On the south wall of the AgComm office sits this bulletin board. Formerly, it was hanging, but that will be a story for another time.
Right now, I want to give you a tour of our bulletin board. It tells a lot about the culture of our little office and explains what makes us who we are.
Let’s start with the “Eat Clean” posters pinned in the upper left hand corner. These prototypes just might be the crown of the bulletin board. Since last June, we’ve diligently worked on researching for these posters and figuring out how to best communicate vegetable safety to underserved audiences. We’re happy to say that we’re taking photos for the posters this Friday and we’re quite excited.
Going counter clock-wise, you’ll see a letter to the editor I wrote about Occupy Wall Street and Lisa’s lovely visual representation of “The Labyrinth.”
Continuing counter clock-wise, there’s a gem of a document that Lisa found about phrases commonly used in research and what they really mean. For example, “While it has not been possible to provide definite answers to the questions” really means “An unsuccessful experiment, but I still hope to get it published.” Suffice it so say, this has brought much laughter to the office over the past few months.
The picture of the Village Vegetable People was printed and hung on the bulletin board when we first started the project. For some reason, we thought they would be a fitting inspiration for us. Don’t ask me why. When we find ourselves bored or not knowing what to do with our time, we play with the Chinese finger trap that is pinned over the Village Vegetable People picture.
In the office, we frequently talk about vocabulary and punctuation (I’m not joking about this! ) That’s why there’s a defense of the Oxford Comma on the board.
The newspaper clipping served as inspiration when we initially started discussing how to effectively communicate information about vegetables—a subject that isn’t particularly interesting to many.
Starting in January, the miniseries “Downton Abbey” gained a bit of a cult following among the three females working in the office. Every Tuesday we’d chat about what happened on Sunday’s episode, and speculate where the show might go. Eventually, we fell prey to the “Which Downton Abbey Character Are You?” quiz and uncovered startling things about ourselves. Abigail is Bates, Lisa is Sybil, and I am Matthew. As Dr. Tucker didn’t participate in the Downton frenzy, we assigned him the character of Carson. At the top of the poster is this quote from the stately Dowager Countess: “I do hope I’m interrupting something.” A more apt commentary on our office I cannot think of.
On the topic of quotes, the last item adorning the board is a pithy little dictum from our very own Abigail Borron: “I know the wheel has already been invented. I just think I can do better. Just saying…” Need I say more?
And that, reader, is the culture of our office on a bulletin board. I hope you enjoyed the tour.
Purdue Ag Comm 