About The Cultural Geographers
Like many people, I grew up in a home with parents who always pushed an idea about one day "when you go to college". Although my family doesn't work in a mine, a farm, or in a lumberyard, they put hours and hours of unskilled labor to provide for our family. My father spent 36 years as a mailman for the US Postal Service and my mother spent over 20 years working secretarial jobs. My outlook on life is seen invariably through a lens of this upbringing. And for many people, their outlook on life resembles mine. I remember as a Boy Scout, I took up the challenge to pursue the rank of "Eagle" and in order to do so, every scout must lead a service project that benefits their community in some way. I talked with my local church and we decided on making a new fence. After completing this project, I gained so much more real-world appreciation for people who do this kind of work every day and for those that spend their whole lives doing this type of work. After coming to Rowan, I noticed how distant student life seems from the lives of Glassboro locals. And despite studying history and planning, my academic pursuits made no progress in forging this relationship between outsiders and locals. I saw this project as an opportunity to explore a community who remembers their glass-making past, but also to discover more those who served as the foundation of these memories; the workers. I wanted to see what makes them unique in a world that seems to lack uniqueness. And lastly, in a somewhat selfish way, I wanted to hear other stories of people who grew up in similar households.
Dylan Kois: The Artist
Liam met Dylan during his time spent working on the Glassboro Imagined Memory Project. Dylan is sophomore at Rowan studying marketing. He is well versed in using the application "Photoshop" and creating visually appealing pieces. He's excited to have contributed to The Glassboro Imagined Mural project with two proposed murals.