We are all familiar with discomfort. For instance, sometimes we encounter situations in which we are stuck in an unfamiliar place, looking to fulfill that one need – the need for a bathroom.
Today, our group took this very source of discomfort into account. After several discussions, and some interviewing of the citizens of Paonia itself, we made a map of businesses downtown which allow the public to use their bathrooms.
The map itself is mainly of Grand Avenue, with symbols to denote businesses with bathrooms available to the public at large, businesses whose bathrooms are customers only, and spots that are simply out of sight or discreet. There’s also a corner sectioned off to map out the location of the park and its own public bathroom. We used hearts to show businesses who would let anyone use their bathroom, while a dollar sign showed the businesses that required a purchase, or only allowed customers to use their bathroom. For the hidden spots, or ‘squat spots’, we used a winky face.
Creating it took around half an hour of interviewing residents, two hours of exploring the town and talking to business owners and employees, and another hour or so of designing, drawing, and miscellaneous travel. In the end, however, we were all satisfied and proud of the finished product.
Today’s task challenged us all to come up with creative goals, and make them a reality. The whole group was involved in not only the information gathering, but also the design and the artwork itself. It allowed us to build skills as a team, and to create something that was a unique product of us working together. In addition, we believe it will be a truly useful map, and we’re going to hand out copies of it at the local harvest festival this weekend. We enjoyed the challenge immensely, and we all have a sensation of accomplishment with our results!