I'lll Huff and I'll Puff and I'll Blow Your House Down...

I read yesterday that at the end of the school year, they'll be demolishing Kirby Smith Hall on the LSU Campus and replacing it with a new, modern dormitory.  Kirby Smith Hall was named after the Confederate brigadier general Edmund Kirby Smith, who led the CSA to victory over the Union at Red River in April 1864.  The fact that it wasn't re-named due to its (now) politically incorrect namesake is an enigma for sure.  It was built in 1965 and many generations of LSU students lived there and probably have many memories of living there like I do.

It was the dormitory I lived in when I was a freshman at LSU.  I lived in Room 1407 on the 14th floor.  Actually it was the 13th floor, but for superstitious reasons, there was no 13th floor.  The floor plan was set up in suites where two, two person bedrooms shared a bathroom in the middle.  Each floor had a little kitchenette area with a microwave and a stove.  I heated up many a can of Campbell's Chunky Sirloin Burger soup in that room.  The architecture of Kirby Smith Dorm really didn't fit it with the Italian Renaissance design of the rest of the campus.  It rises up and dominates the skyline.  You can see it from the I-10 bridge, for the time being anyway.  The pale nondescript bricks of the lego block building just stood in stark contrast to the elegance and beauty of the huge live oak trees that cover the campus.

As I think about my time there, several things come to mind.  First and foremost, the smell of the elevators.  Oh my goodness, I can close my eyes and the smell stench comes roaring back and attacks my olfactory senses, even after the passage of 30 years of time.  The smell within the four walls of the Otis elevator was an amalgamation of vomit, urine, stale beer, and sweat.  Or perhaps something died in there?  The trip down to the ground floor was a daily challenge to see if you could hold your breath for that long.  Oftentimes, I opted to walk down 13 flights of stairs to avoid the putrefaction.

From my room overlooking campus on the 14th floor, I could see my roommates coming and going.  One day we saw my roommate coming from across campus and we quickly moved his furniture and all of his belongings into the elevator and sent it down to the ground floor to meet him.  He was not amused.  Our room had a great view of campus.  You could look down and see the "Enchanted Forest," the Greek Theatre, Pentagon dormitories, the Indian Mounds, The Parade Grounds, and Tiger Stadium!  It was exceedingly hot as the air conditioning worked intermittently.  We jimmied the locks on the window to allow breezes to blow in the room.  We could then easily yell at our roommates from the room.

Before big football games, some people with too much time on their hands passed out directions to each dorm room to either leave your lights on or off and curtains open.  The results left clever messages spelled out about our opponent for all to see for miles around.  One night we figured out how to get onto the roof of Kirby Smith Hall.  It was a beautiful vantage point to see the stars and lights around campus.  I remember it was around Halloween when we climbed up there and pumpkins may or may not have been tossed off the top of the building to watch them explode after hitting the ground after dropping for 13 stories.   

I remember not getting much sleep while living there as at least nightly one of the 577 residents thought it would be a good idea to pull the fire alarm.  It was an all-guys dorm and it was very noisy even when the fire alarm wasn't sounding.  I met many friends during my stay in Kirby Smith Dorm and still keep in touch with some of them to this day.

Some time soon Kirby Smith Dormitory will come crashing down into a pile of rubble, leaving nothing but memories of the first year away from home in a freshman dorm.  I'm wondering if, even after Kirby Smith is gone, will the odor of the elevators still waft through the humid air and permeate campus with foul aromas?