Chalk is a porous sedimentary carbonate rock, a form of limestone composed of mineral calcite. From these rocks, we create small sharp sticks that can be colored with dyes and rubbed on a sidewalk.

Chalk has long been used to convey messages, dating back to 11th century Indian schools, where students were given black writing slates and chalk for their lessons.

Larger blackboards and chalk were used to teach music and composition in Europe. The first blackboards in the U.S. education at West Point in 1801. Soon afterward, in 1814, James Pillans invented colored chalk.

Chalk art has seen a renaissance as of late; however, it is still mostly relegated to playgrounds and advertising on college campuses.

But recently I noticed something odd; I saw a note on the sidewalk that read bluntly, “Impeach Franklin.”

This caught me off guard. All of a sudden, I wasn’t simply encountering an advertisement telling me if I learned about sex education, I could get free food. This was a very blunt and politicized statement.

That is not to say that I agree or disagree with the statement — never before had I received political advice from cement. I wasn’t offended by the sidewalk, just confused.

So in my confusion, I have decided to review this piece of sidewalk propaganda.

I had thought there was something about sidewalks that made them a bad place to put your political messages on them. Maybe it was the fact you need to walk on them anyway. No matter what someone writes, even if they intend to save puppies from being fed to sharks, I still need to walk all over their opinions.

Then again, maybe it catches people’s attention. I noticed it after all, but then again I didn’t notice the idea, I noticed the fact it was written in chalk. The fact that the chalk was the medium completely overshadowed what the message was.

Only to add to the problems, it was yellow, which is a very hard color of chalk to read, especially when compared to red or blue. But it was not just that, the message was written parallel to the sidewalk. This meant that I couldn’t easily read it in passing, but rather I had to slow down, which is the kiss of death when it comes to sidewalk propaganda.

I’d have to say I would give this sidewalk note a one out of five stars, because it was very counter intuitive to its own desired effect. Had the text been written perpendicular to the walking path, I may have been able to excuse the horrible color choice and lack of an offer of free food, but it wasn’t, and so this piece of propaganda was an utter failure.

Alex Bertsch is the opinion editor of The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected].