Ground Breaking Ceremony

            This is a photograph of the groundbreaking ceremony for the new building of the Frost School of Music. The photo was taken in the moments following the actual digging. Taking part in the ceremony was beloved University President, Donna Shalala, the two largest benefactors of the Frost School of Music, Phillip and Patricia Frost (right), Dean Berg (I believe) (far left), an assistant Dean and Sebastian the Ibis. The ceremony took place on that rectangular patch of dirt, behind Volpe and next to Foster, that everyone in Stanford still walks through on their way to classes. The ground has not been touched since the ceremony. In fact, there is more ground than there originally was since a sizeable pile of loose dirt was dumped in the middle of the lot for ease of groundbreaking. Continuing to look at the studium, the juxtaposition of the clothing worn by the above individuals portrays the spectacle of the situation. The construction worker (not seen in the photo) that will actually be putting in the labor to make the new building possible will be wearing the hardhat but will by no means be wearing a suit, yet the hype of the situation (the ceremony) shows the two ideas, labor and social class, two things usually in competition with each other, in the same photo or context.

As far as which social group the picture applies to, I would say it depends on the point of view of each member of the student body on a case-by-case basis. If the majority of the student body considers the University their home then it appeals to the locals. The ceremony, which embodies the Universities drive to always offer a better space aesthetically and academically, would appeal to the locals who use and pay for the space. It also appeals to mobiles, in this case prospective students and the families of current students, because the ideas of newness and advancement attract potential students and families to visit campus and send their children to school here at the U. The photo could also potentially represent the lack of voice from the exiles. Who will actually be doing the groundbreaking and every other laborious step that is required to make a building appear?

This photo, particularly the hardhat (as well as the concept of the construction workers missing voice), reminds me of my father. My father works as an elevator mechanic in New York City. Every business day he commutes for about 4 hours (rush-hour on the LIE is awful) and works all across Manhattan maintaining, troubleshooting and installing elevators. It’s not the most glamorous job and it the average salary for most isn’t the best but my father has been in the job so long that he has made the electronics and programs behind the elevator his art and is economically fortunate to be on the best in the field. Whenever I went into work with him during days I had auditions in the city I would think about what New York would be without elevators.

It was and, as I look at this picture, still is confusing to see or, better yet, not see where all of the credit is perceived. In the case of my father and all construction workers, all of the famous Manhattan skylines or beautiful college campus buildings would not exist, yet appreciation for their work is hard to come by. And as you get to socially lower jobs my confusion turns to contempt. Students here and I imagine students elsewhere complain about dining hall food, blown light bulbs and wet bathroom floors with little regard to who actually performs those jobs (for extremely low wage) to make their lives bearable. This photo in a way represents this lens in which people view how the world works in a sense: only seeing the final project without regards to those who sacrificed their time and energy for the project.