↑ “Feynman” bas–relief
(10/65)
Artists: Joe Jeffrey ’69, Dave Perasso ’69, Paul Bartlett, and Bob Pelzmann
The bas–relief dates to 1931 (the year the Hovses were constructed).
(Additional information)
Location: Dabney courtyard
↑ [primordial painting in Tunnel]
(fall ’70 — ?)
The first painting along Tunnel.
Location: Blacker Tunnel
↑ [smoking dragon]
(ca. ’70 — ’04 or later)
Some call this Dabney’s first mural.
Location: Dabney Alley 4, library
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
↑ The Birth of God
(fall ’70 or winter ’71)
Artist: Alan Rice
Diptych.
(Additional information)
Location: Dabney Orange Walk entrance
Photos: Steve Allen ’82, ?
The Birth of God
(from an early photograph)
↑ [kamikaze]
(ca. ’70 — ’06)
Artist: Jim Ketcham ’72
View through cockpit windshield of plane diving into Millikan Pond.
Location: Dabney Alley 3, to right of room 11 (now D10)
Photo: Steve Allen ’82
DABNEY ONLY
↑ The Edge of Reality
(winter or spring ’72 — ’98 or later)
Location: Dabney stairs from courtyard to Alley 7, first corner on the way up
↑ Skull & roses
(fall ’72 or winter ’73)
Artists: Fred Ware ’74, Fred Sigworth ’74, Bob Gay ’75, Gary Janik ’75, and others
From the Grateful Dead live album Grateful Dead (1971; artwork by Mouse and Kelley).
(Additional information)
Location: Ricketts at east end of Crud
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
GRATEFUL DEAD
↑ [rose]
(after spring ’74 — ’06)
Location: Ricketts at west end of Crud
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
↑ The Wall
(’84–’85)
Artist: Bengt Magnusson ’87
From the Pink Floyd album The Wall (1979).
(Additional information)
Location: Blacker stairs from Vatican to Cannes
Bengt Magnusson
1984–85
Ooooh You cannot reach me now
Ooooh no matter how you try
Goodbye cruel world it’s over
Walk on by
Sitting in a bunker here behind my wall
Waiting for the worms to come
[in blood]
But it was only a fantasy
The wall was too high as you can see
No matter how he tried he could not break free
And the worms ate into his brain.
↑ Dark Side of the Moon
(’88 — ’92 or later)
Artist: Jason Surace ’92
From the Pink Floyd album Dark Side of the Moon (1973).
Location: Ricketts LD, room 43 (now R52)
Photo: Jason Surace ’92
↑ Jefferson Airplane
(’80 (completed ’95) — ’06)
Artists: Dave Bradburn ’81, Cecilia Rodriguez ’82, Bonnie Petheram ex ’83, Clark Brooks ’83, and others
From the Jefferson Airplane album After Bathing at Baxter’s (1967).
Location: Ricketts stairs from Cherry to Snatch
Photos: Nick Hutzler ’07
Jefferson Airplane
After Bathing at BAXTER’S
Started 1980
Completed 1995
↑ Every litter bit hurts
(’05 or earlier — ’06)
Location: Ricketts stairs from Cherry to Snatch
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
EVERY LITTER
BIT – HURTS
↑ Swan Song man
(3/96)
Artist: Joseph Carroll ex ’98
The icon of Led Zeppelin’s Swan Song label.
(Additional information)
Location: Blacker Purgatory
Joe C.
3–28–96
↑ “Welcome to the Machine”
(’79 — ’83 or later)
Artist: Clark Brooks ’83
From the Pink Floyd album Wish You Were Here (1975).
Location: Ricketts
Photo: Bonnie Petheram ex ’83
↑ Blues for Allah
(’80 — ’83 or later)
Artist: Clark Brooks ’83
From the Grateful Dead album Blues for Allah (1975; artwork by Philip Garris).
Location: Ricketts
Photo: Bonnie Petheram ex ’83
↑ [The Broadsword and the Beast]
(’92–’93 — ’05 or later)
Artist: Heidi Hofer ’96
From the Jethro Tull album The Broadsword and the Beast (1982).
Location: Dabney Alley 1 circuit breaker box, opposite stairs to Alley 2
Photo: Adam Azarchs ’05
↑ [Thick as a Brick]
(’92–’93 — ’04 or later)
Artist: Heidi Hofer ’96
A quote from the Jethro Tull song (and album) Thick as a Brick (1972).
Location: Dabney Alley 1, north end, west wall
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
(detail)
I MAY MAKE YOU FEEL
BUT I CAN’T MAKE YOU THINK!
↑ Anthem of the Sun
(early ’80s — ?)
Artist: Misha Mahowald ’85
From the Grateful Dead album Anthem of the Sun (1967; cover art by Bill Walker).
Location: Ricketts
↑ FLCL bass player
(’04–’05 — ’06)
Artist: Chelsea Sharon ’07
The cover of the third disc of the anime titled FLCL (a/k/a Fooly Cooly).
Location: Ricketts in an unknown room
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
↑ Ayanami Rei
(spring ’02 — ’06)
Artist: Jess Gray ’05
Anime character from Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Location: Dabney Alley 2
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
JLG
Wes–Fri
Finals week
Spring 2002
↑ [sailing ship]
(started ’91?, completed ’95)
Artist: Matthew P. Johnson ’94
In memory of the artist’s grandfather, Irving McClure Johnson, a sailor.
Location: Blacker Heaven, at top of stairs up from Tunnel, near entrance to sleeping porch
↑ In memory of Erin Hellner
(’89 — ’06)
Location: Dabney Upper 7, in an unknown room
Photo: Jason Surace ’92
In Memory Of
ERIN HELLNER
↑ [Ricketts foosball room]
(’87 or later — ’06)
Location: Ricketts foosball room
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
↑ [black blobs]
(7/88 — ’06)
Artist: Josh Kurutz ’89
Location: Ricketts Crud, room 59 (now R65)
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
↑ waterfall
(’04 or earlier — ’06)
Location: Ricketts LD, room 41 (now R50)
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
↑ [fractal]
(’96 or earlier — ’06)
Artist: Heidi Hofer ’96
Location: Dabney stairs from Alley 1 to Alley 2, east wall
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
↑ The Bowling Alley/RA apartment
(’96 or earlier — ’06)
Artist: Heidi Hofer ’96
Location: Dabney Alley 3, room 16 (now D15), “The Bowling Alley.”
Photos: Everett Howe ’86
↑ The Flame Room
(winter ’74 — ’06)
Artists: Erik Brune ’75 and Vickie Roberts ’75
Location: Dabney Alley 2, room 8 (now D24)
Photos: Everett Howe ’86
↑ [psychedelic room]
(spring break ’94 — ’06)
Artist: Heidi Hofer ’96
Location: Dabney Alley 2, room 6 (now D22)
Photo: Everett Howe ’86
(detail)
↑ The Saga of Polly Nomial
(graffito)
(fall ’71–spring ’72 — ’98 or later)
An adult cautionary tale for the mathematically minded. Originated elsewhere, possibly as early as the ’50s.
(Additional information)
Location: Dabney Upper 7 east wall
When Polly got home that night, her mother noticed that she was no longer piecewise continuous, but had been truncated in several places. But it was too late too [sic] differentiate now. As the months went by, Polly’s denominator increased monotonically. Finally, she went to L’Hopital and generated a small but pathological function which left surds all over the place and drove Polly to deviation.
