I really enjoyed this brief retrospective on Harrelson Hall by Goodnight Raleigh, probably because I spent the bulk of my college career in that silly building. "One of the most unsatisfactory academic buildings imaginable," indeed. I'm disappointed those faculty members didn't include some sort of historical metaphor though. I love this note:
Long time History department member Joe Hobbs has for decades told his students to "take a brick with them" as they leave his classes. He hoped to slowly demolish Harrelson, brick by brick.
I had Dr. Hobbs one semester, and while I don't recall ever hearing this phrase from him, it sounds completely in character. He was the old man who didn't have time for anyone's bullshit. It was great. He was the curmudgeon I never had in my family.
And he was right. It's a stupid building, like some sick joke for freshmen. "Okay, so I go up these stairs here, and then it's just a simple...wait, which way should I go? There's an inner ring of classrooms? Maybe I'll take the ramp next time. Look at me, I'm swirling up a building! Holy shit this ramp is the most inefficient knowledge delivery system ever devised. Cool. Now I am triple lost. What class did I come here for again?"
I'll miss the place, though. Can't spend as much time there as I did and not start to appreciate the thing for its quirks. I always meant to get one of those street luge boards and ride from the top of the building to the bottom.
(Check out all the grass that used to surround the building.)
