Poster

Posters in support of paper towels in student bathrooms circulated at Mandela International Magnet School in the fall.

Earlier this year, I was walking by the bathrooms at Mandela International Magnet School, where I’m a junior, when a bright-red poster caught my eye. On it, a six-fingered fist leaned against a roll of paper towels that looked more like toilet paper. Both objects were illuminated by rays of light. Underneath the illustration of the Soviet-style fist, the poster read, “Dry hands are a right — not a privilege REBEL.â€

Paper towels had been an issue at our school for a long time. A lot of students felt the hand dryers in the bathroom were both ineffective and unhygienic. The posters — supposedly sponsored by the “Paper Towel Liberation Front,†a group that does not exist at Mandela — had everyone thinking: Will this be what it takes to finally get the dry hands we so desperately wanted? Ultimately, the answer was no, but it did make me wonder how exactly young people use their voices and what can happen as a result.

The Sovietesque propaganda didn’t work on many levels. It seemed like a big joke if anything, while it was a serious problem we had all complained about time and time again. Posters making light of the issue seemed less focused on making a change and more on eliciting a reaction.



Moksh Bhakta is a junior at Mandela International Magnet School. Contact him at moksh.bhakta@mandelainternationalschool.us.

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