[Painted out] The moral of our sad story is this: “If you want to keep your expressions convergent, never allow them a single degree of freedom.”
↑ Kirby
(11/11/00 — ’01 or later)
Artists: Melinda Owens ’04, Hermes Huang ’04, and Megan Guichard ’04
A three–foot version of “Kirby,” the big pink Nintendo beastie.
(Additional information)
Location: Dabney Lower 7, room 53 (now D39)
Photo: Brian Aydemir ’04
M H M
(initials of the perpetrators)
↑ [runes]
(12/2/00 — ’06)
Artists: Brian Aydemir ’04, Chandra Barnett ’07, and Kim Reece (a non–student JPLer)
Transcribed from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion.
(Additional information)
Location: Ricketts LD, room 36 (now R44), north wall
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
[Anglo–Saxon runes]
Then being now alone and upon the
threshold of the final he made the Song of
Parting, in praise of Lúthien and the
lighs of heaven; for he believed than
he must now say farewell to both
love and lighn. : Farewell sweet earth
and northern sky, : for ever blest, since
here did lie : and here with lissome limbs did run :
beneath the Moon, beneath the Sun, : Lúthien Tinúviel :
more fair than mortal tongue can tell. : Though all
though all to ruin fell the world : and were
dissolved and backward hurled : unmade
into the old abyss, : yet were tis making
god, for this— : the dusk, the dawn, the earth, the
sea— : that Lúthien for a time
↑ [I shot the Albatross]
(graffito)
(’98 or earlier — ’98 or later)
A reference to Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and Bob Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff.”
Location: Dabney Alley 4, north wall, right of room 19 (now D47)
(detail)
I shot the Albatross.
,but I did not shoot the deputy.
He is a fun God!
He is the Sun God!
Ra! Ra! Ra!
subtlety is
a crutch.
The memory of you
will live in my heart
forever. You have
touched my soul,
and I am changed
In Memory of ? M?
9/26/24 – 5/9/78
MAY WE look in the skies
and remember his heart.
–– E.A.W.
“I HAVEN’T LOST MY MIND...
IT’S BACKED UP ON
TAPE SOMEWHERE.”
↑ [Don’t drop acid]
(graffito)
(’95 or earlier — ’98 or later)
R.A.H. is Robert A. Hanna ’95.
Location: Dabney Alley 3, west wall
Don’t drop acid.
Take it on pass/fail.
–– R.A.H.
↑ The Wall of Great Music
(ca. ’86 — ’06)
Artist: various
Location: Dabney Alley 4, library
Photos: Coral Clark, Everett Howe ’86
↑ The Window of Good Things
(graffito)
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney Alley 4, library, in a corner
Photo: Coral Clark
↑ The Window of Evil Things
(graffito)
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney Alley 4, library?
Photo: Coral Clark
↑ [Brought to you by (mirror)]
(graffito)
(7/88 — ’06)
Artist: Josh Kurutz ’89
Legible in the mirror over the sink. Refers to the TV show Sesame Street.
(Additional information)
Location: Ricketts Crud, room 59 (now R65)
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
[Mirror writing]
Room 59
Was brought to you
Today
By
The letter N,
The number 3 + 2i,
And the color Green
(monochromatic wavelength 4863 Å)
↑ Dabney Alley 2
(beginning in ’72 — ’90 or later)
Artists: Adam Melch, C.P. Price ’76, and others
Location: Dabney Alley 2
Photo: Seth Noble ’94
↑ Dabney Alley 6 sign
(’98 or earlier — ’98 or later)
Location: Dabney Alley 6, north wall
ALLEY 6
↑ Dabney Alley 7 demon
(’98 or earlier — ’98 or later)
Location: Dabney Upper 7, west wall
Welcome to Alley 7
↑ [Dabney Alley 7 sins and virtues]
(’97 — ’06)
Location: Dabney Upper 7, right of room 48 (now D35)
Photo: Jason Surace ’92
↑ Down with gravity
(graffito)
(’06 or earlier — ’06)
Viewed from Dabney Upper 7.
Location: Dabney Lower 7
Photo: Jason Surace ’92
DOWN WITH GRAVITY
↑ [mandala]
(’98 or earlier — ’98 or later)
Visible in “#6: Stills from the film, ‘N. Lower 7’.”
Location: Dabney Lower 7, north wall, to the left of room 51 (now D38)
(detail)
↑ Stills from the film, “N. Lower 7”
(’98 or earlier — ’06)
Shows the view from room 50.
(Additional information)
Location: Dabney Lower 7, north wall, to the left of room 49 (now D36)
Photo: Everett Howe ’86
#6: Stills from the film, “N. Lower 7”
↑ Snatch sign
(’03 — ’06)
Artists: Chelsea Sharon ’07, Issac Garcia–Munoz ’07, and Greg Stachelek ’07
Location: Ricketts Snatch, next to room 23 (now R35)
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
SNATCH
↑ Ricketts pentagram
(fall ’90 — ’06)
Artists: Eric Candell ’92 and others?
Painted for Rotation.
Location: Ricketts dining hall
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
↑ biohazard
(’90–’91 — ’06)
Location: Ricketts dining hall
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
BIOHAZARD
↑ Dabney lounge mural
(’05 — ’06)
Artists: Brandi Cossairt ’06 and others
Painted for Drop Day ’05.
Location: Dabney lounge
Photos: Everett Howe ’86
↑ Go to Hell card
(’88, completed ’93 — ’06)
Artist: original unknown; completed Miyabi Ota ’96
After a card from the Parker Bros. game Monopoly.
Location: Blacker Cannes, near closet near room 30 (now B46) (entrance to Cannes–Hell hyperspace bypass)
Community Chest
GO TO HELL
Go Directly to Hell
DO NOT PASS LOUNGE
DO NOT COLLECT MAIL
↑ Get out of Hell free card
(’00 or earlier — ’06)
After a card from the Parker Bros. game Monopoly.
Location: Blacker Hell kitchen, by entrance to Cannes–Hell hyperspace bypass
Chance
GET OUT OF HELL
FREE
↑ Share and Enjoy!
(spring ’97 — ’06)
Artists: Mike Stage ’97 and Clifford Hicks ’00
From Douglas Adams’s book The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1979).
Location: Blacker Cannes, outside room 27 (now B41), near kitchen shared with Upper P
Share and Enjoy!
↑ Winnie–the–Pooh
(summer ’95? — summer ’06)
Artist: Jeanne Wilson ’98
From the Disney film Winnie the Pooh..
Location: Blacker Upper P, near kitchen shared with Cannes
↑ Reservoir Dogs
(’05 or earlier — ’06)
After the poster of the Quentin Tarantino film Reservoir Dogs (1992).
Location: Ricketts Up Your double (room 7 (now R8))
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
↑ [eyes]
(’05 or earlier — ’06)
Location: Ricketts Up Your, left of room 11 (now R11)
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
↑ Eyeball Mural
(’94–’95 — ’06)
Artist: Tom Lechner ex ’95
Consists of several sections, including:
The Coliseum
Angry Eyes
Swimming Eyeballs
Clouds and Castles
Roots
L.D. on the Dragon
The Waterfall
Goddess of the Eyeballs
(Additional information)
Location: Ricketts stairs from Up Your to LD
Photos: Nick Hutzler ’07
↑ Viking fjord
(’84?)
