Redstone vandals make art for love

When the public discovered the havoc that had been wreaked on the unfinished construction site of the Redstone Lofts by three UVM students the morning of April 4, there was much discussion and uproar related to potential costs, move-in dates and the fate of the perpetrators. 

While there has been extensive discourse on the students’ disregard for the property of others, another matter remains more curious — what motivated this group to do something so utterly stupid?

You may be familiar with Graham Greene’s short story, “The Destructors.”  

This work of fiction tells the story of a gang of boys who diligently deconstruct an elderly gentleman’s home from the inside in order to ultimately bring down its superficial structure –definitely serving as a commentary on society.

The allegory working within “The Destructors” is the idea that deconstruction is a means of creation. The act of dismantling, in irony, procures something new, as if destruction is an act of building.

And there it is: the answer to our question. It couldn’t be that these vandals acted on limited reason or, much less, by a drug-induced combat on ennui. 

By tossing toilets out of windows, these students were making a statement on the confines placed on our generation. They took this heated opportunity to rebel and make art.

But perhaps it was not a yearning for art that motivated the group, but instead a more human desire – everyone knows chicks dig art.

Even if such romanticism was not enough for some fawning ladies, others have projected to me their weak-kneed appetites for such stimulating displays of brute strength and animalistic rage as toilet tossing might convey.

These may only by my speculations, however.

The actions of these vandals leave the public wondering why in several respects. Any day of the week would be deplorable, but of all of them, why a Tuesday evening? Why Redstone Lofts? Why do it at all?

Despite everything, these bad boys will have to deal with the consequences and a lifetime of shame. Not everyone’s art is well-received, nor is every heart met with admiration.