Monthly Archives: May 2017

Union College

Colleges

A lovely, compact campus.

For an alphabetical index of the New England College series of pieces, click here.

For pictures from our second visit to Union College in October 2019, click here.

Established in 1795, Union College in Schenectady, New York, is home to 2,250 undergraduates and is set in 120 acres, 8 of which are formal gardens. Exquisitely maintained, the campus is a delight to walk around and while there is a variety of architectural styles, the integration of old and new is handled with exceptional skill. Nothing is out of place.


The Memorial Chapel.


Beautifully understated, as is all of the campus. There is no grandstanding here.

The Nott Memorial is a National Landmark and the center of the campus. The lower level is a performing arts facility, the middle an art gallery and the upper a serene study place.


The Nott Memorial


The lower level, for the performing arts.


Winston contemplates a magnificent Audubon print from the College’s extensive collection. This is on the center level of the Nott Memorial building.


The Reamer Campus Center, dining hall and meeting place.


Another view of the Nott.


The F.W. Olin Center houses the College’s observatory.


Disparate architectural styles are beautifully integrated.


Chester A. Arthur, 21st US President and an alumnus, is memorialized here.


Student housing.

We came away delighted with the low key presentation and excellent taste of Union College, whose alumni include William Seward, Lincoln’s Secretary of State/War, Jimmy Carter, George Westinghouse and the aforementioned Chester A. Arthur.

Williams College

Colleges

Liberal arts education at its best.

For an alphabetical index of the New England College series of pieces, click here.

Nestled in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, Williams College is renowned for its outstanding academic standards. My niece graduated thence in the mid-1980s, proceeding on to the National Institutes of Health where brains were her specialty. Certainly, there’s no shortage of brain matter at Williams which dates from 1793 and numbers some 2,200 students.

There is no central quad; rather, the 100 or so buildings are dotted around central Williamstown either side of Main Street and anchored by the Memorial Chapel, with its splendid architecture and magnificent stained glass:

Lawrence Hall houses the College’s art collection, which includes a superb Edward Hopper from 1944. The eyeballs outside are by Louise Bourgeois:

My son poses with the Bourgeois piece; no arguing with his expression.

The charming receptionist was a fount of knowledge.

Architecture reflects many periods, from the old ….


Upperclass housing on campus.

…. through the contemporary:

Magnificent use of line and light in the Green building.

Inspirational messages abound:

And, finally, this is graduation day. New graduates celebrate with a fist pump:

Alumni include President James A. Garfield, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Depression era photographer Walker Evans, actor David Strathairn, composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim and movie director John Frankenheimer, and, of course, my niece Krystyna Isaacs.

Frank Shorter

Photographs

A great athlete.

Frank Shorter, a graduate of the class of ’65 at my son’s prep school, returned today after 52 years to give the commencement speech to the class of ’17. My son and I were there; he returns as a sophomore in the fall. It is no exaggeration to say that Shorter put distance running on the American map, for until he came along only professional masochists ran marathons. By contrast, it’s now hard to find someone who has not run a marathon or two.

During his introduction, the Dean of the School stated that Frank was a two times Olympic gold medalist in the marathon. In fact, the Dean’s math was correct, for Shorter won the gold in 1972 and the silver in 1976. Eh? Well, after the Berlin Wall fell the East Germans tried to burn all the evidence of their crimes but a surviving copy of the records detailed the doping by their ‘athletes’ and, yes, the ‘winner’ in 1976 was #62 on the list of the 100 plus athletes whose performance was attributable to big pharma. So Frank has two golds. In his typically self-effacing way, he has not pursued the upgrade of his 1976 silver meal, the gold being rightfully his, preferring to focus his energies on fighting doping in sports.

His inspiring speech focused on what he terms ‘compartmentalization’, the ability to focus on the task at hand, filtering out extraneous distractions. A wonderful skill for any student to cultivate. In 1972 he ran the marathon just days after terrorists had slain most of the Israeli Olympic team in Munich and this mental skill empowered him to set aside the horror and focus on the task at hand. But this very same skill was fundamental to the fact that he ever became a runner in the first place, for running was his escape from a brute father who would come home daily and beat him up, when not beating up one of his many siblings. Running was his escape from this monster, and escape he did.


The Commencement Address.


With Dean Peter Fayroian at his right.


What could be better than Graduation Day on a perfect New England afternoon? My son’s old freshman dorm is center right in the background.

After ceremonies were concluded, new graduates were to be found lighting celebratory cigars – now no longer forbidden them! – on the grounds and Winston and I set about cornering the great man so that we might ask him to dedicate his biography to a budding cross-country runner, a request Frank Shorter graciously acceded to.


Winston with the inscribed biography.


The dedication.

We asked to shake this great American’s hand and now will not wash ours for a week!

You can find Frank Shorter’s biography here and it is highly recommended.

You can see Frank’s Commencement Speech here.

Panny GX7 at ISO 1600, 45-200mm zoom and 14-45mm kit zoom (last two images).

The Ashuelot covered bridge

Photographs

In New Hampshire.

Dating from 1864, this bridge in rural New Hampshire remains in use today for both pedestrian and vehicular traffic.


Click the image for the map.

The extended roof allows the trusses – usually covered in these wooden bridges – to remain bare as they are thus effectively protected from rain water:

The truss construction is very simple, with wooden pegs at the intersections and the whole thing bolted to the roadway with simple iron rods:

This is covered bridge #1 in New Hampshire, contemplated here by my son who just completed his freshman year at nearby Northfield Mount Hermon school.