Photo of the Day: The Cathedral of Learning, Pittsburgh PA

Rising out of the campus of the University of Pittsburgh, the 535-foot-tall Cathedral of Learning is not just a skyscraper but a wonderful mosaic of multi-cultural America at its best—and, I would have to imagine, a delightful academic environment. 

I first visited this site nearly 30 years ago. When I revisited this past October, I was glad to have the opportunity to refresh my memory of this 42-story structure—the second-tallest educational facility in the world after the University of Moscow’s main building. 

Several classrooms, occupied by students, were not open to the public on the day I walked the halls. But enough were to remind me of the rich global history so evident here: 26 “Nationality Classrooms,” including several ethnic groups represented in the polyglot metropolis of Pittsburgh, such as the Polish, Greek, Irish, Italian, African, Turkish, and Japanese rooms.

The building derived from the vision of University of Pittsburgh John G. Bowman, who conceived of a “high building, a tower—a tower singing upward that would tell the epic story of Pittsburgh.”

The final look of the building, created by Philadelphia architect Charles Zeller Klauder, more than fulfilled Bowman’s notion. The skyscraper was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1975. It borrows design elements from the Gothic style of medieval European cathedrals, inspiring reverence in the service of a secular environment that undoubtedly creates devotion in the memories of those who pass through its halls.

Commissioned in 1921, the building came to fruition as the result of a remarkable $10 million public fundraising campaign in which the institution’s label served as an indispensable hook. Approximately 97,000 schoolchildren contributed a dime each certificate testifying that they were “Builders of the Cathedral of Learning.” The first class was held in the building 10 years later, with the formal dedication coming six years later.

At the time, objections were raised among some faculty members and the city of Pittsburgh as a whole that the height of the building did not fit it with its surroundings. But it is difficult, if not impossible, to view it now without a sense of wonder.

Any one of the classrooms here is worthy of a comment and its own separate page, and at some point over the next few months I will try to do so. But I wanted to lay down the markers here now.

Quote of the Day (Ursula Le Guin, With Inspiration for the Day)

“Morning comes whether you set the alarm or not.”— American sci-fi/fantasy author Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018), “Science Fiction and the Future,” in Dancing at the Edge of the World: Thoughts on Words, Women, Places (2017)

Photo of the Day: Flat Rock Brook Nature Center, Englewood NJ

In my hometown, Englewood, NJ, on the opposite east end from a pond I visited the other day, is another local landmark:  Flat Rock Brook Nature Center. I figured that the steep walk uphill from my house would provide me with healthy exercise, and that the sight of the park would refresh my eyes. Both proved true, especially the latter, as seen in the photo here.

At that late hour of the day, I did not want to hike the trails that wound through the 150-acre site. Nor, given widely circulated guidelines on physical distancing during the coronavirus crisis, did I think it wise to pass others on those narrow paths. 

Evidently, management of the park felt even more strongly. A sign warned visitors from entering, and yellow police tape prevented them from doing so.

In the current environment, “prevented” might be the operative word in that last sentence. A statement on the nature center’s Website noted that “With the recent significant increase in visitation, we have decided that adequate social distancing is a concern, so we have made the very tough choice to temporarily close our entire property to the public. We are obligated to do our part to slow the spread of the Coronavirus. Public parks in Englewood have already been forced to make this decision, and we’re following their precedent."

Flat Rock Brook is a nature preserve and environmental center patronized the most by local residents. But the concern that forced its closure has spread to other jurisdictions. Earlier today, all parks operated by Bergen County were ordered closed. 

How realistic is authority’s fears that social distancing in these environments would be unenforceable? Last weekend, visitors in both Foschini and Johnson Parks in Hackensack were few and far between when I went there. 

But as the temperatures rise and more people stay away from their workplaces, how long will that underuse last? And for the unwary congregating on park benches and tables, there is no realistic way to sanitize these surfaces as constantly as needed.

In the meantime, citizens must endure another disruption to their lives. Being so close to nature without experiencing it at its fullest seems especially cruel when so many need tranquillity and beauty in their lives.

Quote of the Day (Bob Newhart, on a Psychic Incompetent at Her Job)

“I was in New York to do Letterman and I got in the town car and was taking it from the airport. Coming up Sixth Avenue, I look up at a window and there’s this sign that says, ‘Psychic,’ and there’s a made-up sign that says, ‘Lost our lease.’ Now, if you’re a true psychic, you know you’re going to lose your lease. I questioned how good a psychic she was.”—Actor and stand-up comic Bob Newhart quoted in Jim Sullivan, “As Long As He's Able, Comedian Bob Newhart Says It's His 'Obligation'To Do Stand-Up,” www.wbur.org (Boston’s NPR news station), Nov. 3, 2016

This photograph of Bob Newhart, Flickr: Comedian Bob Newhart, was taken Nov. 5, 2004, by Jim Wallace (Smithsonian Institution)

Quote of the Day (Michael Lewis, on Baseball, Continuity and Nostalgia)

“There’s money to be made off exploiting other people’s nostalgia. Baseball, unlike other sports, is selling its connection to the past. I think that’s why baseball is nostalgic. People naturally associate baseball not just with childhood but with their father....The interesting thing is that baseball is so unmodern. The modern world is all about embracing change and disrupting. The truth about baseball is if there's no continuity, it's kind of boring. It's slow; it's not the pace of modern life. Basketball is the pace of modern life.” —Moneyball author Michael Lewis quoted in “Soapbox—The Columnists: WSJ. Asks Six Luminaries to Weigh in on a Single Topic. This Month: Nostalgia,” WSJ.com, October 2019

Today would have marked opening day in baseball. It’s lamentable, if not downright tragic, that the coronavirus has disrupted this tradition. The closest I got to the game these past 24 hours was filling out a crossword puzzle on this theme. 

Baseball, when it functions normally, offers fans like me a point in common with other people whom we would share little else with. It is a diversion from the tumult of life.

Baseball might be the summer game, but it begins in spring, in hope. Maybe that is why, though the consequences of the coronavirus are far more far-reaching than a mere game, so many of us mourn the delay of the sport.

(The image accompanying this post shows mu favorite player of all time, New York Yankee first baseman Lou Gehrig—a powerful slugger struck down by a medical malady that, like the one now raging across the world, was utterly mysterious when it first appeared.)