Some of us Residence Life and Student Affairs folks came up through “the system” as residence assistants and orientation leaders before becoming resident directors or student support staff. And then there are those of us who entered this field via another route: we had former lives as teachers, librarians, or in my case, as an art historian. And while I’ve found my happy place in Residence Life where we’re never at a shortage for something to talk about, sometimes my background creeps in and reminds me that a picture really does say a thousand words.
For example…
When your staff kicks off fall training and you’re ready to orate on all the things:
Raphael, The School of Athens, 1508-1511
When you’re scrolling through the duty log from Homecoming weekend:
Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights, 1490-1510
When you open that fresh Excel spreadsheet to kick off a new assessment project:
Agnes Martin, On a Clear Day, 1973
When you start adding data to the aforementioned spreadsheet:
Jackson Pollock, Autumn Rhythm (Number 30), 1950
When you’re finally done with the executive report of that dang assessment project:
Emanuel Leutze, Washington Crossing the Delaware, 1851
When you responded to four duty calls between 2 and 6 AM followed by an 8 AM meeting:
Lord Leighton Frederic, Flaming June, 1895
When you have to ask a resident to stop playing their original musical compositions at volume eleven in the residence hall lobby:
Jean-Baptiste Greuze, The Guitarist, c. 1760
When you’re trying to figure out what to do with the extra food after a community program:
Jan Davidsz De Heem, Still Life of Dessert, 1640
When you review the list of emotional support animal requests for the next year:
Edward Hicks, The Peaceable Kingdom, c. 1833/1834
When the hall fire alarm goes off at three in the morning:
Roy Lichtenstein, Sweet Dreams, Baby!¸1965
When every square inch of office space is covered with sticky notes and to-do reminders:
Kurt Schwitters, Difficult¸1942-43
When your RA loses the master key:
Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893
When it’s finally time to take that blessed summer vacation:
David Hockney, A Bigger Splash, 1967
