Kenyon College's Chapel

Kenyon College was first at Worthington, the seat of the first Episcopal bishop of Ohio. In 1828 both were moved to Gambier. Harcourt Parish began in 1829. Englishman Gordon W. Lloyd was the architect. The cornerstone of Church/Chapel of the Holy Spirit was laid in 1869, construction was complete in 1871. There is a combined, and slightly confusing history of college chapel, and parish. The building has always been property of the college. Sometimes the rector, and the chaplain were the same person. There also was a military academy, and a school for girls. In 1875 an additional Southern Diocese of Ohio was created in Cincinnati, and the Ohio Diocese moved from Gambier to Cleveland. In the 19th century Kenyon was low church. The Southern diocese was more high church. In 1959 students were no longer required to attend services.

The campus is credited to have started collegiate gothic architectural style in the US. The church is part of it. Stained-glass windows are beautiful, and look to be of three studios. A twin window with a top rondel group is by Charles J. Connick 1945†, who also made the stained-glass in Peirce Hall.

 

Holy Spirit* descending on the apostles at Pentecost. (one of the five windows behind the table)

Moses with Commandments (one of those five windows)

Jesus as the Good Samaritan (in Luke x) [foto JZ] (one of three parable windows)

Parable of the Ten Virgins (in Matthew xxv) [foto JZ]

One of the scenes of the church's Connick windows.

narrow door [foto JZ]

Peirce Hall has a tower for Philander Chase (bishop and founder). It has a triple window 1929, each with three scenes. When Chase came to Ohio, Ohio was the western wilderness. In the dining hall of Peirce, there are many scenes from English and American literature.

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*Holy Spirit is depicted by tongues of fire, Ohio farm children may see that as corn on the cob

2024 Miscellany #6—travels

When travelling to see something, it may or not be there anymore, or functioning. Most things are transitory. If you want a foto snap it when you can, and preferably near its completion. The United States is not a land of maintenance. Some times serendipity will you allow you to find something novel. If something is unveiled, or made available to the public, don't wait too long.

Pollarded sycamores (i think). Cleveland Museum of Art.

In a geometric layout of planting, and before leafing, these trees look otherworldly, or eery. Pollarding is a form of severe pruning. Upon the injury, many new branches sprout. Agriculturally, these branches good be harvested. In willows, it would be uses in thatching.

American Locomotive #63 of Schenectady New York. 1940. Gambier Ohio. 

Steam locomotives fascinate. It is a boiler on wheels. There is beauty and drama when one is in movement. This one last operated in 1959, and has had several owners before it rested in central Ohio. Its working life was on the docks of Mobile. Since 2001, it has been an attraction on the Kokosing Gap Trail. Gambier has been a college town since 1825. The tracks are gone, and like some other former railroads, it is now a biking, jogging, walking path. This one there has a tender, a flat bed, and a caboose.

William Severson. Hora Novem. 1982. Columbus. 

Severson was a St. Louis based sculptor. He made many large metal works. This one was not the only one that involved water, and it was not the only one that was built to show the passage of time. He has a stone monument on his grave that marks a cross at noon on the equinox. This one when it operated had 32 streams of water meeting at the center. It was a solar water clock.

2024 Miscellany #5

Iron workers Local 17 on a new walkway which will lead to a temporary entrance while the Marcel Breuer entrance will be remodeled.

Reflection of trees onto the restaurant's name in Case Western's new University Center. Michelson-Morley experiment of 1887 on campus with the speed of light suggested that aether (the fifth element which filled space) did not exist. It was a famous failed experiment. Michelson received the Nobel in physics in 1907.

Cleveland Museum of Art has this Claude Monet Water Lilies usually on the second floor. There is a Monet exhibit off the atrium with four other Monet paintings now. Three are visiting from Paris, including one of Rouen's cathedral. Monet painted some subjects many times.

Count the goslings at Whiskey Island Cleveland. This part was called Wendy Park, currently that signage is gone,

House wrens are elusive, skittish, and tend to secret and conceal themselves.

Baltimore Oriole

Catbird

glass strikes

World Migratory Bird Day 2024 is May 11th. Birds often migrate at night. A problem is death by striking glass buildings. I took this foto on May 5th, a wood thrush hit glass elevator tower, Cleveland Museum of Art.

The same fate happens in the autumn migration. Red-eyed vireo, 3 October 2022.

Automobiles have glass tinted so that the occupants are covered, almost incognito, invisible. I wonder why, police do not object? The tinting reduces glare in windows, certainly that may be helpful in some office towers. Some glass could have dots, or other markers applied. A glass elevator does not have to be 100% clear.

There are bird lovers who go downtown and pick up the night's victims. Some birds are stunned, or wounded, and may survive.  They also do a number count of species. I think, that is the primary task.

The Guardian is a great news reporting paper: [click]

CWRU sit in

 

Hind's Oval is the temporarily renamed library oval. 

 "Hind Rajab was a six-year-old Palestinian girl from the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood in Gaza City who was killed by the Israeli military, after being the sole survivor of Israeli tank fire on the vehicle in which she had fled with six relatives." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Hind_Rajab 

She survived, initially, with a 15 year old cousin, Layan Hamadeh, who called Red Crescent for help. Cousin was shot dead. Hind then spoke on the telephone to the Red Crescent. An ambulance came, and the two paramedics killed. Twelve days later, after the Israelis left, all the bodies were found. The Israeli military denied involvement.

Monday, 29th of April, a peaceful protest began at Case Western Reserve. Previously, student government called for the university to divest from companies involved with the Israeli regime. Usually student government is a charade for a school to play democracy a voice, or it is a tool of the school. Rarely does student government exercise important free speech on pertinent political issues. And when it does, administration is neither pleased or amused. In the grass oval, in front of a library, students gathered to call for a cease fire in Gaza of Palestine.

Police do one thing while professing something. Police are not there to protect free speech, and to protect political rights. Police are there to keep the establishment happy. Police take sides, besides the powers that be, they warm to "far right" opinion. So, Monday students repeatedly were squashed in trying to erect shelter for a sit in. A coalition of police (campus, University Circle, Cleveland) arrested some two dozen people (mostly students). The detained were allowed to go, and a sit in was established for the night.

Thursday afternoon/night, school President Eric Kaler“no longer approved”. Any such demonstrators/protestors were now trespassers. There has been some violent police, and counter protestors around the country, including at Ohio's largest school. Sunday morning as we walked our hound, it was very quiet, and sparsely attended. One student wearing a keffiyeh asked me to blur faces in fotos, so students would not be "doxxed". We talked to a couple others. One girl just completed a new sign. One boy was pleased to see a greyhound. His parents had one named Hi-octane. As we were leaving a few people began eating.

Nearby, outside the area on a free speech/announcement boards, dated March 5th.

The new sign referencing a recent Dune movie.

at an entrance

facing Euclid Avenue

Did not know there were cat activists. 

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Postscriptum 9 May 2024: After eleven days, encampment ended. University never engaging in dialogue. University had painter spray paint students as campus cops watched on the 7th before dawn. A "Spirit Wall" had artwork hat administration objected to. It was pro-Palestinian, i have found no image. Later in the day, anti-Palestinian message appeared.