The Skunk River Review - DMACC

Julie Van Cleave Experience Essay
Composition 1
A Change of Scenery
It is the dead of winter. The TV no longer beckons, and the stack of magazines on the floor
have all been read—twice. The obsession to clean closets and attack every smudge on the walls
dwindles. The dust collects. Even the allure of shopping the winter clearance sales has lost its
appeal. The feeling of restlessness starts to fester. The need for human contact is building. It’s time
for a change of scenery, even if only for a few hours. Where to go? How about a little trip to
Ireland, Japan, the Old West, or a walk down a dark, dank alley in Chinatown? What about a
trip in time to an unsettling future, or to the arms of a forbidden lover during World War II? All
these alter worlds and more are waiting at the Newton Public Library, as well as real, live people.
The Newton Public Library is really a tourist attraction with its unique architecture of
brick, metal and glass. The center, or core of this sprawling complex, reaches upwards to allow the
lineup of windows to let in natural light. The blue metal roof has several peaks, and today one
cannot help but notice the arrangement of icicles hanging from every soffit. They look like
uneven silvery fangs and are a perfect backdrop for Sir Rustalot who also is displaying jagged
teeth. The lounging lizard sculpture, knighted Sir Rustalot, is on the left side of the lawn in front of
the main entrance to the library. Today he looks like a frozen dragon protecting a medieval ice
castle.
On the right side of the main entrance, adjacent to the lizard, is a rather large whimsicalpainted
chair. The rainbow-colored chair is way too tall for anyone to climb on to without using a
ladder. I wonder how many imaginative children, too young to read the library sign in front of the
building, think this is the home of a giant.
Upon entering the double glass doors, I notice there is a sharp contrast between the goingabout-your-business
sounds outside and the absence of them on the inside. In fact, the library
seems to be in hibernation mode. Two glass cases, located just inside the entrance, are completely
empty. Normally they hold interesting displays of butterflies, or arrowheads and the like. The
“click, click” when stepping through the metal security frames (that make an entirely different
sound when patrons walk out with un-checked books), seems unusually loud. No one is at the
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