Hanging-out in Style
Hirst: Questions worth asking
By Adam Lior Hirst
Commentary
The Yale Daily News
Published Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Early one morning last week I stepped out of Branford entryway D and walked through the college courtyard Robert Frost purportedly described as the most beautiful in America. I saw the grass covered with a thick coating of snow; the flakes which hadn’t yet landed, rested atop the Gothic architecture and the tree limbs bare of leaves.
I was not alone. A tour of (native) Chinese men and women were stopped outside my master’s house. The guide spoke as most of them snapped pictures of archways and benches and gates. They didn’t see Linonia courtyard late on a Saturday evening, when beer...
#1 By Infiltrate and subvert 5:40a.m. on February 24, 2010
Ask questions, marinate oneself in beauty and invite debate: all liberal arts traditions.
In addition to Frost, Charles Dickens said Hillhouse Avenue (then vaulted by stately Elms) was the most beautiful street in America. Frank Lloyd Wright said of Harkness Tower, "I'd rather live IN it so I wouldn't have to look AT it."
I'm afraid Yale's interest in China has more to do with power and money than with elevating freedom of thought, artistic beauty and intellectual debate.
Infiltrate and subvert.
PK
#2 By The Contrarian 11:09a.m. on February 24, 2010
I'd much rather live in Harkness Tower than in anything Mr. Wright designed. And after him, it all got much, much worse. Rather than "marinate oneself in beauty" it's more like "wallow in hideousness".
#3 By President's sore head 12:03p.m. on February 24, 2010
The President's House at the University of Buffalo was a Frank Lloyd Wright creation until the 1970's when the man appointed president(whose name escaped me long ago)was a person 6'4" in height, and the ceilings of the Wright creation cramped his style.
As I recall, the building was transformed into the registrar's office in deference to the president's sore head.
PK
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