhibit, you’re in the same building, often in the same room, as other exhibits, but you feel somehow that this space is all about dinosaurs while the space 10 feet from you is all about cavemen.

Boy looks at a dinosaur at the museum

At your next campus visit day, think of how you can create spaces where prospective students can be surrounded by stories, images, and branding that shows off your brand distinctives.

For example, set up an “exhibit” showing your university’s history. Or one that showcases various service activities. Or series of banners that regale them with your study abroad or student missions programs.

You can also create spaces for parents that demonstrate campus safety or career opportunities for your graduates.

The different kinds of spaces you can create on your campus for your various audiences is only limited by your imagination.

7. Environmental design creates experiences with your education brand.

The whole point of creating spaces on your campus for various audiences is not so that your campus will look cooler than the other campuses that prospective students will likely visit, although creative signage will help you stand out.

The point of creative signage is to create an experience for your prospective students and their families that will make a lasting impression on them.

You and your staff cannot be everywhere all at once, but your signage can be the friendly face, the colorful attraction, or the helpful guide that they need to make an informed decision about their educational future.

Essentially, all education marketing is an attempt to create an experience with potential students that endears your brand to them and promises them similar experiences in the future if they decide to come to your school.

Key Takeaway: Make sure your signage conveys all of your brand distinctives to your audience in a way that will “Wow!” them.

For a really cool idea that would work great on a college campus, check out this innovative sign tool:

Marketing colleges, universities, and independent schools is our thing.

If you like what you’re reading here on the Caylor Solutions blog, why not reach out and contact us?

Helping education marketers like you reach your marketing and recruitment goals is all we do. Your consultation is free, and there’s no obligation.

Featured image by Natalia Bratslavsky via Adobe Stock Dinosaur Exhibit image by Arkady Chubykin via Adobe Stock

This post was originally published at: https://www.caylor-solutions.com/7-compelling-reasons-to-invest-in-university-environmental-design/

The post Seven Compelling Reasons to Invest in University Environmental Design appeared first on edSocialMedia.

https://ift.tt/2Cu8af9