Monday, February 28, 2011

I'm trying something different.

I would like to take this opportunity to make a bit of a stretch for this semiotic analysis. Most of the guys here will choose some flag or big W as the sign they will analyze. I, however, am going to choose a man. That man is Jake Gilbert; a better symbol of Wabash than any logo or picture you will find on this campus. Jake Gilbert, the tangible man, works as a signifier for all that is Wabash. As a man of fierce passion and integrity, Jake Gilbert is the man that represents all Wabash Men, men that are advertised as passionate, intelligent, and the ultimate type of gentlemen. We, the signified Wabash Men, are dully represented by a man that demonstrates what we strive for as we attempt to develop our own sense of masculinity and self-reliance. By combining the Wabash Man that Jake Gilbert is with the Wabash Men that we are becoming we are left with a sign of all that is Wabash in him. True, this is a stretch, likely unorthodox. However, it is in the spirit of Wabash to push the boundaries anyway.

1 comment:

  1. It seems to me we have to be careful in applying such a close critical lens to anything. While this comment could be posted on any of the blogs about Wabash tradition, it is especially fitting to post it on the one concerning a person. Would a post structuralist not seek to tear down every aspect of Jake Gilbert in order to find a defininition of Wabash past and present. And would this not ultimately prove to be impossible since human nature is to evolve and change in many aspects? I guess the overall point I'm trying to make is that it seems to me to be the case that by applying something like post-structuralism to a given situation we're simply left with no meaning at all.

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