The Whiteboard as a Social Lens

In my cube at work, my whiteboard has recently become a hub of activity and a social focal point. A few weeks ago, a conversation about television resulted in a challenge to name your top five all time favorite television shows. This is a pretty heavy responsibility. It's hard not to think of shows that you are interested in currently. Hard not to give shows that you love in adulthood more weight than shows you loved in childhood. But really, do the shows you love now actually do more for you than GI Joe did when you were 10? We, as adults, have a natural bias towards adulthood...we love the shows on so many more levels now, right?

But I digress. My list was written...a couple other lists were written. Soon, passers-by were looking at the lists, commenting on them, and adding their own. This was always an interesting experience. Most contributors agonized over their lists, taking a day or two to really piece it together. Frequently, they would write their list with confidence, only to return a day or two later to erase and reposition. As it turns out, you can learn a lot about someone from what they put in their list. Some were dominated by science fiction, others were very literate. A few shows turned up again and again. Soon, we upped the ante and required that each person add a "guilty pleasure" to their list. This was defined as a show that the list maker still loves, but they are slightly ashamed of it. Grown adult professionals were writing "Little House on the Prairie" and "Golden Girls" (mine) on their lists. It was so much fun that some of my coworkers and I were a little sad when the board filled up and we ran out of people to pull into our little pop culture game.

Last week, one of my cube-neighbors came in and erased the board. He announced a new list. Top 5 albums of all time. This is, of course, a much more difficult list to compile. To make it official, we had to lay down some ground rules.

1. No greatest hits albums
2. Live albums are allowed, but are discouraged if they are essentially a collection of hits
3. A guilty pleasure album must be included after your top five, and it must be an album that you would still defend to this day.

So far, we have only 5 people who have been able to whittle their collections down to a firm list of all time bests.

This is my last week in this department, and next week I'll be transferring to a new cube in a new department on a new floor. I think I'll take my whiteboard with me, but continue the top 5 list tradition. You never know what you'll find out.

For the record, my top fives.

Top Five TV Shows of all time:

1. Six Feet Under
2. Lost
3. The Simpsons
4. Big Love
5. The Sopranos
   *Guilty Pleasure: The Golden Girls

Top Five albums of all time:

1. Lindsey Buckingham - "Out of the Cradle"
2. Maynard Ferguson - "Live From San Francisco"
3. Scott Leonard - "1 Man 1 Mike"
4. Aerosmith - "Rocks"
5. Fleetwood Mac - "Tusk"
   *Guilty Pleasure: Oak Ridge Boys - "Fancy Free"