Office Decorations.

A well done collage wall can impress me just as much as a revered work of art. What people choose to put on their walls offers a glimpse into a persons passions, history, interests, experiences, and habits. The ease and seeming lack of intention in some collages is beautiful.

The walls in my office building are covered. They may not quite classify as collage walls, but I love seeing what various co-workers have hung around the workplace. The walls tell of our current and past projects, advocacy efforts, and goals. During tours, the walls of the downstairs hallway become papered floor to ceiling with pictures of each house that will be shown over the month of October. Some may think it looks cluttered, haphazard, and messy. I thought it was perfect. And I am only slightly biased, because most of it was up before I started.

Though my work space is not quite as intricately covered as some of my co-workers' walls, I have taped up a few pieces of my own.

The three maps are all of the peninsula, though they are up for different reasons. Furthest to the left, the map shows the old railroad and street car routes within the city; it was made for a project that I worked on briefly in November and December. The small map in the middle is a remnant from last year's tours, and it shows the neighborhoods that we focused on. I'm not sure what exactly the map on the right was for; it was there when I started.

My personal additions are the calendar and the green sticky note. The calendar is the UNC GAA 2014 calendar sent out to all memebers. I thought it was neat that this year's calendar focuses on the columns of the campus. It seems fitting, considering my new adventures in the world of architectural preservation.

The sticky note might be my favorite component of the wall. I don't read it every day, but I like knowing it is there. I came across a quotation which I was researching Charleston during the Revolution and I immediately wrote it down. It essentially sums up my fascination with and love for cities. Every city is alive. It is on page 89 of George C. Rogers, Jr.'s book Charleston in the Age of the Pinckneys:

The mind of a city is a product of the traditions of her people, of the education of her youth, of the reading and writing of her adults, and of the pleasures of her citizens.