I am going into uncharted territory, the office of Ms. Thornton. I expect for the office to tell me about the woman teaching my Composition 1 class. The door and the office should remind me of things she has told me about herself during class. I hope to see evidence that what she has said is valid and true. I have high hopes that the door and the office will tell and show me the things she has yet to say. This office should make me feel as if I've lived her life standing directly in her skin. I have but one goal to achieve, and that is to walk away from this exploration knowing more about Ms. Thornton than I do now.
And so, I journey onto the fifth floor of University Hall down a creepy hallway. The hallway seems to be an endless row of closed doors on the west side of the building. Professor Thornton's office is practically in the middle of the hallway. Like most professors, she has her office hours and her classroom hours posted on a card outside the door. The walls around the milk chocolate brown wooden door to the office are covered with articles, posters, and pictures about World War II. That gives off the feeling that when a person walks further into the office they can expect to see a lot more WWII items throughout the room.
I use the silver handle to open the door and right away I notice that what the door and walls outside the office said about Professor Thornton were correct yet at the same time wrong. At a first glance it seems that she has turned the universities irregularly large office space, into a sort of home away from home. I feel as if just being in this room that I'm being told the story of who Ms. Thornton really is. It tells me she's an honest person because what she told me in class about herself is reflected in the office. It is almost as if she is showing who she is to everyone who comes to see her. The walls are a very pale mushroom grey, and the floor is also grey with a Persian area rug from Iran between the door and the desk. The desk is a whitish gray "L" shaped sectional facing the door with a brown woven spin chair tucked neatly underneath it. On the wall between the desk and the filing cabinet is a poster of Winston Churchill, the leader of Great Britain during WWII, saying "let us go forward together." The poster not only reflects her fascination with WWII but also how she feels about her job as a professor. Behind the desk is a window that has a magnanimous view of Libbey Hall, the original location of the library and then the student union. On the wall next to the chair that is on the left to the window is a poster of Bernie Kosar. Kosar was a quarterback for the Browns a few years back. Looking around again I notice that there is a ton of Browns memorabilia throughout the room from the Browns clock, next to Winston Churchill's poster, to the giant Browns wastebasket, on top of an aluminum shelving system, next to the wooden door that leads to who knows where.
I see three items that look somewhat out of place in this room. Next to the door that leads to some unknown location is a very girly light pink letter "R" with bedazzled jewels intricately placed all over it. Then next to the Giant Browns cup is a little stuffed penguin with a black suit jacket and a red bow tie. On the door frame coming into the office is a very small violin or viola, and the miniature instrument tells me she likes music. I look back at the shelving system with the little monkey and I see a chime clock then I remember what she told me about her childhood and how she grew up hearing the chiming of the clock. Upon seeing these things I begin to think that maybe her childhood is not as bad and terrible as she has led me to believe. I look to my left and I see a metal system of shelves next to the wooden one and I see a coffee pot in the most unlikely of places, on top of the shelves towards the back where it's can not possibly be easily accessed, this tells me she must not have a high liking for coffee. The clock strikes ten, I look at the desk again and I see a small bust sculpture of Thomas Jefferson who was a brilliant writer in his time, in Professor Thornton's opinion. As I look at my surroundings that the way she portrays herself is not only accurate but also with a sense of pride for who she is and what she stands for.
During my exploration of Professor Thornton's office I made many discoveries. While I was discovering who Ms. Thornton was I had many thoughts about how she made herself known without even being physically there. I felt as if I had astro-projected out of my body and into hers, and had relived her life. The office described to me the type of person I expected to learn about. Then when I thought it had nothing more to tell, it gave me insight into a world I had never before journeyed into. I was told about her loyalty to the Browns and to World War II. I achieved the goal I had set out for myself and came away from that office knowing more than I did when I went in.