No Books Were Harmed in the Making of These Trees

The folks at duPont Library know how to de-stress students at end of term: book tree contest, tasty treats, and therapy dogs.

I sure could have used some librarians like this in graduate school!

It's Nice, but . . .

it's not the same thing.

In Sewanee's duPont Library periodicals reading room, David Henderson's sculpture A Brief History of Aviation has been installed. Enter the room from a bank of computers, and you'll see a large copy machine directly across the opening in a work room. Move to the Georgia Avenue window, turn, and see a painting of one of Sewanee's notables on the opposite wall. Stand under the sculpture, look up, and see the sound-treated ceiling. It's an interesting sculpture, designed in imitation of Bath Abbey's fan vaulting over the nave, but for me a cold one, perhaps because of its location, perhaps because of its materials, perhaps because of its topsy-turvy-turned-on-the-side perspective.

I've been to Bath twice, and both times I was gobsmacked by the Abbey: angels climb ladders on two towers banking the entrance; flying buttresses support the walls and roof; and the 200+-foot nave rises to 75 feet. For me, the Abbey is a magical space, in a magical town, surrounded by magical countryside.

I saw the exhibit at the library, I read the informational panel, and then I came home and found photographs and videos that remind me of long-ago though not forgotten pleasure.

The Pleasures of Paper

Three reasons to celebrate the season.

Ann Patchett's State of Wonder, which I checked out today.  Perhaps my new reading glasses will work.  I hope so.  I have missed good books.

A display of beautiful birds, hung along an inner wall facing offices.  I have seen these birds three times and read about them once.  I am not finished with them yet.

The librarians and students who have decorated with book and paper trees, garlands, and wreaths.

Season's greetings and thanks to those at the dupont Library who love paper as much as I.