My Pilgrimage: What the Shell Represents to Me
Shells have always been one of my favorite symbols, even before this class infused them with a new and more significant meaning. When I was young, my parents used to call me a “water baby” because they could never cajole me from the water, may it be a pool, lake or even the ocean. Much of my life has been spent at a lake or the ocean and I find now that I intimately relate comfort with water. In fact, on days when I am really stressed out, I find that I will take two or even three showers to calm myself down. Thus, in the spirit of “only connect[ing],” I have found the unifying symbol of my goals to “better know [m]yself,” “fine tune my skills as a semiotician” and “foster my sense of place.” Upon reflecting on what the shell means to me, I have realized that it has an evolution of meaning in my life, stirring nostalgic memories while representing much of what my future holds.
The
shell has now become the symbol of my university experience. No matter what I say, the quest for knowledge
directs almost everything that I do at this point in my life. In fact, learning for me even extends beyond
simply class and homework to understanding the
campus and city as new places in my life.
Furthermore, the awareness that I have gained from this course,
particularly the power of place, the role of a semiotician and the necessity of
nature, has broadened my discovery learning
from this class into life. This class quite literally “opened my eyes”
to new things and what I saw was the shell (to explain my use of gross cliché,
I am actually seeing things that I would have never noticed before).
I
discovered these new shells at Spider House, a coffee shop at 30th
and Fruth within walking distance of campus.
Known for it’s decisively and people watch. Inside, they have comfortable couches and
booths and outside, they have an expansive patio and courtyard speckled with tables,
benches and statues of cherubs, dragons and women, many of which are missing
limbs or even heads. Nevertheless,
during one of my prolonged study sessions, I started noticing the many statues
observing the patrons. Before I knew it,
shells were appearing left and right.
How appropriate is it that the symbol for the quest of knowledge appears
at my favorite study spot? If you have
not been to Spider House, I would highly recommend a visit. Bring some homework or a book, get a cup of
coffee and enjoy the atmosphere. (By the
way, they have great hummus!)