Word: stalled
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...very difficult to miss. For at least a month—late July through early September—the door of the handicap stall of the Science Center basement women’s bathroom was deeply upsetting to look at from the toilet. Now the door is almost shiny and clean again, decorated by the occasional Hasty Pudding poster.If one didn’t know to look, the faint black smears of ink would probably be imperceptible...
...handicap stall is my favorite. It’s easy to fit my bulky backpack and I like the moment by myself in a comfortably large space. I saw the graffiti tens of times. It was black, it was right in my line of vision, and it was painfully compelling. Regardless of whether or not the graffiti was true, the stall door was a frequent reminder of a reality I was trying to put out of my mind...
About a week ago, in preparation for this column, I went to the bathroom with a notebook in hand. That day I discovered that the graffiti I’d read countless times on the handicap stall door was gone. It was clearly a selective cleaning job, as two stickers—one large and covered in graffiti that appears to be names—remain on the stall’s towel dispenser...
Part of me is happy that my favorite stall will once again be the quiet Science Center haven that it used to be. The shining door that seems so smeared now will probably be no cause for thought in a few months. But precisely because of this, I will find myself choosing to sit in the stall closest to the door, staring at names, taking a moment in my busy day of classes for a reality check...
Because, on a tip, I have discovered all I hadn’t seen in my stall fidelity. In the third stall from the end there is a small statement on the door, that used to be bordered by a whimsical flyer advertising tickets to see the Chippendales. “I was raped at the [specific finals club] [date from last semester].” In the stall closest to the entrance there is “[x] is a rapist.” With three other names in the same area, all etched into the door with...