Drama Someday

 

One does not stumble on to half-constructed amphitheaters every day.

 

"The architect made the plans, then everyone else changed things around, took out the fountain, so they had to plan the whole thing out again...." Steve said more than once (name changed from another Greek-American-sounding name to protect the innocent). He was tending landscaping tools and guarding the open-air amphitheater site to make sure "nothing funny" goes on around there. Funny things apparently go on at college campuses.

 

After dropping my step son off nearby, I drove behind the UConn Greek chapel to explore around the chapel.  In front of me was the construction, which has been going on since 2003.  Picture driving around back somewhere nondescript to park, but beyond the parking, it opens up all glowing marble and columns.  "Look around as much as you want!".

 

 

 

The Greek library and chapel have been around a while.

 "It might see a play in a year or two"

"It was originally designed so that the sun would be behind the audience, as they built them in ancient times.  Then they changed the plans and it got rotated and changed again. The audience will get hot with the sun baking that marble."  "Why do they keep changing things, adding things, taking things out??" The quotes are Steve's.



center stage



 "It's funded entirely by donations, the guard rails came up from around Milford (Conn.) and were put in by volunteers... the town asks when will it be done, and the builders say, when you and everyone stops changing things around and let us finish!"



Greek Library with new UConn parking beyond



The concrete columns are to be covered by curved pieces of marble. "In Mobile, Alabama, they built a replica of the Delphi amphitheater. University of Southern Alabama. Go Jaguars!  For the columns they used pieces of marble, carved in Greece, stacked to form the columns exactly like in ancient times. There isn't enough money to do that here".



The Tholos replica



vines behind chapel

UConn chapel

The original photo above shows the mood. The version below, I photoshopped to highlight the architecture.





UConn Chapel photoshopped
 







I didn't get to know much about Steve, as he had so much to say about the construction.



Huge area of new apartment, stores, restaurants next to campus!





panoramia

"It's important to include all lines of evidence when selecting sample locations" or something like that was said at our meeting at the downtown law firm.

 

A million people were enjoying the day.  I suspect because the weather in NYC on Wednesday made San Diego turn a jealous eye.

view from office

yellow and red splotches

yellow splotches at Fifth and Fendi

A Cathedral is getting a face lift on some back alley ;)

a lobby

stairs in the spacious lobby go down to 16th floor.

water sculpture on street level

Rockefeller Plaza

Elevator ride to top of Rockefeller Observatory

spires

 

beach party!

I must have gazed over this for 20 minutes.

altitude

lovers

the observation deck was three levels. Picture below is looking from top down to the second.

Four Times Square has got to be the secret escape space ship.

 

Rush hour pictured above. I walked through miles of this from the rock to penn station. The ingredients for this walk would include seven or eight halal carts, diva concert at Bryant Park (ahead left in picture above), car being cut off by a rickshaw nonchalantly crossing 3 lanes of traffic diagonally, pretzel cart aromas, giant Benzes driving out of the Rock underground parking, half a million people keeping to themselves going wherever they're going, five pieces of untouched pizza slices scattered on the sidewalk.

Quoted from Deresiewicz


“The chance to find yourself.” Now that phrase, “finding yourself,” has acquired a bad reputation. It suggests an aimless liberal-arts college graduate—an English major, no doubt, someone who went to a place like Amherst or Pomona—who’s too spoiled to get a job and spends his time staring off into space. But here’s Marlow, a mariner, a ship’s captain. A more practical, hardheaded person you could not find. And I should say that Marlow’s creator, Conrad, spent 19 years as a merchant marine, eight of them as a ship’s captain, before he became a writer, so this wasn’t just some artist’s idea of a sailor. Marlow believes in the need to find yourself just as much as anyone does, and the way to do it, he says, is work, solitary work. Concentration. Climbing on that steamboat and spending a few uninterrupted hours hammering it into shape. Or building a house, or cooking a meal, or even writing a college paper, if you really put yourself into it.