Willamette
University was the first and only entity I knew fourteen years
ago when I set foot on this land. Almost everything intrigued
me: the cozy Hatfield Library where I could sit on a sofa and
stared at the stream outside the large French windows (Picture
8); the Smullin Hall computer labs in which I could always find
a computer, no matter how late. When I saw the Apple/IIe in Carol
Long’s office, I adored it. When Michael Strelow showed me his
laptop with two floppy drives to load the whole Wordperfect dictionary
into memory, it easily won over my admiration.
I remember the first snow in my life, the Christmas
of 1988. Walking out the the computer lab in Smullin Hall,
my feet were planted on the snow! Being a southerner in
China, I never saw snow falling from the sky. I bent down, touched
snow on the grass, and gave out a cry of joy. In that winter,
the brook (Mill Race) running across the campus was frozen. Some
ducks were snatched away by some beast of prey. The campus
was in a roar. Collegian reported that a staff member took
the ducks home to shelter them. My heart was deeply touched.
Every life is respected and treasured here, even that of a duck!
This surely is the land to be.
At that time, I
was so
impressed
by Fred
Meyer's "one
stop
shopping" that
I wished
Li-qing
could
come
to see
for herself,
and perhaps
Hong
and Wei
too.
We would
be going
by bike
to Lancaster
Mall
and stay
one whole
day there.
That
was 1988.
Then Li-qing
joined me
the last day
of 1990, Wei
August 1991,
and Hong November
1992.
Willamette
University the Beautiful (my photos of the campus)
Webpage
of Willamette University |
|
威拉姆特大学位于俄勒冈州的首府,Salem市,与州议会大厦(capitol)相隔一条街。一条小河穿过校园(图七)。1988年10月我作为访问学者来到这里。住在学校的Hazeldorf
公寓(图一),日日夜夜泡在Smullin 的电脑室里(图二)。圣诞节那个半夜从电脑室里出来,见到了一个南方人见到的第一场大雪。不久,小河也结冰了。原来在那里歇息的野鸭们被其他走兽抓走了。校刊校报报道了这件事,就有好心人赶快把留下的鸭群带到安全地带,等到河水不再结冰后才一一放回。从此,我深深地为这种人文精神所折服,并乐不思蜀了。
庄宏就读Atkinson 研究生学院时写的一封信
威拉姆特大学网页
美丽的威拉姆特大学校园 (照片) |