Vent 3

B"H


Jon Stewart once said, “Insomnia is my greatest inspiration.” What that has to do with the rest of what I want to say.. I’m not sure. Last night, or more hourly correct, this morning at round about 4, I thought I would do my deed of good for the day by placing the key for Wits’ very own red light district (the photographic darkroom) in an undisclosed location within the John Moffit building. A relatively simple task, I imagined.

Ready to go home after I had hidden the key, I walked down to the double glass barrier that awaited my card to be faced with quite a predicament. The predicament was as follows. My card had been swiped. I was in the superfluous cubicle to be met by a second glass door that had now jammed. Remembering that it was 4 in the morning, I wasn’t expecting too many people to be paying the JM any rescue visits. I roamed the studio to look for another way out. Now here is the nitty grtty that I want to raise. How on earth does anybody get out of that building if the electronic lock jam (which they have been rumoured to do!). That building is a fortress if things don’t go well. In the case of fires, general emergencies, anything, how do we get out? After about half an hour of roaming the building and considering pretty much every possible solution, I resorted to either taking a door off the hinges or kicking the glass out to get out. Now here is the second issue of discussion. If I broke the glass door to get out, purely because of Wits’ apathy to fixing anything, am I responsible for payment? Perhaps the legal eagles in the class could comment?

I think it’s about time that somebody starts voicing the student body’s disgust in the Wits’ facilities, both lack and lethargy towards repair and maintenance. We aren’t allowed to design deconstruction like shapes, but if one trys to draw a line on any drawing board in our faculty, u can’t get anything but a curve. Printers don’t work when they are supposed to, and doors jam at 4 in the morning! We pay R22 000 to be there and we are in a poo hole of a building with no decent facilities. Down to something simple. Studio Culture – assuming that we all stayed in the studio to work. Where do we sit? there are not enough chairs. On what do we draw? There aren’t enough drafting board! Ah, the classic argument. Use a table. WE ARE IN A SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE!!!!! GET ME A BOARD, OR DROP THE COMPUTER ISSUE!!! What institute of architecture that has been around for as long as Wits has, doesn’t have boards?!

The end of the story is that the door miraculously opened, when I went down to kick it out.. Chuck Norris can’t even do that.

Please comment and maybe we can start something to get facilities, mended or replaced.