Joel Dinda's photos with the keyword: Inside Macalester

The Student Center, reflected by the chapel.

Which is to say 37 Macalester Street. Now more commonly called Cultural House. Macalester owns many buildings around the perimeter of the campus, and several of those house folks with similar interests. A house full of Spanish speakers, for instance, or one where everyone's vegan. For my last college term the top floor at 37 Mac was French House. The folks who'd planned to live downstairs developed some issues shortly before the term started and couldn't fill the rooms. So the Office of Residential Life opened the floor to anyone. Since I was the guy in the housing office who was actually assigning rooms, I put myself in one of them.

Also known as Briggs House. The last official event of the visit was this reception. When I was a student the college president lived in this house, but these days he makes a home in the place I knew as International Center.

Things change. Kagin's name was New Dining Hall in when I was a freshman in 1967; by my 1982 graduation it had its current name but was still a dining hall. These days it's apparently become an office and event space, and folks eat elsewhere on campus. Markim Hall's new since my last visit to the campus--the Winton Health Center used to occupy this spot. The Kofi Annan Institute for Global Citizenship lives here. When I was a student we talked about Walter Mondale, an alumnus, and Hubert Humphrey, who'd taught at Mac. These days the school's most prominent alumnus is the former UN Secretary-General.

Dr Steph is Macalester's medical director. She stands in for the other Mac folks I encountered during the day because she was absolutely delightful. She loves her job. It shows. The day's main activity was little seminars with folks who make the school run. This seminar was in the chapel, and also featured college Chaplain Kelly Stone and Multicultural Dean Marjorie Trueblood. This wasn't really a presentation; 'twas more like a conversation between the "presenters" and nine or ten visitors. FWIW, another seminar I attended was much more like a lecture. That one was about how career counseling has evolved during the 21st century, and was fascinating. ========= I learned during this seminar that my college career was, well, more unusual than I'd realized. It seems that almost no one starts at Macalester, takes a long break, then comes back to complete their degree. Turned out I'd be discussing that all day.

The Dayton Campus Center on the left, Kirk Hall (a dorm) in the center, and the Dewitt Wallace Library beyond the students in the sunlight. Old Main is mostly hiding behind the trees. Dewitt Wallace grew up on this campus, then founded Readers Digest, which made him rich. Wallace money was crucial to the school's development in the fifties and sixties. We sixties and seventies students were painfully (yes, painfully) aware of that. My impression is that current students mostly think of Wallace as the guy whose name's on the library. Things change. James Wallace, Dewitt's father, was the college president for a decade or so, and a professor for several decades. One of the dorms is named after him. And the Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center is named for Dewitt's mother.

Over fifty years the Macalester campus has both changed and not-changed. I've already mentioned the rebuilt Fine Arts Center. The old Dayton Hall's gone; there's a new Dayton Hall elsewhere on the campus. Part of Old Main has gone; in its place is a library in a similar architectural style. The old Student Union's gone; in its place is a newer Campus Center. The old field house is gone, replaced by the Leonard Center. A grant from George and Wilma Leonard helped pay for my education. I'm hardly alone in that debt; many Mac grads were helped by Leonard scholarships.

'Twasn't an official activity, but the materials we'd received before arriving mentioned we might want to visit a noon recital on Thursday. So I went, as did a few others. There were more listeners than this shows. Basically everyone sat in the back. That's how it worked when I was a student; I wasn't surprised. I recognize some changes to the hall, but they're relatively minor--the control room's moved, the seats have changed. There were seven performers, each of whom did one or two pieces. This is Frederick Kerr; he's playing "Vogel als Prophet" by Robert Schumann. ========== We were also privileged to attend the first event in Mac's new theater, a production called "Letters|Home." The show--not really a play, more of an event--was based mostly on stories the students involved had heard from their families. It was very impressive, as was the facility. Didn't take any pix of the theater event....

My best pics from April's Minnesota trip were of the Macalester College campus. This one's of part of the Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center. Joan Mondale's part of Macalester's culture; it's fitting to name a building after her. Her husband Walter (or Fritz), of course, is otherwise famous; they met while taking classes at Mac. And Joan's father, Max Adams, was Mac's chaplain when I first arrived on campus.

Spent a couple nights in the Twin Cities in April. Here's the view from my room at The Marquette. When I was a college senior, IDS Tower was the tallest building between the Mississippi and the west coast. Or something like that. These days 'tain't even clear that it's the tallest building in Minneapolis. It's still quite impressive, nonetheless.

At the Belvidere Oasis (that's what they call it) on the Illinois Toll Road. The storm followed me home. The rains started as I crossed the state line from Wisconsin to Illinois; as I crossed to Indiana it began to snow. Fortunately nothing similarly untoward happened as I arrived at Michigan's border. 117/365

I was on campus for an event called Inside Macalester, a function for a small group of Mac alumni. Over breakfast on Friday we heard presentations from several senior Mac officials. Ms Lee's the school's VP for Student Affairs. 116/365

I just spent a couple days at my alma mater , Macalester College in Saint Paul. I've known the campus for over fifty years; this photo could have been taken in any of those springs. 115/365

Rest area near Gaylord, Michigan. 114/365