The Eye of the Beholder

I have worked at the British Columbia Institute of Technology for nearly eleven years. People often describe BCIT in many ways. They might call the schedules demanding. Up-to-date might describe the content of the technical programs. Well-respected might relate to the general opinions about its training for the workplace.

There's one adjective, however, which I seldom hear when others talk about the Burnaby campus. The missing word is beautiful.



Our buildings are a ramshackle collection of very practical spaces. My office, for example, is in a World-War-II era shed which doesn't differ much from a Quonset hut. There's not a great deal of charming landscaping nor public art. The Burnaby campus is fairly practical, if not to a noticable degree ... fairly ugly.

Yet, as I was walking back to one of the expansive parking lots today after class, I saw many scenes which were pleasing. When the weather is so great, and my mood so ready to 'stop and smell the roses', one can surely find a few relaxing views. Trees are capable of covering up all manner of abomination, aren't they?