Universities and dawn

Friday, January 2nd, 2009

At sunrise, even the droll ornamental lakes of the university acquire a certain glimmer. The pond weeds become shadows. The shadows wash over the shores of the lake and hide them, which is much for the better, as this lake is populated by geese who have draped the banks with their droppings, each one about [...]

Universities seen through their weeds

Wednesday, December 24th, 2008

The skyline of a campus is different when it’s obscured by the trudging stalks of its scrub plants. The university can so easily be made to become a tipsy line drawing mauled by the shadows of leaves and stalks.

Universities and graveyards

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

it’s summer in this picture. i was on top of a hill when i took this. i was 18. just before i left for college. the year 2000. the rows of graves run down the hill to the high brick buildings. the silver dome of the basketball stadium rises like a silly saucer. the trees [...]

University and sky

Thursday, December 4th, 2008

If the campus has a certain relationship with the land, does it also have a relationship to the sky? Does academic space have an upper boundary or a top? Or does it stretch up into the academo-stratosphere (as my friend Jess Falcone puts it) or eventually out into the void where academic “stars” shine? One [...]