And by the time students get to college, the library, even more so than their dorm rooms, becomes their home away from home. (Well, at least that's what their parents hope!)
Crescat scientia; vita excolatur
Considering I was the girl who wanted to go places, I didn't go too far, just to Hyde Park, still on the south side of Chicago, the location of said university. My time there was a tale of two libraries...
(William Rainey) Harper Library
it was the best of times, the age of wisdom, the epoch of belief, the season of light and the spring of hope...
this was not just a library...
more a cathedral of knowledge, from its Gothic spires to its arched stained glass windows.
I could barely resist the urge to genuflect every time I passed through its heavy oak doors.
And then there were the gargoyles....
Truly badass gargoyles!
I didn't have to close my eyes to imagine I was somewhere else. I WAS somewhere else... a place of elegance and refinement...
And a place where EVERYONE was different... not just me.
(Joseph) Regenstein Library
the worst of times, the age of foolishness, the epoch of incredulity, the season of darkness and the winter of despair... Regenstein.
In my mind, it is no coincidence that Regenstein rhymes (sort of...) with Frankenstein. The place was a man-made monster that choked the life out of me. There were no deep breaths to take in Regenstein...
Literally...
I couldn't breath under the oppressive glare and constant hum of its fluorescent lights and ventilation system. I didn't care if it was constructed of grooved limestone. I t had the look of plug-ugly cement. I didn't care if the façade marginally resembled the fore edges of books (the sides opposite the spines). Half an hour in its cold sterile embrace and I'd be scuttling for the doors, like the cockroaches in the basement of Woodward Hall when startled by the sudden flick of a light switch.
But the worst thing about Regenstein?
NO GARGOYLES!!!!!
I really did go looking for some piano music...
It was a little awkward at first because he wore glasses, so he finally took them off and then forgot them on the shelf. (Did he wind up as an absent-minded professor?) Later, when we went back to retrieve them, they were GONE! To this day, I have no idea if someone else, a saxophone player, perhaps, was in there with us, sharing our little adventure. This was, of course, back in the day, before the dawn of the ubiquitous security camera. Young lovers beware!
but that's a tale for another post...