Artist: Bengt Magnusson ’87
Location: Blacker Upper P, at top of stairs from Kremlin
↑ (Dabney) Alley 2 Mural
(early ’90s)
Artist: Cindy Machacek ’94
Location: Dabney Alley 2, doorway to what was formerly room 5 (now D21)
Photo: Cindy Machacek (Noble) ’94
↑ [sunset behind bridge]
(’05 or earlier — ’06)
Location: Ricketts Crud double (room 61 (now R63))
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
↑ [Dark Star]
(’05 or earlier — ’06)
Refers to John Carpenter’s film Dark Star (1974).
Location: Ricketts at top of stairs outside Two–Holer
Photos: Nick Hutzler ’07
↑ Star Wars
(summer ’97)
Artists: Clifford Hicks ’00, Kristine Nielson ’00, and others
Location: Blacker Tunnel, from room 37 (now B17) toward the lounge porch
↑ Crud dragon
(ca. ’77)
Artists: Tony Lomax and James D. Howard ’77
Location: Ricketts stairs from Cherry to Crud
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
Crud
JDH
↑ Upper P dragon
(summer ’97)
Artist: Kacie Shelton ’96
Location: Blacker Upper P, from room 16 (now B40) to kitchen
↑ Prexy succubus
(’98 — ’06)
Artists: James Bolen and Christoph Baranec ’01
Location: Ricketts Prexy double (room 73 (now R56))
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
↑ dragon stained–glass window
(fall/winter ’94)
Artist: Barbara Novak ’98
Location: Ricketts LD
Who can tell where dreams end and reality begins.
↑ [angels]
(’03–’04 — ’06)
Artist: Chelsea Sharon ’07
Location: Ricketts in an unknown room
Photos: Nick Hutzler ’07
↑ [Chernobog]
(’05 or earlier — ’06)
From the sequence “A Night on Bald Mountain” in the Disney film Fantasia.
Does not continue behind the cabinet.
Ceiling notation: FIREPOT 2003
Location: Ricketts Crud double (room 61 (now R63))
Photo: Jason Surace ’92
↑ [ferret dragon]
(’05 or earlier — ’06)
Location: Ricketts Prexy, room 69 (now R61)
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
↑ [black castle]
(’82 — ’06)
Artists: Sylvia Luedeking ’86 and Misha Mahowald ’85
Location: Ricketts Up Your, room 9 (now R7), east and south walls
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
↑ The Lorax
(’90–’91)
Artist: Jared Smith ’93
From the Dr. Seuss book The Lorax (1971).
Location: Blacker Tunnel, opposite stairway to Heaven
↑ Marvin K. Mooney
(’91)
Artists: Lindsey Dubb ’91 and others
The Crunk–car from the Dr. Seuss book Marvin K. Mooney, Will You Please Go Now! (1972).
Location: Ricketts Snatch, north end, west wall, between rooms 20 (now R32) and 22 (now R34)
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
↑ The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins
(’91)
Artists: Lindsey Dubb ’91 and others
King Derwin of Didd, from the Dr. Seuss book The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins (1938).
Location: Ricketts Snatch, south end, south wall
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
↑ The Cat in the Hat
(’91)
Artists: Lindsey Dubb ’91 and others
From the Dr. Seuss book The Cat in the Hat (1957).
Location: Ricketts Snatch, north end, west wall
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
↑ Dr. Seuss’s Sleep Book
(’05 or earlier — ’06)
From Dr. Seuss’s Sleep Book (1962).
Location: Ricketts in an unknown room
Photos: Nick Hutzler ’07
↑ The Sneetches
(’91)
Artists: Lindsey Dubb ’91 and others
From the Dr. Seuss book The Sneetches and Other Stories (1961).
Location: Ricketts Snatch, south end, east wall, between rooms 27 (now R39) and 29 (now R41)
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
↑ Green Eggs and Ham
(’91)
Artists: Lindsey Dubb ’91 and others
From the Dr. Seuss book Green Eggs and Ham (1960). Incomplete.
Location: Ricketts Snatch, south end, west wall, between rooms 28 (now R40) and 30 (now R42)
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
↑ Calvin and Hobbes
(ca. spring ’88 — ’06)
Artist: Jared Smith ’93
From Bill Watterson’s comic strip Calvin and Hobbes.
Location: Blacker Tunnel, between room 37 (now B17) and showers
↑ sleeping Hobbes
(’05 or earlier — ’06)
Artist: "JH"
From Bill Watterson’s comic strip Calvin and Hobbes.
Location: Ricketts
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
↑ Spaceman Spiff
(ca. ’86 — ’06)
Artist: Tim Hochberg ’89
From Bill Watterson’s comic strip Calvin and Hobbes.
Location: Blacker Hell, room 60 (now B59)
↑ Lenin
(summer ’98? — ’06)
Artist: Kjerstin Easton ’00
Lenin in green
Location: Blacker Kremlin, across from shower
Mark smells like poo.
↑ Stalin
(summer ’98?)
Artist: Kjerstin Easton ’00
Stalin in red.
(Additional information)
Location: Blacker Kremlin
(detail)
[Russian] Stalin in the Kremlin cares about every one of us.
↑ Freedom of Vodka
(spring ’96 — ’00 or later)
Artists: Stacy Kerkela ’96 and Paul Upchurch ’97
Part of a Ditch Day ’96 stack.
Location: Blacker Upper P, outside room 21 (now B36)
FREEDOM OF VODKA
[Russian] AFTER WORK
STOLICHNAYA VODKA
↑ A Toast to Pug
(’94 — ’06)
Artist: Priya Rai ’97
Location: Ricketts Herc double (room 17 (now R29))
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
A TOAST TO PUG
PRIYA ’94
↑ Quetzal on a Pretzel
(’94 — ’06)
Artist: Priya Rai ’97
Location: Ricketts Herc double (room 17 (now R29))
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
PRIYA
’94
QUETZAL
ON A PRETZEL
↑ Abandon hope
(spring ’93 — ’02 or earlier)
Artist: Katy Quinn ’93
Part of a Ditch Day ’93 stack. The quote is from Dante’s Inferno.
Location: Blacker Pub, door to room 5A (now B30)
ABANDON HOPE ALL YE
WHO ENTER HERE
↑ Babylon 5
(spring ’97 — ca. early ’98)
Artist: Mike Fox ’94
Part of a Ditch Day stack: a plastic covering with some tubes and the “Babylon 5” letters (from the science fiction TV show), designed to look like a wall of a spaceship.
Location: Blacker Pub, door to room 5A (now B30)
↑ [Bag End]
(spring ’02 — ’06)
Artists: Tim Crosby ’02 and Molly Swanson ’02
Part of a Ditch Day ’02 stack. From J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit (1937).
Location: Blacker Pub, door to room 5A (now B30)
Photo: Ben Smith ’94
Bag End
Under Hill
↑ Hyperspace bypass (Blacker: Cannes–Hell)
(spring ’88 — ’06)
Artists: Ken Andrews ’90 and others
Location: Blacker between the top of a closet in Cannes near room 30 (now B46) and a cabinet in Hell kitchen
↑ Hyperspace bypass (Blacker: Kremlin–Swamp)
(’03? — ?)
