We Are Penn State, and We Are Atherton. For residents in Atherton hall, fear not! Some anonymous students organized a coalition to calm new arrivals. Their efforts rely on a crucial commonplace in our campus life: no matter our backgrounds, trials, and tribulations, the student body at Penn State is united in our existence as a superorganism working towards knowledge and wisdom as a common goal. In the same way, my residence hall is united in providing a safe environment for all to be at their most vulnerable. My hall, like all others, is where students sleep, engage in personal discourse, and study for their future careers as successful, educated adults.
This inclusivity, coupled with ‘love’ and the handprint accented in the center, personifies the message. The sign is not just a robotic message, an advertised slogan coming from a sterile executive board room, it’s an organic movement independent of the university establishment that intimidates so many of us during our first year. The print is blue, our collective colors as a university, and doesn’t reveal the hand’s race, gender, nationality, or sexual orientation. It’s just a hand, a helping hand.
There’s an underlying assumption accompanying the handprint. The viewer HAS to interpret the print as a sign of humanity. So many grassroots organizations use the handprint to signify a personal connection to the message, not just barking orders to repeat a cold mantra. From newborn foot- and handprint records to elementary school Thanksgiving turkey art projects to families dedicating new porches and patios with unset cement, our instruments of dexterity show our prosperity in hard times.