The writing on the wall

The men's restroom on the Newseum's eighth floor is pretty standard as far as bathrooms go: Tile flooring, fluorescent light, three nondescript urinals and a stall. But on the walls, something unexpected catches the casual bathroom visitor's eye -- headlines that (hilariously) failed to hit their mark: "Dead Expected to Rise" from the Macon (Ga.) News on 8/11/76, "Robber Holds Up Albert's Hosiery" from the Buffalo Evening News on 9/19/7, and many more.

I consider myself to be something of a bathroom connoisseur. My best friend in middle school was determined to take a picture of every urinal that he would have the pleasure of using in his lifetime. I wasn't quite as fanatic as he was, but I've always tried to stop to appreciate the distinct personality of the bathrooms I visit. For all the bathrooms I've seen -- a rest stop somewhere in Nevada which featured a vending machine selling glow-in-the-dark condoms; the dank cave of a bathroom at my elementary school; a flimsy plastic tent at Mount Everest Base Camp -- this eighth-floor bathroom had the rare distinction of inspiring in me a sense of hope. In this day and age, when all the signs -- corporate buyouts, falling circulation, the difficulties of adapting to the Internet age -- seem to tell young people that going into journalism is a bad idea, it is refreshing to find that the people behind the Newseum love the craft so much that they even stamped the building's bathrooms with headlines. This eighth floor bathroom was exactly what I was looking for coming to the Chips Quinn orientation: A sign that there are people out there still firmly convinced that journalism is alive, kicking and as relevant as ever.