Location: Blacker between a janitor’s closet in Kremlin and a closet in Swamp
↑ Hyperspace bypass (Blacker: lounge–Swamp)
(’96–’97 school year)
Artist: Nathan Schara ’00
Location: Blacker between hyperspace above lounge and Swamp
↑ Hyperspace bypass (Blacker: Swamp–Vatican)
(? — ?)
Location: Blacker between Swamp and Vatican
↑ Hyperspace bypass (Dabney: Alley 6–Upper 7)
(Thanksgiving weekend ’93 — ’06)
Artists: Alan McConchie ex ’97, Rich Zitola ’95, and others
Also called the Wormhole.
(Additional information)
Location: Dabney between Alley 6 maid’s closet and Upper 7 kitchen
At this site, on the 28th day of November, 1993,
at 1:57am PT, the Dabney House Alley 6/7 Hyperspace
Bypass (also known as “The WORMHOLE”) was first
traversed by human beings. We came in peace for
all mankind. All these Alleys are yours—
except Tunnel... attempt no settlements there...
↑ fake room 19
(spring ’90 — ’00 or later)
Artist: Ken Andrews ’90
A fake door, as there is no room 19 (it was converted into part of the library). Part of a Ditch Day stack. Improved by Housing.
Location: Blacker Upper P, north wall, across from room 20 (now B37)
↑ Zip line
(’03 or earlier — ’06)
Steel cable that could be used for point–to–point transportation.
Location: Ricketts
↑ The Dot of Karma
(’76–’77 — 9/98 or later)
Artist: Steve Smith ’78
A black raised highway marker mounted in the center of the Jai–Alai wall. Its randomizing effect on ball trajectories earned it the nickname “The Dot of Karma.”
Location: Dabney courtyard, south wall, under the library windows
Photo: Seth Noble ’94
↑ treehouse
(? — ’06)
Location: Blacker courtyard
↑ tire swing
(? — ?)
Location: Blacker courtyard
↑ “Housewife’s Lament”
(’86 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Lyrics from the folk song.
Location: Dabney
Photo: Coral Clark
Last night in my dreams I was stationed forever
on a far distant rock in the midst of the sea
My one task of life was a ceaseless endeavor
To brush off the waves as they swept over me
↑ “Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie”
(graffito)
(’04 or earlier — ’04 or later)
Artist: Josh Goldstein ’07
Lyrics to the Bob Dylan song.
(Additional information)
Location: Dabney stairs from Alley 1 to Alley 2
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
(detail)
↑ [Animal Farm]
(’04 or earlier — ’04 or later)
Refers to George Orwell’s book Animal Farm (1945).
Location: Dabney Alley 4
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
↑ suppose
(graffito)
(10/98 or earlier — 7/99 or later)
The poem by e.e. cummings.
Location: Dabney Upper 7, west wall, across from room 48 (now D35)
Photo: John McCluskey III ’81
(detail)
suppose
Life is an old man carrying flowers on his head.
young death sits in a cafe
smiling, a piece of money held between
his thumb and first finger
(i say “will he buy flowers” to you
and “Death is young
life wears velour trousers
life totters, life has a beard” i
say to you who are silent. – “Do you see
Life? he is there and here,
or that, or this
or nothing or an old man 3 thirds
asleep, on his head
flowers, always crying
to nobody something about les
roses les bluets
yes,
will He buy?
Les belles bottes – oh hear
, pas cheres”)
and my love slowly answered I think so. But
I think I see someone else
there is a lady, whose name is Afterwards
she is sitting beside young death, is slender;
likes flowers.
↑ The Incredibles changing room
(spring ’05 — ’06)
Artists: Andrea Kung ’05 and Maria Ho ’06
Part of a fake Ditch Day stack. Made to look like a changing room for characters from the 2004 film The Incredibles.
(Additional information)
Location: Ricketts stairs from LD to Prexy.
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
↑ The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (fragment)
(’80 or earlier — ’84 or later)
Excerpt from the T.S. Eliot poem.
Location: Dabney stairs from Alley 3 to Alley 4?
I grow old . . . I grow old . . .
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think that they will sing to me.
↑ The Waste Land
(graffito)
(’04 or earlier — ’04 or later)
Sections II (“A Game of Chess”) and V (“What the Thunder Said”) of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land (1922).
Location: Dabney Alley 4, east end, south wall
Photos: Jess Gray ’05
(detail)
↑ [3 lines]
(graffito)
(’04 or earlier — ’04 or later)
Location: Dabney Alley 4, east end, north wall, right of library
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
(detail)
↑ [4–tych]
(’05 or earlier — ’06)
Location: Ricketts Up Your double (room 7 (now R8))
Photos: Nick Hutzler ’07
↑ [age of aquarius]
(graffito)
(’04 or earlier — ’04 or later)
A reference to the song “Aquarius” in the musical Hair (1967).
Location: Dabney Alley 4, library, east wall, just inside door
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
(detail)
i believe in
the age of
aquarius...
↑ Anita Muscaria
(’80 or earlier — ’84 or later)
A talking psilocybin mushroom (Amanita muscaria).
Location: Dabney stairs by Alley 5
Hi! I’m Anita Muscaria! Do you know Psil O. Cybin?
↑ [Anna Livia Plurabelle]
(early ’70s — ?)
Artist: Paul Wagner ’76
Text alluding to Anna Livia Plurabelle from James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake.
Location: Dabney Upper 7, outside room 45 (now D32)
↑ [antlers/tendrils]
(’92–’93 — ’04 or later)
Artist: Heidi Hofer ’96
Location: Dabney stairs from Alley 1 to Alley 2, north wall
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
↑ Ape Factor Index (Kremlin)
(’91–’92 school year — summer ’93)
Armspan > height → ape
Armspan < height → human
About 20 people were measured.
Location: Blacker at foot of stairs from Kremlin to Upper P
↑ Ape Factor Index (Vatican)
(’86 or earlier — summer ’86)
Armspan > height → ape
Armspan < height → human
Location: Blacker Vatican
↑ [Aztec–like design]
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney in an unknown alley
Photo: Coral Clark
↑ [bird flying to the moon]
(’04 or earlier — ’04 or later)
Location: Dabney Alley 5
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
↑ Blacker flag
(’05 — ’06)
The Blacker flag, reproduced in paint.
Location: Blacker lounge, over fireplace
Photo: Ben Smith ’94
γδβγ
↑ [black wall with red hand]
(at least a few years before ’89 — ’93, during renovations)
Location: Blacker Cannes, between room 31 (now B44) and the shower
↑ [blonde]
(’04 or earlier — ’04 or later)
Location: Dabney stairs from Alley 5 to Alley 6
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
↑ [blue and green swirls]
(winter ’75 — ?)
Artist: Steve Sweeney ’76
Inspired by The Flame Room.
Location: Dabney room 5 (now D21)
↑ [blue face]
(’04 or earlier — ’04 or later)
Location: Dabney Alley 1, west wall, left of room 2 (now D18)
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
↑ [blue room]
(ca. ’80 — ?)
Location: Dabney Alley 1, room 3 (now D19)
↑ [book reader]
(’05 or earlier — ’06)
Possibly John Constantine, from Hellraiser.
Location: Ricketts in an unknown room
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
↑ [boy and girl]
(’96 or earlier — ’06)
Artist: Heidi Hofer ’96
This area was formerly part of room 5.
