Anonymous Rock memory from the Class of 2011

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The above quote is from anonymous graduate from the Class of 2011. Read the full memory below:

“What Brown memory didn’t happen at the Rock? This library was my second home from 2007-2011. Every paper I wrote I used books checked out from the stacks. Every important conversation I had with a friend happened in the café or one of the rooms. The steps of the Rock were the center of the social scene, a place where you took cigarette breaks from studying and bumped into friends and (hopefully) boys you were crushing on. There was a divide between “Rock” people and “SciLi” people—and everyone remotely in my social circle was firmly in the “Rock” contingent. We all thought we were much cooler/smarter/more interesting than people who did not hang out at the Rock. Lots of times, you would meet someone at a party and strategize to bump into them at the Rock the next day (mostly, by texting various friends to see whether your stalkee was at the Rock and where s/he was working). In the age of hook-ups, “See you at the Rock?” was the equivalent of asking someone on a coffee date. As far as I can remember, I’ve never hooked up with anyone inside the Rock (though friends definitely did, in the basement stacks.)”

Felipe Valencia

Felipe Valencia

The above quote is from Felipe Valencia. Read the full memory below:

“I spent the six years of my time at Brown, while completing a Ph.D., going to the Rock almost daily. For the first four years I worked on a carrel on the second floor, facing University Hall. For the last two I worked at the graduate student cluster, on the second floor. I would arrive at 8:30 or so and leave at 5 or so. I had many interactions with staff, particularly Sue, Peggy, Andy and Millie. They were always helpful and cheerful. Two or three times a week I would go hunting for books, most often to level B, where the literature books are kept. At lunchtime, I would go down and heat my tupperware in the microwave oven, or walk over to Thayer or a food truck. Yet despite all this time, I have to admit, I hated the building and don’t miss it in the least. It’s a horrible building. Outside it is passable brutalism, but inside it is ugly, poorly lit and sometimes labyrinthine. It’s a really unfortunate building.”

John Ballantine (RISD Class of 1977)

John Ballantine (RISD Class of 1977)

The above quote is from John Ballantine (RISD Class of 1977). Read the full memory below:

“As a student at RISD from ’72-’77 the Rockefeller Library was the number one library of Brown University I used on a regular basis throughout all of those college years. I was able to obtain a library card through the RISD Library so I had borrower’s privileges at all of the Brown libraries. The Sciences Library was the runner up to the Rock and was a wonderful resource, as well!”

Neal Kane (Class of 1982)

Neal Kane Memory

The above quote is from Neal Kane (Class of 1982). Read the full memory below:

“I was at the Rock one day when a friend of mine emerged from the ladies room and told me that a graffiti chain about me had been started on the restroom wall. It read:
• I wish more men were like Neal Kane.
• Who is Neal Kane?
• Neal Kane is dead.

Several months later, I was standing in the same spot with another female friend. I asked her to check the stall to see if anything had been added. When she emerged she told me that the following statements now appeared after “”Neal Kane is dead””:

• Therefore, I wish more men were dead.
• But who is Neal Kane?
• I don’t know, and I don’t care that he’s dead.
• I do – he was in my French class.”

Ryan Barton (Class of 1999)

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The above quote is from Ryan Barton (Class of 1999). Read the full memory below:

“I
oh! you rock. are you library or prison?
by your architecture we cannot know.
I found myself inside you, at the lowest possible
level, where silence reigned thick as a monk`s
cubicle, a post-platonic cave, a bachelor king
in guarded concrete buried with all the mortal
treasures of the semiotic universe. you were
no alexandria, rock. but you were my only home.

II
oh you humble rock.
you rockefeller.
next to the stately john carter brown,
you are junior`s homely thing
and wholly without science.

yet this is why we remember
you. you, refuge of humanity.
the ratty of libraries. after
you enter you can only go down.

here anything was possible.
and like many, i too got lost
in lust inside. sometimes cramming.
always wandering without a concentration.

down, down, down….
into the basement`s basement`s basement,
i have known myself to fantasize.
and never write things down.

III
There were rumors of being locked in you.
I was lost in your hollowed walls
for ten long years myself.
A life sentence, it seemed,
would I ever leave matriculated?
With Josiah as my witness,
you are MY Rock
and I am Always Yours.

IV
Rock. Philosopher`s Stone.
My Post-Structural Mecca.
I met you in the days of floppy
disks and microfiche.
Your stacks, your reserves.
You gave me my references.
Not even Orwig entertained
me as much as you.
Even when I could not meet
my fines, I found a deeper
circulation. If I could write
in blood, I would:
My thanks are long past overdue. “

David Menino (Class of 2012)

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The above quote is from David Menino (Class of 2012). Read the full memory below:

One time I was studying on the fourth floor—in one of those secluded, gloomy corner cubbies. My headphones were on so loud, I didn’t even hear the closing sirens that practically scare everyone out of the library by 2am. I was also so focused (I was probably procrastinating on a 12 page essay due the next day, hah) on my work that I didn’t even notice the clock had gone past 2am.

Eventually all the lights went out, and I was absolutely shocked. I couldn’t see anything. I frantically packed my things in my bag, and felt my way through the rows of books. My only guiding light was the evil crimson red coming from an EXIT sign leading to a stairwell that took me to down to the first floor. It was only until I reached the lobby (which was still dark, by the way), that my heart slowly began to calm down. I made my way to the SciLi to finish up my work for the night.

Sarah Woods Klingelheber (Class of 2002)

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The above quote is from Sarah Woods Klingelheber (Class of 2002). Read the full memory below:

Oh, yes, who can forget your cubicles with your window view out into the Rhode Island greenery. I sat there reading and writing, hunting for books, watching the outside light fade to gold and then to black among the leaves. I have a distinct memory during finals my sophomore year. I was working on yet another twenty-page paper and I got up to stretch my legs. Near the elevator I ran into my old RC and we were wiping the sweat off our brows sharing our finals woes when she said to me, “All it is, is a test of endurance.” It gave me a much needed new perspective on my paper—it didn’t matter what I knew, what mattered was the amount I was willing to endure and how long I would make it last. And that truly was the essence of the Rock for me, getting lost among its troves of knowledge and challenging, finding, and regaining my stamina and endurance.