Making a bulletin board

After two years teaching, I finally got it together and made a bulletin board. The other teacher who shares the classroom has had the same bulletin board up since I've been there, and it's pretty cool. She has a big poster of Shakespeare up that's had other things stapled to it: "spirit beads" (Mardi Gras beads in the school colors), a button with the school logo on it, a large floppy hat with attached yarn dreadlocks, and a "W: The President" sticker (W for Will Shakespeare, natch.)

The other bulletin board in the room is...well...sad. It had random stuff stapled up to it haphazardly: news articles about college kids dying from binge drinking, a five-year-old tornado exit plan, a card with pictures of Magnificent Mullets (the hairdo, not the fish), and other junk.

Since I'm actually going to be in this room for all four of my classes this term plus at least two classes the other two terms, I decided that I would spruce up the bulletin board.

I asked another teacher where I might find butcher paper appropriate for covering a bulletin board, and she looked at me rather blankly. "I haven't seen butcher paper around here for years."

I remembered the large racks with rolls of colored butcher paper that resided in the offices of my grade schools, high school, and residence life in college with nostalgia and went off in search of paper. I found some in the English department office behind the card table with the electric typewriter. Since it hadn't been touched in the entire time I'd been at the school, I figured it was fair game. I also found a bit of bulletin board edging. Both were bright flame red. Not my first color choice, but hey...it was free to the finder.

Bearing my found treasures, I headed upstairs and started creating my bulletin board. One of the reasons I wanted to be a resident advisor in college was the ability to make bulletin boards, and I made some really cool ones. I had a Breast Cancer Awareness board that had little pink ribbons made out of tiny strips of pink paper all over it, a Welcome to 2 Annex board that had calligraphed names of all the residents and lollipop bouquets, a Stop Conflict Diamonds board with big fake rhinestones everywhere...I had too much time on my hands, really.

This wasn't one of those cool boards. However, it does have smooth, neatly stapled bright red paper on it and red corrugated bulletin board edging on the top and bottom. It also has the words "British Literature" floating in Quill font in the upper left-hand corner.

Other than that, the only thing on it is a sign that reads "Friends don't let friends go to Barnes and Noble" followed by a list of local independent bookstores. It also has a small sign with the website for the Fair Tax (okay political action because it's nonpartisan).

But now I've got a problem...about six square feet of smooth shiny bright red paper that is absolutely blank!