Ritual at the Graffiti Tunnel

I chose to go daily to the graffiti tunnel on campus to journal and reflect. I chose the graffiti tunnel as a location as I have fun memories exploring there with my friends, and I know it’s usually a very quiet place that feels more isolated than the rest of campus. I only ended up seeing one group of people there as I went five days to journal and then write my thoughts on the wall.

I wrote and journaled about a variety of things, including the play I am in, thinking about love, and thinking about my future and achieving my goals. I chose a couple words or a phrase that I’d written in my journal to then transfer to the walls of the graffiti tunnel. The first day’s thought was seemingly random, the next couple phrases were deeper, and the last two phrases I wrote became affirmations for myself. All of the phrases I wrote were meaningful to me and I understand and remember the context of why I wrote them. I wonder how other people will react to them though. I wonder if people will find meaning in some of the deeper phrases and the affirmations I wrote for myself.

I found the whole process to be meditative and meaningful for me. As this is my senior year, I’ve recently been finding myself thinking a lot more about big-picture issues in my life and having a lot less interest in the day-to-day tasks. I appreciated having time to go and journal and write down whatever is on my mind at the moment. I will definitely continue to go to the tunnel occasionally to journal and reflect, as it really is a place that feels like it’s somewhere out in nature even though it’s in the middle of Westmont’s campus. I wonder what will happen to the graffiti I wrote overtime. Will people see it and relate to it? Will it get covered up? Or perhaps, will it stay there for a while and will I get to go back and see it when I come back to visit campus years from now?