TP: Building (Memories)

This building means something different to Hayden than it does to me...
For the entirety of Hayden's life, this has been the Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science, where his fun tank stopped for a fill-up. From playing with Mitch in the art room, to reminders not to touch banisters and elevator buttons (lest we infect Daddy with some foreign pathogen), to scary-then-fascinating dinosaur skeletons, to lifting a whole car alone, to gigantic movies in the cinedome, to the recent Rodin exhibit (where he came full circle from his babyhood trip to the Rodin Museum in Philly)...for me, the behemoth structure was the institution it was intended to be; this one for poor kids. Washington Senior High School students didn't need available, affordable parking. WSHS students didn't need an effective heating system, nor their coats (wearing them in class seemed disrespectful to the instructors) in the breezy-in-winter classrooms either. Tornado Drills at WSHS were a waste of time, to paraphrase my biology professor, Mr. Jackson, "If this building, in the center of town, is destroyed, there's nothing left in the city to live for." I'm honored I was able to take away my own meaning from this building's intentions; this building where we've all learned so much. I hereby edit only one piece of the cornerstone message, so that it relates to my own family and our memories of this sacred building:

The thing of most value and joy that takes place here is the flow of human interest. It is the spirit of the institution to be human in all of its activities. May the days spent here be filled to overflowing with scholastic attainment, courteous conduct, joy, and happiness, so that as the rest of the journey progresses, each life shall abound with gladness and our high school childhood days ever remain a happy memory.
Placed by old central pupils, June 16, 1932
Rededicated by Diana (Lambert) Jenner, WSHS Class of '86, 27 November, 2009