The following article is part of an April Fools’ Edition of The Etownian: the stories are fake the but interviews/quotes are real.
On Sunday, March 27, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson built a rock garden on the pathway to the Elizabethtown College Bowers Writers House. During an unexpected visit to the College, Johnson built the rock garden in order to celebrate the start of the spring season. The garden is made up of rocks, flowers and moss in order to create a natural aesthetic to this section of the College’s campus. Many students on the campus are pleased to see the new garden, but they were even happier to see the celebrity make a visit to their school.
“I was so excited to see the Rock, I’m probably his biggest fan, I have watched all his movies,” sophomore Alex Fox said. “I was trying to get a picture with him but he said he was too busy building his rock garden, so decided to just sit back and watch.”
Johnson did this completely by himself, working tirelessly all night in order to complete the project. It is estimated that it took him 10 hours to complete the 8 foot by 8 foot plot full of natural artifacts, starting at around 5 p.m. and finishing the project at about 3 a.m. When students or faculty attempted to intervene and offer their assistance on the project, it is reported that Johnson insisted on completing the project alone saything that it was “his duty.” One student even tried to get Johnnson to stop building the garden saying that we already had a rock garden in the Masters Center. When Johnson was shown what the student was referring to, he replied, “these are minerals, I’m all about rocks!” and he continued working on his project.
Reports indicate that this is not the first time Johnson has done this. In spring of 2018, the Rock collected rocks in the same fashion at Moravian College after visiting his former high school in Bethlehem, Pa. “This seems to be a trend,” junior Devon Soto said. “I really don’t think he got permission to make it, but I doubt anyone at the College will decide to take it down due to how big of a celebrity he is.” There are indeed no indications at all that the College plans on removing or relocating the garden.
Not everyone is so happy with the creation of this new rock garden, however. “I get it, Dwayne Johnson is a pretty big celebrity, and it’s funny that he did make a rock garden given that it’s his nickname at all, but it just does not fit in very well with that part of campus at all,” junior Sagar Patel said. “Now it’s just one big inconvenience if anyone wants to go see it.”
Junior Julia Jerdan also isn’t the biggest fan of the new addition to our campus. “ I just don’t think that it looks that good, honestly you can tell it was rushed, I like the one in Bethlehem better and I don’t think it’s in a very good spot. I wish he built it in Brinser field, then maybe more people would see it,” she said.
Despite that rock garden only being in place for a few days, there are already several indications that people and animals walking through the garden have caused it damage. There is speculation that Johnson may come back in order to prevent any further damage to the structure by building a fence around it. Until a fence is built around it, the College has advised students and faculty to not walk through the garden to ensure no damage is done to it. We reached out to Johnson’s publicist about the matter but they refused to comment.
