Hall of Vanity

Speaking of banks, we all know how banks love to build testaments to their greatness. Back in Chapel Hill there is a bizarre "plaza" that housed the bank formerly known as NationsBank. It sits right there on Franklin Street and it is the craziest building in town (except for maybe Venable Hall). Although the layout is too crazy to even try to describe, there used to be a hall of mirrors (now renovated and missing). As you walked in the front door to get to the bank or any of the businesses on the Rosemary Street side, there was this long brick hallway that was lined, floor to ceiling, with mirrors. We called it (unoriginally) the Wall of Vanity.

While at Chapel Hill, I took an introduction to psychology course, and the professors described how Psych 10 students used to have to design and conduct their own experiments, not just participate in them. One study involved the Wall of Vanity. The students sat in the hall and watched people walking through the building. They ranked how often people looked in the mirror while rating their beauty. Wouldn't you know, the beautiful people looked in the mirror and the ugly people didn't. (The requirement was dropped because it meant that the subjects were participating in experiments without their knowledge or consent -- now a no-no in the medical world.)

So as I sit at my computer, I can't help but notice that my blog is up. I find myself looking at myself in its mirror (you know: going over old blogs, reading the comments, planning future posts). The Internet has become my own personal Wall of Vanity.