So I was walking through Gooch Hall last Thursday when my scruples rubbed against an “art exhibit” entitled Through the Marshmallow Mellow: El Ritmo de Vida de Vega Bond de. The “art” on display consists of a cactus with a blood soaked condom attached to it, a lewd depiction of a naked woman made with raw meat, and a shoebox toilet replete with dirt-dung. In addition to these obscenities there are beer bottles, a soiled sandwich, and a makeshift garbage can, which could have been more appropriately used if all this filth was thrown inside of it.

I dare anyone to try and justify this sinful and diseased display of mischief and vice. As a student at UTM and more importantly as a human being, I have a right to operate within an environment conducive to my own spiritual well being. Exhibitions such as Through the Marshmallow Mellow offend my beliefs and threaten my educational experience (as well as the integrity of foreign languages—El Ritmo de Vida de Vega Bond de?). Furthermore, I have heard that the raw meat used in the exhibit is unsanitary and poses a physical threat to viewer security. E. Coli does not belong behind a glass case where it can infect so many bodies and souls. A young man proclaimed after picking a plump pear from an aged Pyrus Communis, “A tree is recognized by its fruit” (Matthew 12:33). Clearly, the artist behind this exhibit germinates from ill-nourished boughs, from a mind dried up with sin. The artist probably thinks that this trash exhibit is cute, but he fails to realize that no homeless people attend UTM or even reside in the Martin area. In fact, I doubt that he has even seen a homeless person. Furthermore, poverty is not a joke. It is a serious issue in urban areas throughout the world. The troubles of the impoverished necessitate kindness, not gratuitous exhibition. In the words of a scribe who recorded the words of a carpenter, “Blessed are the poor: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 1:3).

Since seeing this exhibit I have lost my faith in the art department at UTM. Because of this trash display I can no longer take the hallway that is closest to my speech class. Instead, I am forced to take the long way around.

Amber Lassan is an International Business major minoring in french. She is from Fairview, Tenn.