(Additional information)
Location: Dabney Alley 2 computer room
↑ [bubbles coming out of head]
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney in an unknown alley
Photo: Coral Clark
↑ [caterpillar]
(’91 or earlier? — ’04 or later)
Artist: Allen “Ivar” Knudsen?
The Caterpillar from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865), with hookah and bongos.
Location: Dabney Alley 4, south wall, across from room 19 (now D47)
(detail)
↑ [chemical structure]
(before fall ’89 — summer ’93)
Caffeine (or perhaps LSD).
Location: Blacker Swamp, left of door to courtyard
↑ [chicks]
(spring break ’03 — ’06)
Artists: Lisa Fukui ’05 and friend (not a student)
Location: Ricketts Herc double (room 17 (now R29))
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
JINGLES
God of the Chickens
↑ [China is your friend]
(graffito)
(’04 or earlier — ’04 or later)
Location: Dabney stairs from Alley 5 to Alley 6
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
↑ [circles: color and black]
(’92–’93 — ’04 or later)
Artist: Heidi Hofer ’96
Location: Dabney Alley 2, north end
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
↑ circus tent room
(7/88 — ?)
Artist: Josh Kurutz ’89
Walls were four different colors. Ceiling was sponge–painted with various shapes.
(Additional information)
Location: Ricketts Crud, west end
↑ [cosmos]
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney
Photo: Coral Clark
↑ [cosmos man]
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: D, Alley 5
Photo: Coral Clark
↑ [Dabney Alley 1]
(2/13/04 or earlier — ’04 or later)
Artist: Heidi Hofer ’96
Location: Dabney Alley 1
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
ALLEY
1
↑ [Dabney room 15]
(’76–’77 — ?)
Artist: Cathy Marshall ’77
The west wall was covered with ink.
Location: Dabney room 15 (now D14)
↑ [Damn you, Charlie Brown!]
(ca. ’68–’70 or earlier — ?)
A drawing on paper (not on the wall) showing Lucy and two other Peanuts girls, obviously pregnant.
Location: Dabney Alley 1
Damn You Charlie Brown!!
↑ Dance of the Tender Boofs
(early–mid–’70s — early ’80s or later)
Artist: (Kathy) Gesine Lohr
Stick figures of women or fairies dancing in a ring.
Location: Dabney Upper 7, near the exit
↑ Death Star
(second term ’97 — ’06)
Artist: Clifford Hicks ’00
The Death Star from the film Star Wars (1977), rising over the Caltech campus.
Location: Blacker Tunnel, room 37 (now B17)
↑ [democracy is too beautiful]
(graffito)
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney Alley 4, library?
Photo: Coral Clark
Democracy is too beautiful
to share with anyone.
It’s mine.
Go away.
If you don’t,
You can’t—
For whatever reason.
Therefore I will—
And am.
heh heh heh....
BUT WHY?
Why not?
↑ Drink milk
(’03? — ’06)
Location: Ricketts in an unknown alley
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
(detail)
DRINK MILK
...OR YOU WILL DIE
[...?...]
↑ [Drop Day python]
(’80 — ’84 or later)
Artist: Brother of Richard Pogge ’83
Depicts the real–life crashing of a Drop Day party in Upper 7 by some Flems.
Includes a python whose tail becomes a Crest toothpaste tube which morphs into the Dabney House crest.
Includes a biplane dropping a bomb and towing a banner that says “Drop Day 1980.”
Location: Dabney Lower 7
↑ Eat toast
(graffito)
(7/88 — ?)
Artist: Josh Kurutz ’89
Painted in various parts of the room in clear gloss finish over the flat–finish white paint. Only visible when the light from the window was right.
(Additional information)
Location: Ricketts Crud, room 59 (now R65)
EAT TOAST
↑ Elvis has left the building
(’05 or earlier — ’06)
Location: Ricketts LD
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING
↑ [Erin Hellner memorial]
(’04 or earlier — ’04 or later)
Location: Dabney stairs from Alley 5 to Alley 6
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
(detail)
↑ e–scape
(’98 or earlier — ’98 or later)
Artist: Monty
Location: Dabney Alley 3
e–Scape
↑ [fireball]
(’93–’96? — ’98 or later)
Artist: Possibly Alan McConchie ex ’97
Location: Dabney Upper 7, east wall, to the right of room 40 (now D27)
(detail)
↑ [flaming castle in triangle]
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney in an unknown alley
Photo: Coral Clark
THEY KNEW!
INDEED THEY DID!
[...?...]
↑ [Florida thunderstorm]
(’95 or earlier — night before graduation ’99)
Artist: Walt Ogburn ’99
Never completed.
Location: Blacker Kremlin, room 14 (now B8)
↑ [flower eye]
(’92–’93 — ’04 or later)
Artist: Heidi Hofer ’96
Location: Dabney Alley 1, west wall, left of room 2 (now D18)
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
↑ [flying whales]
(’04 or earlier — ’04 or later)
Location: Dabney Alley 1, north end, west wall
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
↑ [frog on leaf]
(’95–’98? — ’98 or later)
Artist: Valerie Anderson ’99?
Location: Dabney Upper 7, north end, west wall, across from room 38 (now D25)
(detail)
↑ [galaxy (black and white)]
(summer ’78 or earlier — spring ’87 or later)
About 3’ wide x 2’ high.
Location: Dabney Upper 7 at top of stairs from lounge, west wall, right of fan room
Photo: Coral Clark
↑ Gates to Heaven
(’97 or later — ’06)
Artist: Elisa Chiang ’01
Location: Blacker Heaven
↑ [Gibson girl]
(’04 or earlier — ’06)
Laser printer découpage.
Location: Dabney Alley 5
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
↑ [Girl in the Sun]
(’96)
Artist: Heidi Hofer ’96
Location: Dabney stairs from courtyard to Upper 7, middle corner, west and north walls
↑ [goodnight]
(graffito)
(’04 or earlier — ’04 or later)
A reference to the Margaret Wise Brown book Goodnight Moon (1947).
Location: Dabney Alley 4, west end, south wall archway
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
(detail)
↑ graffiti is great
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney in an unknown alley
Photo: Coral Clark
graffiti
is
great
↑ [GRAPHICS?]
(graffito)
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney in an unknown alley
Photo: Coral Clark
GRAPHICS?
The Inevitable answer is
NO
↑ [green room]
(’05 or earlier — ’06)
Location: Dabney Alley 1?, in an unknown room
Photo: Everett Howe ’86
↑ hammer and sickle
(’94 or earlier — ’94 or later)
Location: Dabney Alley 4, library
Photo: Annaliese Beery ex ’97
[Cyrillic] DABNEY
Library
Home of the Communist Cluster
↑ [handprints]
(fall ’97 — ’06 or earlier)
Artist: Walt Ogburn ’99, Elisa Chiang ’01, Regina "Wedge" Cheung ’01, Kyle Alvine ’99
Multicolored handprints, with artists’ signatures.
Location: Blacker Kremlin stairs entryway
↑ Happy Hamburger
(’81 or earlier — ’87 or later)
From “The T.B. Guide” on the Firesign Theatre album Dear Friends (1972)
Location: Dabney in an unknown alley
Photo: Coral Clark
HAPPY HAMBURGER
WILL NOW RECITE
THE BOOK OF THE
DEAD...
