"I will not play tug o' war. I'd rather play hug o' war. Where everyone hugs instead of tugs, Where everyone giggles and rolls on the rug, Where everyone kisses, and everyone grins, and everyone cuddles, and everyone wins." -Shel Silverstein
For our performance art we wanted to offer some comfort and unexpected happiness to people during this time of cold weather and end-of-semester stress. We wanted to do it in an even more public setting, but did not want to compromise our safety (and it is windy out there!), so we did our piece in the Ragsdale building. Ragsdale could guarantee lots of passersby as well as a certain amount of comfort and security. We set up our office in the hallway with Patton and Bella sitting at their desk with a chair for potential participants part of the time, and part of the time they were standing and making themselves a little more obvious. Hannah was across from them secretly documenting the exchanges. We had two signs, one that read "Free therapy and esteem building (not a licensed professional)" and the other read "Step into my warm embrace."
We stayed in the hallway for about 45 minutes and received 7 hugs as well as countless laughs and a few scowls. The general reaction was that people were amused or uncomfortable. Many people stopped to ask about why we were doing this. No one really offered up any deep-dark secrets, which may have been for the best. Men seemed to be more willing to receive hugs than women.
Overall we had a lot of fun doing this project and we believe we succeeded in providing some warmth and joy for strangers.
"Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can." -John Wesley
-Patton, Hannah, and Bella-
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