This is a photograph I took at Newman Lake through the newly bloomed trees. I choose this particular picture because this area played a fairly large part in my freshman year at JMU last year. Whenever I found myself needing peace of mind, to get away from the craziness of the dorms, or just wanted to relax in front of a nice view, the first place I would go was to sit under the trees at Newman Lake. Although I find the quad also possesses a certain beauty to itself, it’s just a completely different atmosphere than the back of lake has to offer. I think most JMU students also use this space for the same reasons I do- to lie out, to relax, and chill with friends. I also think that campus designers intended this space to be used for these purposes, or mainly just to provide the people of JMU with a scenic view they could enjoy.
I think one way to improve the lake for student use would be to create another bridge towards the back of the lake since otherwise you need to walk all the way around the other side. Although at first thought this doesn’t seem as aesthetically pleasing, if it was a really nice wooden bridge near the fountain it would probably look really nice. Also more flowers, willow trees, or trees that grow flowers like the one I’ve shown would be a nice addition. I’m not entirely sure how the lake could be improved with respect to sustainability and environmental concerns as it’s not a public lake that allows dumping or anything of that sort, rather it’s just a manmade lake with no real activity allowed within it, so I’m sure contamination is fairly limited.
Lastly, I think Greenberg’s article is correct with respect to JMU. It’s important to keep the architecture on campuses aesthetically pleasing since appearance is a major factor in the decision making process incoming students consider. Although I think JMU has a beautiful campus, I think it would be even more so if all the buildings were more similar in structure. I think the older part of campus, where the quad is located, is the nicest and would’ve loved to see the designers of our campus to continue to play off of that style throughout campus, as they have been doing with the new performing arts center.
-Erica Powers
Whenever I think about the lake, I think about its beautiful view and how it adds something special to JMU. However, it is also against the rules to swim in newman lake...however it is one of those "things" that you are supposed to do before you graduate. I think this relates to the Art of the Contact Zone because whoever swims in that cold, dirty, muddy lake is resisting the dominant culture by breaking the rules. I personally hope to do it before I graduate, and the lake is definately something that brings something special to JMU. I lived in Eagle and it definatly played a large role in my freshman year.
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