↑ [Happy Toilet]
(graffito)
(’80–’84 — ?)
Artist: Stuart Goodnick ’84
Written to encourage a certain freshman to adopt tidier habits.
Location: Dabney in a bathroom stall
Happy Toilet says, “Flush me or die!”
↑ HARF
(graffito)
(early ’70s — ?)
Artist: Mark Parisi ’75
The word “HARF.”
Location: Dabney above a door frame
↑ [He’s dead, Jim]
(graffito)
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney in an unknown alley
Photo: Coral Clark
“He’s Dead, Jim”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m a doctor, we must know these things.”
“Well, poke him once to make sure.”
“Why are you poking me, doctor?” he said, with raised eyebrow.
↑ [He died]
(graffito)
(’04 or earlier — ’04 or later)
Location: Dabney Alley 4
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
↑ [height map]
(’79 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney
Photo: Coral Clark
↑ Hell
(flames: ’93–’94; hopscotch: ’98–’99 — ’06)
Artist: flames: frosh class of ’93; hopscotch: unknown.
Some flames are dedicated to those who had flamed out. Hopscotch diagram is made of duct tape.
Location: Blacker Hell
↑ [Herculean Tesla]
(’97 — 2/12/04 or later)
Location: Dabney Alley 4, east end
Photo: Annaliese Beery ex ’97
97
↑ [highways for stretchmarks]
(’05 or earlier — ’06)
A quote from “My I.Q.,” by singer Ani DiFranco.
Location: Ricketts in an unknown room
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
i got highways for stretchmarks see where ive grown
–– ad
↑ [Hope Is a Painful Emotion]
(’96 — ’06)
Artist: Valerie Anderson ’99
Location: Dabney Upper 7
Photo: Everett Howe ’86
↑ HOUSE 7
(graffito)
(ca. ’80 — ’87 or later)
Painted when Alley 7 was considering secession. Appears in Real Genius.
Location: Dabney stairs from courtyard to Upper 7, north wall
Photo: Coral Clark
(detail)
HOUSE
7
↑ [if tonight never ends]
(graffito)
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney in an unknown alley
Photos: Coral Clark
If tonight never ends,
Tomorrow will never come.
Stagnation.
Thank Odin for entropy.
STORMRIDE
“Welcome to Heat Death, California, cowboy.”
But this Hotel is cold.
3°K. It’s a lonely place.
If
tomorrow never comes,
tonight will never end.
On
the other hand,
it may just be
the end of the world.
If the sun didn’t come up, people would just go to work and pay income tax and die by the clock as though nothing had happened – –
except they’d complain about the electric bills.
↑ I know that you know nothing
(graffito)
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney in an unknown kitchen?
Photo: Coral Clark
I know that you know nothing.
I don’t know about that. _
Yeah, I know.
Doesn’t matter, though.
Matter is relative.
You know?
“No matter where you go” I know.
How do you know where I go?
↑ [Interhouse 7 highway shield]
(ca. ’80 — ca. ’80 or later)
Artist: Jim Angel ’81
Location: Dabney Upper 7, along the hallway above the Servery
↑ [It ain’t illegal yet]
(graffito)
(’06 or earlier — ’06)
Location: Dabney Alley 5 kitchen
Photo: Everett Howe ’86
Think! It ain’t illegal yet!
↑ [Jack and the Beanstalk]
(graffito)
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney
Photo: Coral Clark
Exodus Chapter 31 Verses 1–3
1. And it came to pass, that Jack did
run forth and through the temple of the
Giant, that he might bring salvation unto
Goose and Harp.
2. But, lo, then did the Giant, with a
sharp ear and short wit, hear them, and
even as unto a hammered thumb did he
pronounce great oaths, and did call upon false
idols, among these, Elvis, that He should bring
evil unto them.
3. And fe fi fo fum said he unto
them, though he knew not what it meant,
nor has anyone known before or since,
not even God or Elvis.
↑ [jester (female)]
(’92–’93 — ’04 or later)
Artist: Andrea Cavalluzzo ex ’94
Location: Dabney Alley 1, west wall, left of room 2 (now D18)
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
(detail)
↑ [Jesus was a parthenogen]
(graffito)
(’80 or earlier — ’84 or later)
Location: Dabney (Alley 5?)
Jesus was a Parthenogen.
↑ [Kandinsky–esque with splatter ceiling]
(7/88 — ’06)
Artist: Josh Kurutz ’89
Location: Ricketts Crud, room 59 (now R65)
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
↑ [king on horse]
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Mounted king holding a ram’s horn aloft.
Location: Dabney in an unknown alley
Photo: Coral Clark
↑ [landscape]
(’97–’98 school year — ’06)
Artist: Ellen Martin ’99
Moody and romantic. Covered one wall.
Location: Blacker Vatican, room 23 (now B12)
↑ LD circuit breaker box
(7/10/05 or earlier)
Location: Ricketts LD, south end, east wall
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
LD
↑ [LIFE: It grows on you]
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney
Photo: Coral Clark
REVERSAL
LIFE! [overpainted on DEATH]
It grows on you.
↑ [M.C. Escher]
(spring ’90 — ’91–’92)
Artist: Matt Kidd ’90
Location: Blacker Upper P, room 18 (now B38)
↑ M51
(’78 — ’82 or later)
Artist: Fred Harris ’77
A ceiling mural of the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) and its companion, rendered in several colors of fluorescent paint, each representing a different wavelength of light.
Location: Dabney Alley 5, room 28 (now D1)
↑ Maxwell’s silver equations
(graffito)
(early ’70s — ’82 or later)
Parody of the Beatles song “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer.”
Location: Dabney at bottom of stairs from Alley 3 to Alley 4?
Bang bang, Maxwell’s field equations came down upon his head,
Bang bang, Maxwell’s field equations made sure that he was dead.
↑ [maze]
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney in an unknown alley
Photo: Coral Clark
↑ memorial pillars
(graffito)
(’91 — ’06)
Names of certain Moles who have left without graduating, chalked on the pillars.
Location: Blacker courtyard
↑ [monkey]
(’95 or earlier — ’04 or later)
Artist: Holly Hofer
Location: Dabney Alley 1
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
↑ [mosaic mushroom cloud]
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney in an unknown alley
Photo: Coral Clark
↑ [neurotic’s alphabet]
(graffito)
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney in an unknown alley
Photo: Coral Clark
A is for anxiety
B is for breakdown
C is for catatonic
D is for depression
E is for electroshock
F is for Freud
G is for group therapy
H is for hysteria
I is for infantile
J is for Jung
K is for Kafkaesque
L is for lobotomy
M is for manic–depressive
N is for neurosis
O is for Oedipal conflict
P is for psychotic
↑ [No spewing]
(early ’70s — ?)
Two parking signs
Location: Dabney Upper 7
No spewing between signs
↑ [Odysseus escaping from the Cyclops]
(’05 or earlier — ’06)
Location: Ricketts Snatch, right of room 26 (now R38)
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
↑ [oh, how I love to be a frosh!]
(graffito)
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney in an unknown alley
Photo: Coral Clark
↑ [old murals]
(probably pre–’86 — ’06)
An old mural underneath the paint.
