I get giddy every time I see a new prompt that I can respond to.

As a resident of Brooks Hall, in order to do my laundry, I have to make the trek to the Sulz laundry rooms. What could easily be a boring walk with my laundry in tow ends up being an engaging and thought provoking stroll as I pass people’s doors and the whiteboards that are pinned to them, which often have polls and prompts penned across the top. After observing these polls, and participating in many, I gave my thoughts on some of these questions. 

  1. “Dean, Jess, or Logan” 

The best part about this prompt is that while the whiteboard is covered in responses, there are, like, two responses for Dean. As someone who is team Jess, this means a lot to me. I think this question is important because when asked in real life, it starts a conversation and it can reveal a lot about someone’s Gilmore Girls preferences, like if they prefer young or older Rory. It’s all relevant, which is why this conversation-invoking, inner-thought-revealing question is ranked number 1. 

  1. T*ts or a*s? 

A simple, straight-to-the-point question, right? Wrong! We will not be confined to your two options. One bold, beautiful, Barnard girl (or their guest), in the space above the prompt, scrawled “thighs”, which then started to amass its own tallies. 

Every time I passed this whiteboard I found myself asking: is it still considered objectification if women do it? Very thought-provoking. 

  1. Best bathroom to sh*t in? 

I noticed this board from far away, and all I saw was one side of a t-chart that had an overwhelming amount of tallies. I approached the door, very aware of the fact that someone could walk out at any minute, to find that the side with the majority of tallies were under “gender nooch”, and were given to the Sulz bathrooms. There is a seemingly large community of Barnard students that prefer Sulz gender neutral bathrooms over others. Given these numbers, I imagine that there is some merit to this preference and that Sulz gender neutral bathrooms have something special to offer for your sh*tting experience. You learn something new every day! 

  1. Best Taylor Swift song? 

I think part of the measure of a good prompt is how many people connect to it, and as a result, write an answer. By these standards, this was a great prompt! It can attract casual listeners, or more dedicated Swifties (I’m thinking of the person that wrote “False God”). Lots of people responded, and I can imagine that I wasn’t the only person excited to share my answer. 

  1. Best season? 

Fall received the most amount of tallies. Barnard girls and their connection to fall is something that needs to be studied. It’s like upon opening your Barnard acceptance letter the spirit of Lauren Graham enters your body and you become absurdly attached to all things autumn and Gilmore Girls. 

  1. Craziest convo you’ve overheard? 

I remember seeing this when it first came out and was so excited by what people’s responses would be. Needless to say, I was let down. There were a total of two responses at most. Maybe this was a question posed to the community too early in the semester. I’d like to see this question return later, now that we’ve had more time to overhear the crazy things people are brave enough to talk about in public.

7. Draw us a ghost/draw us a pumpkin 

I don’t participate in these because I do not like drawing. But what’s good about these prompts is that I can see what other put on the whiteboard, and some people manage to make a simple ghost or pumpkin slay!

8. East or West Coast? 

This is a decent question, but we can get more specific! How about, “which coast has the best beaches?” Or “do you prefer seasons or the same weather all year round?” Let’s dig deeper.

To everyone that leaves up these prompts, please keep it up! I think they have the ability to start conversations and to make us feel part of a community of people with similar preferences and interests. And as for me, they add a little burst of fun to my constant back and forth walks to the laundry room.

Whiteboard Drawing via Wikimedia Commons