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A Visit to the UMASS Library

A quick trip to the UMass library on Saturday, May 24, 2008, turned into a bit of a road trip ordeal for blogger Tommy Devine and myself as we encountered roadblock after roadblock in our efforts to get to the university library. As fate would have it, it was Commencement Day, and since it was late afternoon, the traffic was primarily going one way – the opposite way we wanted to go.

Below is a video of our struggle just trying to get to the library. If you’ve already seen it – or can’t be bothered – just scroll below it….

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When we finally arrived at the campus, we settled for parking in the first available parking spot we came across. We parked next to this strange looking mini-van with the word PHENOM written all over it (above). PHENOM stands for Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts.

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There is a chapel just to the front of the university library. Tommy told me that at one time, students were required to attend services there. Just in front of it, you can see a sub-level courtyard. Just beneath my feet from where I took the above photo is where the computer room is located (below), which Tommy used to post a quick story (which was the reason we came to the library).

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After Tommy posted his story, we took the time to walk around a bit. We came across this open-air memorial thingy (above), which appears to be extolling the virtues of the common worker. If you ever come to UMass, you will notice that the modern architecture has a rather brutish and ugly look to it – like something the old Soviet Union would have slapped together. In the building we were in, the walls were unfinished and, upon close inspection, poorly manufactured. The whole time we were there I felt like I was in a bomb shelter. Tommy said the new buildings were the product of political hackery in the 1970s. And they surely looked it. On the outside, the plain exterior walls are all in dire need of a new paint job – or at least a power washing. I couldn’t get over how ugly and drab they were. But at the same time, they seemed to oddly fit in with the overall Leftist-Communist feel that the campus grounds exuded.

While on our wandering way, we stopped in at a cafeteria called “The Blue Wall Cafe,” where a couple of the divider walls inside sported the always popular “demolished” look.

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Fortunately, not all of the buildings on the campus were built in the 1970s, and there were some old gems sprinkled in between the dreariness. The building pictured above is dubbed “Memorial Hall” and has the names of famous battles and wars gracing its front. The Hall seemed strangely out of place in the otherwise peace-nicky Left Wing environment.

Below is a 8-minute video of our visit to the UMass Library, and includes a couple of views from the top floor (actually, second-to-the-top floor), as well as a trip down the stairwell there, which was decorated with student artwork.

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Posted by Bill Dusty on May 30th, 2008 and filed under Society, Videos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.