East Lansing walls, windows and doors are evolving into loudspeakers for opinions about the war with Iraq these days.
Before the first bombs dropped on Baghdad, war demonstrators began painting their feelings on the outside of Grand River Avenue businesses.
In bold red letters, the words "NO WAR" were spray-painted on the front window and side wall of The Gap, as well as the side window of Starbucks on March 17.
Employees of The Gap, 435 E. Grand River Ave., returned to work the next morning to see the paint covering the front display window.
Staff members agreed the graffiti needed to come down.
Gap manager Paul Dodson said it was an annoyance that his place of work was targeted.
"It really pissed me off," the Lansing Community College psychology student said. "It was interesting that it was just big corporations."
The store filed a police report and contacted a clean-up crew through the corporation to take care of the paint.
Corporate officials followed up by sending out a notice regarding safety precautions during war times and handling protesters or possible threats.
Employees at Starbucks, 401 E. Grand River Ave., declined comment.
The walls of campus haven't been spared war rhetoric. Several locations - often bathroom stalls and walls - have emerged as hot spots for opinion artists.
Stall doors of the women's bathroom located on the third floor of Student Services bears three anti-war messages centered on a similar theme.
"We are not powerless! Resist this capitalist war."
"We are not powerless! Resist this sexist war."
"We are not powerless! Resist this racist war."
This last message was crossed out with a permanent marked X.
In Wells Hall, the stalls in one men's bathroom are covered with pro-war messages such as "pray for war" and "If we don't go to war then the terrorists continue to strengthen and multiply."
For those using the urinals, there's plenty of messages to read at eye-level. "Rules" in "Iraq rules," was crossed out to read "Iraq drools" in the Wells Hall bathroom.
But not all the messages are rated PG. Some pro-war messages used profanity to emphasize their opinions.
Glaring at the graffiti while using a urinal, finance senior Adam Smith said such profanity is used to make up for an inability to make clear arguments.
"They just come with the swear words and profanity," he said, referencing graffiti that alludes to the death of Iraqis.
Smith said the pro-war graffiti writers' use of obscenity shows their reluctance to understand the anti-war argument.
Susan Bannen, a janitor at Berkey Hall, said she noticed war graffiti for the first time this week. Janitors in Berkey clean up graffiti as soon as they see it with a bottle labeled "Vandal Mark Remover," she said, adding the west side of the building was vandalized Monday night with war graffiti.
Outside the west entrance of Berkey, a partially torn anti-war flyer cautioning the death of Iraqi children had "Saddam gassed me" scribbled on it with an arrow pointing to a child.
The same flyer was posted near the south entrance with the sarcastic message, "Remember American children don't matter, it's OK to kill them."
Sarah Frank can be reached at franksa2@msu.edu. Joey Guillen can be reached at guillenj@msu.edu.
