“There’s nothing going on at this school!” How many times have you heard every Evergreener’s favorite complaint? We used to have culture. From stories about Kurt Cobain playing shows in the apartments to the empty spaces in the woods where treehouses used to be, it seems like everyone I meet is stuck wishing for the good old days. Now let’s talk to the people who are trying to do something about this, the coordinators of the newly established CCTV club.
First of all, What is CCTV all about?
W: It’s all about building things. The point of the club is to turn Evergreen into what we actually came here for.
E: CCTV stands for Creative Counterculture Void. The T stands for culTure! And then put in a nerd emoji.
W: The T stands for Trolling! Yeah, Creative Counterculture Void. It’s kind of a play on the school in that it’s a void of anything interesting.
E: It’s to build community. To build events, to build traditions. To build a fucking place to go.
W: Right now this place is a glorified community college, essentially, but it’s full of the most interesting creative people I’ve met in my entire life. That’s no exaggeration, they’re all here. And if I didn’t meet them here I met them through friends I made here. And yet we don’t do interesting shit. And that’s really frustrating to me, and I know everybody wants to do it, so let’s just get together and do it.
E: There’s become this certain sense of stagnancy at this college, and I’ve been noticing that in my first year here, and I would like to get that to stop. I would like to have more fun events that I enjoy going to.
W: Personally I am sick of how corporate it feels, like I live in an office in some ways, it seems like people are waiting for the bureaucracy to go “ok now it’s time, we can do fun stuff!” they’re never gonna do that, they’re never gonna tell us, “ok go build treehouses now, go paint this mural,” they’re never gonna say that. It’s on us as students to make that change, to make this place what we want it to be, and ultimately that’s what this club is about.
What obstacles have you faced in trying to get stuff done at this school?
W: Essentially what I found is the second you want to do anything through the bureaucracy it takes substantially longer. But really the only reason to go through the bureaucracy is for funding. But you really don’t need money to have a good time. My number one barrier has been the fallacy that going through the bureaucracy is the ultimate best way to do things here.
E: In terms of barriers at this school, I’ve found there’s not very strong ones from a bureaucratic angle, at least so far with what I’ve done, and I haven’t done much. Everyone that’s been in my path in working on what I want to work on has been very helpful. My biggest barrier is probably emails, but that’s a personal thing.
What is your vision for Evergreen?
W: I want to exist in an environment that’s creatively abundant. I want to go outside and see a quarter pipe laid outside the HCC. I wanna walk outside and see some beautiful mural or a treehouse I’ve never seen before. And on a Friday night, I don’t want to go, “oh, what am I gonna do, am I just gonna stay inside and watch movies with my friends for the 8th week in a row, I wanna go–”
E: “–what the hell DO I do, there’s so many options.”
W: Exactly. The reason I wanted to go to this college is to see things I couldn’t have imagined before. I want to see art forms I’ve never heard of and go meet people who do strange interesting stuff that I didn’t even consider. And I don’t have a clue what that looks like, but it sure doesn’t look like this. Whoever’s reading this, I imagine has some idea of what they want Evergreen to look like, and that’s what I want, I want to live in the world that all these beautiful creative people want to create. And if everyone makes a minor difference to this environment, fucking anything, it could be once a week you dress up as pirates and scream and run around campus and throw water baloons at the administration. Whatever! As long as you’re doing something creative and interesting and truly unpredictable. Somebody said once, “a fearless disregard of convention,” and that’s what I’m here for.
E: I agree with you, I want to see the culmination of a million visions for what this college can be. In harmony, ideally–
W: Fuck it! Chaos!
E: I want there to be more traditions at this school. And those have to be started by you, the reader, but start ’em!
W: We need to come together and do something really, really stupid.
E: Too many smartasses at this school, give me more dumbasses!
W: We need to come together and be the queer rejects we all are. And not try and hide from it in our depressed holes.
Where do you see this school in 10 years? What do you hope will be the long term impact of this club?
E: I see a college rife with tradition, ideally. And rife with student built structures for getting around bureaucracy. Allegedly. And a bureaucracy that’s better funded because people actually want to go here. They don’t go on campus tours and say, “ew, these people are miserable.” They say, “oh my god, these people are having a great time, and they’re so smart when I talk to them” – cause you know, Evergreen students, you’re smartasses. And you should start acting like it. I want this school to succeed.
W: I think in 10 years, this place is going to be a pile of rubble. And I think we’re gonna have an even more creative and interesting and motivated class of students who’re going to take that challenge and roll with it. And they’ll have the inspiration of the things that you made, and they’ll see what you’re doing now, and what you plan to do, as a beacon of hope. We don’t come here for the bullshit infrastructure, but for the people. People like you, and like I’m sitting here with now.
What’s your advice for other greeners that want this place to stop sucking so bad???
E: Go into student activities and start making a fuss.
W: Come to CCTV!
E: And THEN go to student activities. And ask any club that even vaguely is near what you want to do.
W: Go to receptionist desks and ask the people behind them questions. Go “hey, have you ever heard of someone doing this, and who should I go to?” but start at CCTV, because we’re bad bitches. If you ever have any question of if something can be done, come to us and I can almost guarantee we’ll say yes.
E: It’s just a matter of doing it, and we’ll help you do that.
W: Anybody can make a meaningful impact. I really want to hammer in, anybody who tells you it can’t be done doesn’t have a fucking clue what they’re talking about.
