Columbia Places

In my three years at Columbia, there is one space that I would say is most representative of the school as a whole and that is the smoker hoard in front of the 624 S Michigan building. When it's the beginning of the semester, you'll likely see everyone you know—as the bookstore windows show winding lines that look like someone was playing “snake” and ate a whole lot of dots. The 624 building not only houses the library and the bookstore, but also probably the most diverse set of classes. This is because, with the exception of English, almost all of the LAS courses are taught here. That means you can meet anyone. AEMM students rendezvous with music majors, fashion majors, and even visual artists. Smokers follow one another down the elevators and out around the red marble flower beds—the perfect place to sit if it hasn't rained. I've always wondered why these flower beds are less impressive than the rest the city boasts—can it be that we're college students? Could it be that we have no respect for anything/one other than ourselves? Or is that what they think? Possibly. The past smokers could have ruined this beauty for the rest of us. The 624 building also is ideal because of its location, as it is situated between all other buildings. It is North of the Book and Paper Center, Music building, and Film Row, but also South of the Photography/Admissions building and the English building. I was quick to choose this space also because before I even came to Columbia and identified as one of the “smokers” , upon only visiting I thought South Michigan WAS Chicago. When you sit out in front you get 5 lanes of traffic to the East side—three going South and two going North. You also have Grant Park to look at. Being from Western Pennsylvania, the wilderness is what I miss most, and when the city's all you got the little walkway through the trees is sometimes enough. When you think about it, it is quintessentially what Columbia is—an incredibly urban campus with lovely landscaping thrown in to perhaps make us forget that we're actually in world on concrete.

The second place that symbolizes Columbia for me personally is the Blum Conference room on the fifth floor of the Library. Don't know it? Didn't think so. This may very well be Columbia's best kept secret, or at least it is in my opinion. The other room, tucked right in the back of the library by the North set of elevators lies a world unlike any other found on the campus. Columbia is very new and likes to keep up with the times and modern design, and decorates accordingly. We even have a set color palette for the school. This room makes you wonder if its two wooden carves doors will lead you to Narnia. The walls are carved wood as well, and there's aged hardwood flooring throughout. Fourteen crimson red wheeled chairs make their way around the grandiose wooden conference table, and show a view of Grant Park and Lakeshore Drive from five stories up. Framed photos of important people to the school (e.g. president Carter, Mary Ann Blood) are the only items adorning the walls, which are just beautiful in their own right. All modern accessories, like a fan, coat hanger, and power strip are all matte black, as if attempting to not steal any of the spotlight from the rest of the rooms. Speaking of lights, these aren't the florescent overheads that you see all throughout the rest of the school—these are floor lamps with stained glass shades, and fake candle fixtures on the wall. And as if it couldn't get any fancier the ceiling is white with rose cut outs and meet the fireplace. Yes, you heard me—fireplace. Where many would say that this isn’t anything like Columbia and doesn't belong in an explanation fo the school, I would have to disagree. This is where we came from, this is what Columbia used to be. This is actually still what it is (in the hoity toity hierarchy of the fatheads in charge). I mock, but that's not even why I picked it. I picked it because art doesn't exist on its own—completely new of everything that's already happened. Art is influenced by history, is that not why we put so much stock into Art History? If the Loft was what if Columbia now, The Blum Conference Room is how we all got here.

Another spot on campus that's representative of the Columbia community as a whole would be in front of the 623 Wabash building. There's a view of what used to be the freshman dorms at 2 E 8^th Street. SO much of my first year at Columbia was walking past 623 on my way anywhere on campus. It houses Shop Columbia, with their light blue neon sign leading people to come in. Shop Columbia is to the left of the entrance, selling Columbia students and graduates works. To the right is the Hokin gallery, a student run exhibition space. The rest of the building holds where most, if not all, visual arts classes are held, which brings your quintessential “artist” out for a smoke. They're all clad more or less the same, as if Chicago distributed a dress code and I didn't get the memo. Where one would imagine to see the oddest ducks of the art school pond, you usually just get cutouts from the latest Urban Outfitters catalog. It's as if living in a city this size means we all have to outdo one another fashion wise, without looking like we try at all. How could they not though? The view from here makes one feel incredibly urban. People are leaning on the black marble that spans the front of the building. Why is it slanted? I've asked myself this question a million times. Even though you put a cigarette butt tower out here for us, it's kinda hard to sit and not have gravity scooting you down. My hypothesis: the homeless. The city, as with its affinity for sparkling sidewalks and blooming flowerbeds, also manages to create “seating” all throughout the city that is designed to only accommodate sitting, and no sleeping. I don't know if we should feel appreciative or just sad as I look up at the roaring “el”. Other views include that of Warehouse Liquors, a small and somewhat swanky liquor distributor, a fancy Japanese restaurant called Tamarind and a condo. However more the more standard business of the the bunch practically take over the block: KFC/Pizza Hut, Subway, Dunkin' Donuts and Harold's Chicken. We college students is hungry, and they are practically on our doorstep. I wonder if this intense consumerism shoved in our face makes us different from the students that attend class on grassy quads. Then, the final gem in the mix is being able to see the Columbia English building at the corner of Wabash and Congress. The only Columbia building with its side exposed, was painted to commemorate the school and pinpoint our campus. Columbia College Chicago in bright green letters on a light blue background with the circular logo reading “Create Change” in white on orange. Although this is creative in respect to other buildings around the city, I still find myself asking for more. Why isn't it more creative, why wasn't it painted by our own artists, why can't a design be the face of the student body and not that of the polished “owners” of Columbia. Because I don't know about you, but the artists I know get a little dirty. We're scrappy and more interested in the concept and execution than with how the rest of the city will see us. Let's tear down the pretension.