their planned multimedia center looks promising

You know, I tried to resist saying anything to that because I knew I would start foaming at the mouth, but the siren song of my latent ulcers is too much for me.

I HATE eMPAC! They come and tell us that they're building this ugly box on the hill (the campus is basically the skyline of Troy), they don't even employ the services of their own School of Architecture (the dean of which is a recipient of the freakin' Topaz Medallion), and then, when they're over budget, what do they cut? The stuff they said the students were allowed to use!

To add insult to injury, they are ruining our sledding hill! They tell us that we shouldn't be using it anyway. Some stupid drunk boy broke his arm sliding into one of the trees on a shovel by himself after an ice storm. So what? You can do something stupid if you want, but you have to expect you're going to pay for it. It isn't the hill's fault. People have been flying down that steep half-mile for at least a solid 50 years now, and as far as I know, nobody has actually died. Not to mention, they did their geological stability measurements or whatever when the ground was still frozen, so, during the spring thaw, the hydraulic pressure caused the sidewalk on 8th Street (just below the building site) to buckle and rise up in places. Idiots.

And they have the nerve to tell me things like, "but, it will bring culture and an important performance space to the Capital Region!" Like hell! You'd think that we lived in some kind of bland, boring void if you listened to these people. If I were part of an important performance ensemble, do you think I'd rather be in a washing basket with a skin condition, or one of the most acoustically perfect buildings in the world? I'm completely offended.

eMPAC: "bah!", says I!

However, I'm glad to hear you're interested in "new media". It can be pretty fun, once you get past the black stretch pants and emo glasses. ( :

Beth