Location: Blacker Tunnel (?) kitchen
Photo: Ben Smith ’94
↑ [one–eyed girl]
(’92–’93 — ’04 or later)
Artist: Heidi Hofer ’96
Location: Dabney Alley 1, north end, west wall
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
↑ Opium
(graffito)
(early ’70s — ’82 or later)
Parodies Karl Marx.
Location: Dabney at bottom of stairs from Alley 3 to Alley 4?
Opium is the religion of the masses—BZZZzzzzzT!
↑ [outer space]
(’04 or earlier — ’04 or later)
Location: Dabney Alley 1?, in an unknown room
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
DANDY’S
↑ [Pardon me]
(graffito)
(’04 or earlier — ’04 or later)
From the Incubus song "Pardon Me" (1999).
Location: Dabney Alley 1?, in an unknown room
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
(detail)
Pardon me while I burst into flames.
↑ [pastel monkey]
(’04 or earlier — ’04 or later)
Location: Dabney Alley 5
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
↑ Pegasus
(early ’80s — ’06)
Artist: Misha Mahowald ’85
The logo of the Steve Miller Band.
Location: Ricketts in an unknown room
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
(detail)
↑ Penrose tiling
(summer ’98 — ’06)
Artists: Andrew Childs ’00 and others
On one wall.
Location: Blacker Vatican, room 24 (now B15A)
↑ [people are too busy]
(graffito)
(’04 or earlier — ’04 or later)
Location: Dabney stairs from Alley 5 to Alley 6
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
(detail)
people are
too busy
contemplating
on the nothings
of things
–– Boyd
↑ [Pfeiffer cartoon]
(? — before fall ’79)
From a Jules Pfeiffer cartoon.
Location: B, possibly south wall of Tunnel
↑ [Phil Collins]
(graffito)
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney in an unknown alley
Photo: Coral Clark
“Now here’s Phil Collins with his hit song, Su–Su–SudafedTM
(pseu–pseu–pseudoephedrine Hydrochloride, 30mg)”
↑ [Plus ça change]
(’98 or earlier — ’98 or later)
The quotation is from Alphonse Karr.
Location: Dabney Alley 2 bathroom
Snr. Ratón sez pLus ÇA
change... Plus c’est la même chose
[Spanish and French] Mr. Mouse sez The more things change, the more they stay the same
↑ [poem: 8 lines]
(’04 or earlier — ’04 or later)
Location: Dabney Alley 4, west wall
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
(detail)
↑ [poem under stairs]
(graffito)
(’04 or earlier — ’04 or later)
Location: Dabney Alley 3 near stairs to Alley 4
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
(detail)
↑ poetry wall room
(’05 or earlier — ’06)
Location: Blacker in an unknown room
Photo: Ben Smith ’94
[Spanish]
Words? Yes, of air,
and in the air lost.
Let me lose myself within words,
let me be the air in some lips,
a contourless vagabond blowing
that the air causes to vanish.
The light, too, loses itself in itself.
–– Octavio Paz, “Poet’s Destiny”
↑ [Proto–fascist Storm Troopers]
(graffito)
(’85? — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney
Photo: Coral Clark
Now, the makers of “The Colorado Convertible Clobberings” bring you
an exciting new film the whole family will enjoy. Yes, in its first
American premiere opening, it won praise from critics alike. Now
you, too, can experience—
“Proto–fascist Storm Troopers from Michigan”
(“Proto–fascist Stormtroopers” is copyright ©1985, and “Storm Trooper” is one word.)
↑ [psychedelic landscape]
(’04 or earlier — ’04 or later)
Location: Dabney Alley 5
Photos: Jess Gray ’05
↑ [quiet alley]
(graffito)
(’04 or earlier — ’04 or later)
Location: Dabney Alley 5
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
↑ Rasta swordsman
(’98 or earlier — ’98 or later)
Location: Dabney Upper 7, east wall
↑ [rat with bottle]
(’79–’80 — ’81 or later)
Artist: Marlene Kramm (friend of Jean Richter ’81)
A six–foot rat, slightly menacing, holding a half–empty bottle.
Location: Dabney Alley 5
↑ Reality by God inc.
(spring ’88 — ’04 or later)
Artist: Marziah Karch
Self–portrait, painted when the artist was 16.
Location: Dabney stairs from Alley 5 to Alley 6
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
[Mirror writing]
Reality
by
God inc.
illus. by
Marziah
Karch
↑ [Reality is for people]
(graffito)
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney in an unknown alley
Photo: Coral Clark
Reality is for people who can’t handle drugs.
↑ [red and yellow bird]
(’04 or earlier — ’04 or later)
Location: Dabney Alley 5
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
(detail)
↑ [rhinoceros beetle]
(’05 or earlier — ’06)
Location: Ricketts Up Your double (room 7 (now R8))
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
↑ [Roach Motel]
(9/8/86 — ’87 or later)
Artist: Madelyn Gilbert
Location: Dabney in an unknown alley, near a kitchen?
Photo: Coral Clark
WHERE
ROACHES
CHECK
IN
BUT, THEY
DON’T
CHECK
OUT
Madelyn 9/8/86
↑ [rocket]
(’04 or earlier — ’04 or later)
Location: Dabney stairs from Alley 3 to Alley 4
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
(detail)
↑ [sad faces]
(’92–’93 — ’04 or later)
Artist: Heidi Hofer ’96
Location: Dabney Alley 1
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
↑ [Schroeder and Lucy]
(’04 or earlier — ’04 or later)
From Charles Schulz’s comic strip “Peanuts.”
Location: Dabney Alley 4
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
↑ shag carpeting
(’78–’82 — ’82 or later)
Artist: Bruce Rogers ’82
The room had shag carpeting on the wall.
Location: Dabney Alley 5, room 28 (now D1)
↑ [sign on the dotted line]
(graffito)
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney in an unknown alley
Photo: Coral Clark
*q(x) = x – x3/3! + x5/5! – x7/7! + ... + (–1)n–1x2n–1/(2n–1)! + ... †
† p. 436, Calculus, Tom M. Apostol. 2nd Ed.
Sign on the dotted line
↑ [Sleep rescue me]
(’05 or earlier — ’06)
Paper images with hand–drawn interstitial material.
Location: Ricketts in an unknown room
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
↑ [snake and tiger]
(’98 or earlier — ’04 or later)
Location: Dabney Alley 6
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
↑ [Some were sedated]
(graffito)
(’85? — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney in an unknown alley
Photo: Coral Clark
“Some were sedated or chained to
their beds, and could not
escape.
Those who did escape wandered
into the night.”
Silent Radio
4–29–85
↑ [SOUTH]
(graffito)
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney in an unknown alley
Photo: Coral Clark
↑ squid
(’04 or earlier — ’04 or later)
Location: Dabney Alley 4–6 passageway (temporary wall in library)
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
↑ [squiggles]
(’05 or earlier — ’06)
View into Alley 4.
Location: Dabney Alley 6
Photo: Everett Howe ’86
↑ Starchild
(’05 or earlier — ’06)
Location: Ricketts
Photo: Augusto Callejas ’01
Starchild
↑ [starship]
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney
Photo: Coral Clark
↑ [Star Wars: Cloud City]
(’06 or earlier)
Location: Blacker (?) in an unknown stairwell
↑ [stegosaurus]
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney in an unknown alley
Photo: Coral Clark
THE MICROWAVE
THE PAST
↑ [still life]
(12/74 — ’04 or later)
Location: Dabney Alley 5
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
[monogram: AT?]
