Chalking Back

I have never chalked in Spaights Plaza during my four and a half years at UW-Milwaukee, though I have often stopped to read the messages chalked by others in that space. There have been only two times I can remember being intrigued and glad to read what was written: the first was an announcement about the screening of an LGBTQ film on campus, and the second was a series of messages dealing with calls for anti-sweatshop bookstore merchandise and accountability toward ethical labor practices.

Chalking today was an interesting physical experience. It was an exceptionally warm day for Wisconsin in February, but I could feel the coldness of the concrete under my knees. My fingers quickly turned icy as I wrote. The sun brightening the pavement made it challenging to capture the chalked text on our small phone cameras. John commented that he hadn't expect to use almost an entire piece of chalk on one message (chalk went faster than we'd expected and we found ourselves discussing and making choices about the size of the text as we wrote). Mike and I decided to co-write the longer Steinem quote, which stretched well beyond arms-length.

I felt like there was a real physicality to this chalking experience and this was something I hadn't anticipated. As teachers who are familiar with using our classroom space as a research site and chalk in the context of a chalkboard, our bodies were being used differently today. Hands were on the ground, the knees of my jeans felt pebbly... in one sense it felt like working at or on a canvas so huge it was tricky to know how or where to begin. We strategized and planned a bit. But the experience also called for whim and imagination.

In the next few days, I think the three of us should talk, reflect, and blog more about the connections we were making between chalking about women's bodies and OUR (gendered) bodies chalking in this public space... the guys peering over Mike as he chalked, the woman trying to engage John while he was writing... all stuff to think about as we continue this process and document it as we go.