Sometimes the small changes have the biggest impact. From my perspective the most important change to the Rice campus in the last twenty years has been the addition of a back door to Fondren Library. Here’s another big one–finally, a sidewalk running along the intramural fields out to the stadium lot where I park:
Yes, I realize that there’s a sidewalk on the other side of the road but I’d rather walk near the open spaces. Now I’ll be able to do it without getting my shoes dirty.
And speaking of those open spaces here are a couple pictures of those fields circa 1969. These only exist as tiny images on contact sheets so I can’t make them any clearer but it’s not hard to get the gist. It was empty out there. Very, very empty. It looks like they didn’t even bother to cut the grass regularly:
This next one was taken from the corner across from where the Shepherd School is now. Note the little saplings:
And this was the same spot yesterday:
I’m thankful for those trees every day on the long walk in to the library.
Bonus: This is routine maintenance, straightening out the ones that have gotten cattywampus and resetting the wires that keep things generally upright. They look much neater.