12
74
↑ Stills from the film: “Gas”
(’84 or earlier — ’87)
Appears in Real Genius.
Wall was knocked out to expand a kitchen.
Location: Dabney
↑ Stills from the film: “Ripping...”
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Photo: Coral Clark
poik
Figure 27. Stills from the Film “Ripping the
Arms out of your sockets trying to Fly
on the Moon in a Box.”
(Courtesy of Others)
↑ subliminal smiley face
(1/07)
A smiley face painted yellow on a yellow background.
Location: Ricketts LD, on a north wall at junction with Crud
↑ [The Donk mural]
(ca. ’80 — ’06)
Artist: Don Korycansky ’82
Location: Ricketts stairs from Up Your to Herc
Photo: Nick Hutzler ’07
↑ The Earth is flat
(graffito)
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney in an unknown alley
Photo: Coral Clark
The Earth is flat
And that is that.
I cannot see
How it could be
A ball that’s round.
Theories abound
That say it’s so
But, Hey, I know
The Earth is flat
And that is that.
The Earth is round
the theory is sound
It’s plain to see
At least to me.
When viewed from space
it’s as plain as the nose on your face
Then the Earth is round
(It’s not profound)
↑ The Fool tarot card (Blacker)
(’88? — ’00 or later)
Artist: Mike McDonald ’89
Location: Blacker inside courtyard door on south side
↑ The Fool tarot card (Dabney)
(7/89)
Artists: RMT and two others
Location: Dabney Alley 5
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
THE FOOL.
Dedicated to Erin Hellner
July 27, 1989
↑ The function of poetry
(graffito)
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney
Photo: Coral Clark
The function of poetry
is religious invocation
of the Muse;
its use is the experience
of mixed exultation and
horror that her presence
excites
↑ The Marley–Einstein Conspiracy
(’98 or earlier — ’98 or later)
Location: Dabney Alley 2, north end
E = mc2,
mon
the
MARLEY–
EINSTEIN
CONSPIRACY
↑ The Moon tarot card
(8/89)
Artists: RMT, VH, SD, and two others
Location: Dabney Alley 5
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
THE MOON.
Dedicated to Erin Hellner
August 2, 1989
↑ [There’s you]
(graffito)
(’81 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney in an unknown alley
Photo: Coral Clark
There’s you...
And there’s this pile of papers.
The pile of papers exists to serve you,
not the other way around.
— R.G.
↑ The Wall of (relatively) Great Books
(graffito)
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney Alley 4, library
Photo: Coral Clark
↑ The Waste Land
(8/99 — ’04 or later)
Artist: Egon Pasztor ’96
Location: Dabney stairs from Alley 3 to Alley 4
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
The Waste Land
One Day I really
will finish coloring
the above!
Love,
Egon P.
Visitor
Aug. ’99
↑ [this isn’t graffiti]
(graffito)
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney in an unknown alley
Photo: Coral Clark
[upside–down]
THIS ISN’T GRAFITI
IT’S AN EQUATION.
[upside–down]
THIS ISN’T GRAFFITI
IT’S UPSIDE DOWN
↑ This stuff is Mine
(graffito)
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney in an unknown alley
Photo: Coral Clark
“This stuff is Mine!”
This message brought to you today
by the Committee to Re–Elect God,
as well as by the letter I and by
the numbers 1 and 8.
Sesame Street is a production of
The Children’s Television Workshop.
↑ [toothy smiles]
(’04 or earlier — ’04 or later)
Location: Dabney Alley 4, south wall, across from room 19 (now D47)
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
(detail)
↑ [Viking canvas]
(’96 — ?)
Artist: Mike Stage ’97
Painted for Interhouse.
Location: Blacker
↑ [viscosity poem]
(’98 or earlier — ’06)
Artist: Clifford Ellgen ’99
Richardson was the first to apply mathematical models to meteorology. The poem was written in 1920.
(Additional information)
Location: Dabney stairs from Alley 1 to Alley 2
Big whorls have little whorls
Which feed on their velocity,
And little whorls have lesser whorls
And so on to viscosity.
–– Lewis F. Richardson
↑ [we don’t swim in your toilet]
(graffito)
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney in an unknown alley
Photo: Coral Clark
↑ [Winnie–the–Pooh and friends]
(’04 or earlier — ’04 or later)
Based on the Disney characters.
Location: Dabney Alley 4
Photo: Jess Gray ’05
↑ X–Men
(ca. ’79 — ca. ’79 or later)
Artist: Bruce Miller ’80
From the comic book series. About 3’ high x 2’ wide.
Location: Dabney Alley 5, south wall, west end
β α μ
↑ Yoramnifera
(ca. ’80 — ca. ’80 or later)
A reference to Yoram Meroz.
Location: Dabney
↑ [Youthink]
(graffito)
(’87 or earlier — ’87 or later)
Location: Dabney in an unknown alley
Photo: Coral Clark
↑ ZAR
(before fall ’89 — summer ’93)
The word “ZAR” (a card game popular in Blacker) as an ambigram.
Location: Blacker Swamp, right of door to courtyard
↑ Acknowledgements: | |||||
Jens Alfke ’87 | Coral Clark | Marziah Karch | Mason Porter ’98 | Steve Smith ’78 | |
Steve Allen ’82 | Jeff Cox ’04 | Alan Kleinsasser ’74 | C.P. Price ’76 | Ray Spears ’73 | |
Kent Asmussen ex ’69 | Eric Eichorn ’81 | Andrea Kung ’05 | Paul Ré ’72 | Tory Sturgeon ’02 | |
Brian Aydemir ’04 | Shelley Erwin | Josh Kurutz ’89 | Priya Rai ’97 | Jason Surace ’92 | |
Adam Azarchs ’05 | Brent Eubanks ’95 | Tom Lechner ex ’95 | Anne Rajala ’06 | Steve Sweeney ’76 | |
Christoph Baranec ’01 | Jim Fruchterman ’80 | Yorkman Lowe ex ’72 | Jean Richter ’81 | Mike(y) Thien ’82 | |
Chandra Barnett ’07 | Steve Gabriel ex ’70 | Cathy Marshall ’77 | Gunnar Ristroph ’06 | Dalina Thrift-Viveros ’07 | |
Mark Bartelt ’69 | Stuart Goodnick ’84 | Raquel Martinez ’08 | Erich Schneider ’91 | Eric Uhrhane ’96 | |
Ram Basu ’84 | Jess Gray ’05 | John McCluskey III ’81 | Allen Schwenk ’68 | Jonathan Vos Post ’73 | |
Annaliese Beery ex ’97 | Megan Guichard ’04 | Rory McKenna | Joel Seely ’86 | Fred Ware ’74 | |
John Bender PhD ’07 | Jennifer Hawley ’08 | Cindy (Machacek) Noble ’94 | Steve Shaiman ’72 | Frank Zdybel ’71 | |
Clark Brooks ’83 | Heidi Hofer ’96 | Seth Noble ’94 | Chelsea Sharon ’07 | ||
Augusto Callejas ’01 | Everett Howe ’86 | Barbara Novak ’98 | Tatyana Shatova ’08 | ||
Julian Chen ’93 | Nick Hutzler ’07 | Bonnie Petheram ex ’83 | Ben Smith ’94 | ||