Narrative: “Misguided Ghost”
“Snitch!! You little snitch! We have to go to a hearing with the department of housing because of you!” a student shouted to Danny on campus as Danny was walking on his way to the Jefferson 2nd Avenue apartments.
Danny kept walking briskly; he wanted to avoid confrontation with this person whose name he didn’t even know. Danny knew exactly what this kid was upset about, but it was not Danny’s fault. Danny didn’t live with that kid’s two friends anymore and he refused to throw them under the bus. He wanted to make his departure swift, not hostile, so he told the department of housing that his dorm was simply too small and crowded for him to live comfortably.
Mike, Jerome, and I were eating lunch and relaxing after class in our apartment when Danny suddenly came in and slammed the door. Scott paused NHL ’11 on the Xbox. Danny was fuming.
“I didn’t even do anything and that kid’s calling me a snitch! I could’ve told the lady at the department of housing what they did and they’d all be screwed. He should be thankful. Dammit, I just wanted to curb stomp him!” Danny hollered.
“What’s wrong, Danny?” I asked.
“That stupid pothead kid who was always hanging around the dorm with my old roommates accused me of turning them in. When that lady asked me why I wanted to cancel my housing contract I made up a reason because I didn’t think they would keep it confidential, and I knew something like this would happen if I ran into any of those guys on campus.”
“Don’t worry about it, Big Dan. Those kids are scrubs. It’s probably their fault they got caught by the RA; their room is right next to his.” Mike reassured him.
“It still pisses me off that they think I’d tell on them. I really don’t care that they do that stuff, I just didn’t feel right living with them,” Danny explained. “I gotta find my own place soon though; I can’t sleep on your floor forever.”
My friend Danny is a freshman here at the University of Florida. Danny began his college experience living in a dorm, just like any other freshman. Danny’s close hometown friend and my roommate, Mike, helped Danny move into his dorm in Riker Hall this past August.
Unfortunately for Danny, he was stuck in a permanent triple dorm with two other freshmen he did not know. He thought it would be alright at first, but one night his two roommates came home inebriated from a party and proceeded to drink whiskey and smoke weed in the dorm until they were throwing up all over the carpet on their floor. While Danny likes to have a good time and is not opposed to going out to parties, he was put in a problematic situation because he did not want to get in trouble with the department of housing at UF.
Danny decided to stay in our apartment at Jefferson 2nd Avenue for a short while until his parents found him another place to live. He didn’t want to try moving into another double or triple dorm with strangers, especially after I told him about my roommates I lived with freshman year. My first roommate dipped chewing tobacco and didn't shower regularly. After a semester, he moved into a fraternity house. My second roommate used to roll blunts on his desk when I wasn't around. He would freak out every time I came back from class and opened the door because he didn't want to get caught.
Mike and I came up with a financial plan for Danny to live with us for the rest of the year, just in case he couldn’t find his own single dorm or apartment. It would’ve been a good deal for all of us, with the exception of a little less space living with five people instead of four. Each of us would save $110 per month on rent if we split the rent evenly five ways. Space wasn’t a big deal though; the apartment is plenty big enough for all of us. The only problem was that Danny didn’t have his own bed. He slept on a memory foam pad with a pillow and blankets between the bed, desk, mini-fridge and bathroom door of Mike’s bedroom. He refused to sleep on the couch because the bright sunlight came through our sliding door balcony window in the morning.
Aside from settling his living situation, Danny wanted to expand his horizons in college. He played ice hockey in high school, and he also played on a travel team with Mike in Tampa two years ago. Mike and I are currently on the Florida Ice Hockey team, but for some reason Danny didn’t want to try out.
Instead, Danny thought about rushing a fraternity in order to make new friends and improve his networking for job opportunities in the future. He rushed a few houses with my roommates, Mike and Scott, until they all received bids for the same fraternity.
When hockey tryouts were about to start, Mike and I almost convinced Danny to play. However, Danny thought pledging while being a student-athlete would put far too much on his plate for his first semester. To this day, Mike and I tell Danny it’s not too late to join the team, but we haven’t been able to get him to come to the ice rink yet. It’s tough traveling to Jacksonville two or three times a week for hockey practices and games.
So far Danny has enjoyed pledging. He’s learning how to balance his time between the fraternity and schoolwork. He found a single room in a Lakeside suite on campus, but he still visits our apartment quite frequently. While he still retains his obnoxious sense of humor, he has matured tremendously. We continue to watch over him, helping him with homework when he, Scott, and Mike aren’t racing around to fraternity events. The lost boy is still trying to find the straightest path to manhood, and we are confident that he will learn to take care of himself at the University of Florida.
Analysis:
The begging of the story contains a Hermeneutic code. The enigma is presented in the first line, when Danny is called a snitch. It makes us wonder why Danny is being yelled at and how the consequences of this confrontation will affect Danny’s college experience. The answer is disclosed bit by bit as we learn why he moved out of his original dorm, and later when he moves into his own single dorm at Lakeside. Finally, Danny found his niche by choosing to pledge the fraternity rather than play ice hockey.
The series of photographs (without the text embedded) creates a false, yet believable story about Danny’s life at UF. The pictures show two friends, Mike and Danny, who live together at UF. Their closet is quite crowded with all of their belongings. Next, we see an altercation between Danny and Jerome, which leads us to believe Danny was kicked out of our Jefferson apartment. Danny’s fight with Jerome angers Mike, and Mike stands on the balcony looking away as Danny walks in the opposite direction down the sidewalk in search of a new home. Danny ends up having to find a random place to stay, sleeping on the floor in an uncomfortable position.
I played around with the order of the series of photographs after I embedded the text. The new sequence of pictures utilizes photographic composition to tell Danny’s true story.
The first picture has symmetric balance with one person on each side, showing a third person perspective of Danny on the left arguing with somebody on the right (who really is my roommate Jerome, but for the sake of this project we’ll say he’s the guy calling Danny a “snitch” at the beginning of the story).
The second picture is a first person perspective (point of view) from the stands of The Swamp, representing the location of the story.
The third picture has asymmetric balance because Mike is standing on the left and Danny is sitting down on the right. It also displays unity because Mike helps Danny throughout the story, especially with his participation in the fraternity. The fraternity is represented by their business casual clothing.
The fourth picture contains depth, showing the size of the closet Danny and Mike shared. The closet is very crowded, as it is meant for one person’s belongings.
The fifth picture is a narrative display of Danny’s “bed” on the floor in Mike’s room. The makeshift bed represents Danny’s struggle with the transition to college life, with the Gators blanket being a metaphor since living at the University of Florida has motivated Danny to mature as a young man.
The sixth photograph contains proportion, with Danny appearing very small compared to the large apartment buildings in the Jefferson area, the setting of the story. This photo also contains leading lines: the road, sidewalk, trees, and tops of the buildings all lead your eye to Danny. Danny appears to be walking away, representing his independence. It makes us wonder if Danny will be successful after moving into his own new dorm on campus.
Finally, the seventh picture shows Mike looking down the street from the balcony. The photo was taken from street level. Mike may be wondering how Danny is doing on his own, possibly hoping Danny will return soon.
The song “Misguided Ghosts” is about a person who learns from their mistakes, which eventually point them in the right direction. Haley Williams sings about trying to find someone to rely on. In the story, Danny relies on Mike for help. The lyrics say “I am going away for a while, but I’ll be back. Don’t try and follow me, because I’ll return as soon as possible.” Even though Danny no longer lives with us, he still returns frequently to spend time with his friends.
