Jason Gerbsch                                                             Approximately 250 words

jg33@geneseo.edu

INTD 105-19: Scientific Writing

When most people view Sturges Hall, they just see another brick building, another one of the many buildings on campus, just one of the many structures people walk past everyday, either on their way to classes inside or just a landmark as they pass by.  I however, think of it as a simple, yet perfect example of the boundary between the artificial and the natural.

Not always has the building been here.  Ages ago nature claimed the entire valley.  Then one day, man settled here and cleared away nature for civilization, cutting and slashing and shaping the land to his liking, leaving in nature’s place roads and structures of brick and stone and eventually concrete.  The picture of the vine covered walls of Sturges Hall depict this boundary between man and nature, showing nature slowly taking back what rightfully belongs to it.

Standing and looking at the building from afar reveals nothing but a red and brown building with splashes of green covering large portions of it.  But upon closer inspection, one can see the sign of life clinging to the building, the beginning of the vine at the base of the structure, the plant stretching the entirety of the wall at some spots.  The individual branching vines hugging the the coarse brick, their leaves spreading out, covering the muddy red and brown in a coat of lush green.  The vine covered Sturges Hall is a prime example of the boundary between the wilderness and human habitation, the vines and building coexisting together.