The Resilience of West Union – Colton Ortiz
What you Hear:
WU is still alive – with workers, students, and the noise of attempted normalcy, the sound of coping. While an image may simply show a lack of students with a few workers, this recording shows the bumble of machinery moving dishes, workers operating grills, and a quiet but audible chatter of students.
What you see:
This year, while there is no indoor seating, no meetings, and fewer food offerings, WU was still somewhat familiar, although it obviously has signs of a COVID infected world all over it, be it the stacked chairs or the caution tape used to direct student traffic. Students appear cautious to be there and many of them hurry in and out no matter what time of day it is. Also, despite the reduction in students, there are still students at WU nearly every hour of the day, from start to close.
What is captured:
While an image may simply show a lack of students with a few workers, this recording shows the bumble of machinery moving dishes, workers operating grills, and a quiet but audible chatter of students. This emphasizes very clearly the effort that many people are putting in to maintain our educational environment, including the workers.
What is absent:
Most notable is naturally the absence of student, be they chatting, walking, or ordering food. However, their absence allows us to hear the workers and the bustling noise of the work being done in WU.
