This is a picture of the walkway that goes from Miller to Warren and Grafton passing in front of Carrier. This picture was taken at the top of the stairs leading down to Top Dog and Dukes. This particular section of the path is interesting because it’s the only section of the path that has decently thick foliage covering both sides of the walkway. The fact that the rest of the walk towards Carrier is so wide-open almost makes me feel like I’m being watched because you’re in plain view of anyone walking, sitting on benches, looking out the windows of Carrier, etc. This tiny portion of sidewalk is a kind of personal escape because it gives me a brief sense of privacy that can be fairly hard to come by on a campus filled with over 15,000 students. As selfish as this sounds, this space has shaped my memory of my time at JMU because, for a brief moment, I feel like I stand out compared to being just one student out of thousands because it's as if I have JMU all to myself. I’m pretty sure that the campus designers intended the path to be a path and the trees and bushes to be trees and bushes. They definitely didn’t think it would offer any amount of privacy or that some student would ever want to analyze it.
I love this part of the path as well and I totally agree about the idea that this area provides the feeling of a personal escape. It is never very crowded at this spot which makes it more quiet than the rest of the path and it's relaxing even for just the few seconds it takes to walk by. If you were to continue down this path it would also take you right by Hillcrest which is another reason why I love the space so much. Personally I use this space to take a break before going into Hillcrest to study or to get some work done in between classes. The picture also portrays the shade and canopy provided by the trees extremely well.
ReplyDelete-Kelsey DeFord