Rochelle Skorka
English 101
September 17, 2012
Writing Project 1
What
Space?
Hidden
from the sweltering heat of the desert sun, in the center of the Hassayampa
Academic Village, a dining hall stands to serve as more than just a cafeteria.
To students here, the “Hassy” dining hall can serve as a place to unwind after
a never-ending afternoon of studying, a rowdy pep rally before a Sun Devil
football game, or simply a favorite hang-out spot for friends. Following
stagnant mornings, the fast arriving twelve o’clock hour swells with students
of all types, from committed early-morning athletes to weary, up-all-night book
worms and groggy, late risers, who all wait patiently in a line that seems to span
a mile long and a mile wide. As kitchen staff inside hurriedly prepare each
station, anxious students flood the space, which is bursting with maroon and
gold decor, in search of tasty food, an available seat, and good company. The afternoon hustle and bustle of the
crowded room generates what is initially an overpowering buzz, comprised of
lunch line orders, the latest gossip, and casual chit chat, but which
eventually blends together into the background, becoming merely white noise
behind the concentration among your own lunch time conversations. To some, the
Hassayampa dining hall may register simply as just another over-crowded, college-
life cafeteria with dirty tables and empty ketchup bottles, while to others,
Hassy can be identified as a personal, noteworthy place, one where friendships
were born, where embarrassing moments transpired, where close friends routinely
meet up to enjoy each other’s company, or as a bigger picture, where everyone can
come and feel like part of the Arizona State University community and family. Through
this local place, people connect, converse, and find personal connection to a
place that becomes a home.
Vanclay
begins his piece Place Matters by
explaining that “space” is transformed into a “place” when it becomes
meaningful to an individual: “Ultimately, however, it is individuals themselves
who must connect with a locality-who must develop their personal attachment to
place. ‘Place’ exists when the individual can tell a story about a specific
locality that indicates personal meaning” (Vanclay, 4). Everyone
who utilizes the Hassy dining hall has some kind of connection to the space,
whether they are aware or not, that is unique to them because “Place-making
happens at multiple levels and in multiple ways…”(6). In
the back corner, a tight-knit group of friends squeeze into the large, round,
corner booth, paying no attention to the lack of elbow room, constantly
chatting and laughing, even long after they have finished their meals. At the
soda machine, a witty young man passively compliments a shy girl in a small
effort to flirt, while at a table nearby, a couple holds hands and shares a soda
or dessert in the same spot where that once nervous boy finally asked the girl
from the sandwich line to their very first date. Pairs of acquaintances fill
the span of the parallel middle tables engaging with one another based on the
fact that they found someone else with a common hobby, friend, or home town. In merely a moment of observation, one could
discover that Hassy has become more than just a dining hall because of the
people and the intimate connections they have made there with the space because
of each other.
The
people among the hall obviously enjoy their time there, as it has become more
than just an eatery, and grown into a bustling hub for fun and activity. “Thus,
the perceived ambience of a location, its perceived safety and security, the
level of background noise, any evident odours, the level of ambient light, and
the view and the elements in that view (and more) are all part of what makes up
the personal experience of space, and therefore are part of place” (4). When
anyone makes a personal, emotional attachment to a place it is based off of the
details in which affected their emotions, so that a specific smell may trigger
the feeling of love, or the long line reminding one that all of their friends
are waiting inside, with stories to make them laugh until they can’t breathe
anymore. Everyone that makes connections to this space has at least one story
to tell, whether it be about the time they collided with the attractive boy
from their English class and dropped their plates, or the story about meeting
their current significant other, and those stories are another example of how
we as people intimately define space and identify with it. Based on the volume
of students, their interactions, and their steady routine visits, it is fair to
say that the Hassy is one of those places that has become filled with stories
and personal attachments, transforming from simply a space to an inviting
place.
Everyone
inside once looked through the full length windows of Hassy into a space that they
had yet to experience, a blank canvas, with no memories or stories to tell, but
from the moment each person stepped through its doors for the first time, the space that we now know as “Hassy” has transformed
into a personal dimension of place. At a glance, an outsider may only see a space
crammed with busy people, milling around absorbed in their own reality and
routine, merely stopping by as they go on about their classes, studying, or
hobbies, when in fact, the Hassy dining hall is a place where a community gathers,
communicates, celebrates, and ascends from a solely individual connection to an
ultimate communal identity where each individual can build a true sense of belonging.
It is human nature to have a sense of belonging and places are the portal which
allow us to develop that feeling of connection. Feelings of being bonded to a
community are important for an individual’s self-worth, their well-being, their
involvement in their own work, and their success. Since everyone in the dining
hall undoubtedly makes some sort of personal connection to the place, there is ultimately
a sense of community. People come to the dining hall not only to spend time
with their friends one on one, but also to bond with their fellow classmates
and Sun Devils before a Saturday night home football game, to dress up for themed dinners,
or to find out what is going on during the weekends. All of these things
require personal communication between all groups of people using the dining
hall and creates stories and memories that bring everyone involved together, as
a community, or sometimes like a family. This sense of connection to the space,
both on an individual level and as a community, helps all of us student feel a
sense of unity and togetherness which gives us confidence throughout the rest
of the university, leading to more involvement, enjoyment, and success .
Vanclay
makes the profound statement that places are “… the contemporary everyday
connection individuals have with their local spaces that gives their life
meaning in the present…Place is fundamental to humanity…to be human is to have
and to know your place” (9). It is fundamental for us as humans to make
connections to the spaces we encounter and turn them into places that we can
connect to and find a sense of belonging. In the college setting, this is
crucial for students to know as we come across so many new places, faces, and
no true sense of property or home. To find that sense of togetherness, which
happens through the creation of direct connections to places, one needs to
recognize and appreciate the feelings and reactions they have to the space
around them. The lens that Vanclay utilizes throughout his piece explains that when
we find that personal meaning and connection to a space it becomes a place- in
real life application, Vanclay’s idea is analogous to the aphorism of a house becoming
a home.
