Guerrilla Gardening
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Did anyone happen to notice the random collection of stenciled phrases written in mud that seemingly manifested on-campus late Friday night? For those that didn’t have a chance to view them before foot traffic and Loyola power washers blurred them to obscurity, the mud stencils advocated for garden development on-campus in the stead of the plethora of tulip and beautifying landscaping. Some of the stencils, which were concentrated about the “Ashtray” in front of the CFSU, Quinlan Life Science Building, the corner of Sheridan and Winthrop, and the Shuttle Bus enclosure, read, “This could be food,” “Why not food,” and “Grow food. Grow Change.”
The small group of students was acting under no student group affiliation, and chose mud stenciling due to the lack of restrictions that encompass the act of expression through mud. The act was an effort to bring attention to what the group feels is a misuse of suitable land, growing non-food producing plants instead of making an attempt to produce even the smallest portion of our own food. “Beauty and comfort abound from the landscaping on campus,” said the leader of the campaign, “Yet, it doesn't answer to anything bigger. It's pleasant enough to look at, but there is not much beyond the surface.”
In the group’s visionary mission, campus would contain beautiful vegetables ranging about the color wheel, not innumerable tulips. Ideologically, this is a fantastic way to connect students to the environment that society has seemed to lose touch with. Speaking on the issue of the campus wide retrofitting from beauty to community garden, the contact for the group stated, “It is a multi-faceted issue, and certainly not easy to tackle.”
It will be hard assessing the effectiveness of their late-night efforts though. Flipping campus into becoming a produce provider will come with many obstacles, ranging from rallying student volunteers to tend to the gardens, figuring out how to go about integrating the fraction of the vegetables produced into the vast food system already in place, and the largest hurdle of all, getting Loyola to surrender some prospect attracting flower beds.
The efforts I find to be commendable, bringing attention to something that is an interesting alternative to landscaping. I just wish that the campaign seen here on campus would have more of a resounding effect. Without clear advertisement, many outside of the realm of people that knew of the particulars surrounding this event did not fully comprehend what was truly meant by the stencils. If all other efforts failed, let us hope that the fading, ghosted stencils that still remain about campus will spark some thought as to where food truly comes from, and the potential community benefits that might arise from starting some form of gardening either on-campus or somewhere close in Roger’s Park.
The group plans to continue efforts towards reaching the reinvention of campus, so do not be surprised if overnight a tomato plant springs up in the tulip beds, or a bell pepper mingles with some low lying bushes.
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