Sunday, May 1, 2022

Andy's Angles: May

 

May is here, and that's the month most associated with college commencements.  That's why we see a photo of my alma mater today.  It's Marywood University.  It was Marywood College in my day.

I shot this one with my widest lens and left it wide.  I did crop the foreground a bit.  I wanted to leave a lot of sky.

The building on the left contains offices.  It was a dorm in my day.  The one on the right was and is a dorm.  I've never been inside.

In the center, it's the Liberal Arts Center.  A spectacular rotunda is in the middle, with classrooms on both sides.  This is where I struggled through all those religion, philosophy, world history, literature and French classes.  I'd gaze out the windows and wonder if I would make it.  I did.  In fact, there was a great sense of satisfaction when I came out of there with an unexpected B, or in the case of social science, something even better.

My first time in the rotunda was in the summer of 79.  I went there to pick up a packet of information for new students from the admissions office, which is in the back of the building.  If you've never been inside, I strongly recommend it.  This is one of our area's gems.  But, for a kid coming from a really bad public high school, it was ultra intimidating.  I remember getting weak in the knees as I looked up at the dome and the artwork, all the marble, the religious paintings on the walls...  I feared I made a huge mistake, and I was destined for failure.

Try hard.  You can do it.

I should add that I never toured the place before I applied.  Thank you, feeble high school guidance department.  I never knew you could do those things.  I read about Marywood and was attracted to the fact that it had a real radio station.  The rest was paperwork and writing checks.