Harrison Haiku

The Harrison stop on the red line is an important one to Columbia College Chicago. It is the entrance way to the school as well as to the loop as a whole. On January 30, 2008, the Harrison Haiku was unveiled as a mural of poetry throughout the station. It contains many pieces of Haiku poetry from students from Columbia College as well as Jones College Prep. The Harrison station came alive as it was enriched with the words of poetry as well as bright colors that turned a dark subway station to a beautiful site. It welcomed people coming into loop as well as it served as a purpose to welcoming people onto the Columbia College campus. The Harrison station serves as part of Columbia’s identity with the color and art that flows throughout the station.

The kind of statement that it brings is what goes along what Columbia is all about creating change. Columbia creates change with the way it brought change to the station. By just adding a simple idea of poetry and a few forms of leaves throughout the station it brought change. The creativity was brought out of Columbia and into the world. That just shows what Columbia can bring. Creativity is part of the identity we have as students that go to Columbia College. That is why it is shown through the work that was done in the station.

Although I have to say that even though it does show our identity as a school as a whole it lacks a bit of excitement to it. I use the Harrison stop quite a bit, but I have never noticed that it was even there. I may have noticed the words on the wall or the colors, but I did not realize what they were for. What does this say about our identity? Are we invisible to our society although we add to the beauty of our world? Are we just another one of those art schools that are not important because we don’t do to a real school (to some people in our society)? I don’t really know the answer to any of these, but it seems like that may be part of the whole idea of our identity. You may get a glimpse of the colors and the words, but never really understand the full understanding that this is Columbia College Chicago this is where the school is. We are busy people and we are constantly on the go especially in the loop. People don’t stop and smell the flowers and that is what exactly what the station is which shows the identity of the school. The school may just be that another school that seems to blend in with all the others.