Lines and Perspective: North Campus Scene

I was on campus for a meeting in Borland Lab, the old home of the Penn State Creamery. The new Berkey Creamery is about a block away, closer to East Halls, so of course, I had to go and have a dish of ice cream.

I stopped along the way to snap a few photos of the north end of campus, which has always sort of been my campus "home."  I lived in North Halls as a student for three years in the 80s, then rented a room in a square white house with black shutters on nearby Park Ave. for my senior year.

And after that (actually, overlapping with that), I worked in Mitchell Building for many years (asbestos-infested as it was *cough-cough*) before it was torn down and replaced by the new Business Building.

And now the Arboretum is across Park Ave. on that end of campus, so I am still there frequently. Weekly, this time of year; in peak bloom time (be still, my beating heart!), almost daily.

This is a shot of the walkway between the Ag Sciences and Industries Building on the left, and the Berkey Creamery, just outside of frame on the right. You can see just a tiny edge of the new Business Building in the back left, which stands in the spot where Mitchell Building once did. 

And on the right, you can see bits of the East Parking Deck (so named because it's across from East Halls), as well as the very edge of the newish Forest Resources Building. That tiny line of trees in the far middle distance, beyond the figures, is part of the Arboretum, across the road.

Times have seemed chaotic and stressful to me lately, and I am doing what I can to stay afloat, to deal with it all. I awake daily to read the damage report: the latest all-out assault against the environment and protections for clean water and air, attacks on the rights of women (especially reproductive rights and freedoms, about which I feel STRONGLY), the placing of foxes in charge of the hen houses, the crumbling of the important separations between church and state.

I do what I can about the things that matter most to me in the world - I sign petitions, I contact my representatives, I donate money to organizations who swear they will fight the good fight. In my spare time, I study the examples of heroes of one kind or another. I read their words; I hold them tight to my heart. I pray for strength and courage to be like them. (Nevertheless, she persisted!)

But it is hard to stay hopeful and strong in a world increasingly full of the evil and stupidity that rules modern-day America, once (but apparently no longer) the land of the free and the home of the brave. Ever wonder how those poor civilians felt on the out-of-control bus in the film Speed? Yeah, it's a lot like that, except with an evil, lying lunatic at the wheel.

This patriot weeps . . . but does not give up the fight. Note: when even the nice, usually peaceful, Methodist ladies are lying awake at night counting the day's evils on their fingers and toes, praying for courage, and plotting the Reckoning To Come, it is quite likely that something is seriously wrong with the world.

I know - serious business, right? And you thought you were going to be reading about ice cream! ;-) But when I can, I try to distract myself by focusing on the little things that make me happy: lines that line up, three small figures in the distance that have arranged themselves neatly by size, and ice cream. (Note to self: It's gonna take a lot of ice cream.)

Words from a song were running through my head, and they were all about perspective. The tune went something like this: It's not what you see (it's the way that you see it). And then I realized that my brain was writing a parody of an old Bananarama hit, so here it is: It's Not What You Do (It's The Way That You Do It).