The Signs and Shapes of Academia

On Wednesday evening I attended a short event at the Alumni Center at the University of Minnesota. This is an annual event, but held this year later in the fall semester than usual. That occurred to me when I recalled 2 years ago we had to hunker down while a huge wind/hail storm blew over -- a strong enough storm that storm warning sirens were blowing. This November day was much too cold for such a weather system to develop.

So I saw a different view -- the contrast of the dusk sky through the high wall and ceiling n the Main Hall of this building.

Yesterday I attended a workshop for the faculty in the entire MNSUC system, held at St. Cloud State University.

More interesting shapes -- the workshop was held in a building called the Atwood Center. This is a rather ugly 1960s style building built when concrete construction was the latest fad. The inside of the building, however, is warm and inviting.

I saw signs of two interesting ideas almost right next to each other as I walked to the meeting room. First a sign -- Foot Washing-- caught my eye. I realized a place was set aside for those of the Islam faith to prepare for prayer. Immediately to my left was a table for the Secular Student Organization -- a brochure about atheism caught my eye.

In the meeting room I enjoyed this window design:

Walking around during a break I came upon an interesting sculpture:

I was quite surprised when looking at the tag by it to learn the artist was an elementary school class!

These shapes probably caught my eye because the outdoors is all brown -- we are having the driest fall in about 50 years-- a balance from the wettest one last year that led to the fall Mississippi River flood.

Time to enjoy new views such as this (also from the Alumni Center at the University of Minnesota):

Now I just have to let this day develop to learn if tomorrow I can show white stuff -- that is snow.