| A webcam diary
Webcams have become a commonplace on university
campuses, offering the world quixotic, unplanned views of complex, purposive
institutions. Boston College has four, overlooking O'Neill Plaza, the
Gasson Quadrangle, and the construction sites of the Yawkey Center and
the Ignatius Gate residence hall. Since May 2003, when the first camera
went live, the author has made occasional visits to www.bc.edu/webcams
from his office and home, keeping notes on the Boston College he
discovered.
o'neill plaza. Bright morning. Sunlight
on snow piles below. Students walk fast across plaza. Young man appears
to be my son who graduated three years ago. I watch him until he enters
Gasson Quad. Plaza suddenly empty, as though someone had issued an order
through a bullhorn. A class hour has begun.
gasson quad. Evening.
Raindrops on camera lens. BC has dropped away, leaving a pointillist
painting of nothing.
yawkey center construction
site. Morning. Webcams on construction sites are what one colleague
calls the "watching-paint-dry Web strategy." A "Yawkey
Center" illustrated banner is the size of a Museum of Natural History
diorama. Below it a backhoe roots in a hole. Seems to find nothing.
Doesn't seem to care. Keeps rooting like a pig after the memory of a
truffle.
gasson quad. Midday.
Shimmerings and sparklings in the south-facing camera. Landing here
on a sunny day is like running into a friend who is always high. See
you later.
o'neill plaza.
Thanksgiving eve, 6 p.m. Five minutes pass. No life, no movement.
ignatius dorm site.
Afternoon. Building wrapped in white plastic skin. Cliffs of Dover.
Construction workers enter via a dark square cave.
gasson quad. Rainstorm
at night. Dial-in from home. White globes of lamplight hovering like
benign spirits.
o'neill plaza.
Same stormy night. Rain moves across plaza like a rug unrolling. Something
that looks like a penguin is standing in a lighted window on third floor
of Gasson.
ignatius dorm site.
Same night. Wind trapped inside the white wrapping, fists of air flailing
at the sheeting.
o'neill plaza.
Later that night. Something like a penguin is still there.
o'neill plaza,
but I'm walking through. Young woman talking on cell phone in middle
of plaza is looking up at O'Neill roof edge. "Come say hi to my
Mom," she calls to another woman, who hastens to get away.
gasson quad. December-bright
morning. Strong colors everywhere. Blue steel sky. Connection is slow.
Students step into wormholes in time, emerge 30 feet away.
ignatius dorm site.
Night. Small light burns in municipal cemetery across the road. I recall
a student who died weeks before her graduation. Parents asked that she
be buried in the cemetery. Someone called the mayor. She lies there.
gasson quad. Blizzard.
Night. The end of the world. Water seems to have reached the height
of the camera.
o'neill plaza.
Icy, windy afternoon after big storm. My son Gabriel forwards "Lunabean
Newsletter," a videogamer's
e-mail to which he subscribes. Proprietors "Allison" and
"Jeremy," BC graduates, advise subscribers to turn their
browsers to the webcam above O'Neill Plaza, which "becomes
very slippery in winter weather [where] the webcam is ready to capture
many a spill. Enjoy. Just try not to laugh too hard." What are
videogamers in Calcutta thinking as they gaze out over the frozen plaza
and wait for pratfalls?
ignatius dorm site.
Early evening. Pearly sky. Airplane crossing over Boston. I have often
looked down at the glowing coals of cities. Have I ever imagined a man
in an office gazing at a computer screen and seeing me cross the sky
like a new star?
Ben Birnbaum
Photos (from top):
Camera on O'Neill Library roof. By Lee Pellegrini
Webcam view of Gasson Quad, flanked by buildings-in-progress
Ignatius Gate dorm (left) and Yawkey Center
Top of Page
|
