Professor Blalock’s cafe with us the other evening focused on a topic I hadn’t really thought about, despite my constant immersion in it: West Campus’ history. When I first moved on to West Campus, I wasn’t too happy about having to live in a Gothic building. I had no clue how old it was, only that it was old. I eventually learned to live with the silverfish and the spiders, and grew to appreciate the view from Lyon tower. Professor Blalock, however, brought to my attention the history behind the Gothic buildings and just how old they were–though I knew about the war memorial and the various plaques across the buildings, I hadn’t realized that they had mainly been built with donations in honor of fallen Cornell veterans.

Additionally, though I knew main houses were newer, I hadn’t thought about what had preceded them. Several West Campus house plans had been implemented in the past, and West Campus as it stands today is really not that old at all. Professor Blalock mentioned that in 20 to 30 years, West Campus as we know it today may no longer exist, and a new house plan could be constructed. That comment in itself put me into a new perspective, and I reminded myself that the present can’t be taken for granted, since it too is going to be history at some point.