Reception
The current bridge, constructed of concrete in 1992 during William R. Haden's term as acting president, won the award for "Excellence in Concrete" from the American Concrete and Aggregate Producers Association. For its opening, students created a "super-highway" appearance including a traffic divider; according to Reed, remnants still exist in the center of the bridge.
Known for its aesthetics, the Blue Bridge is often featured in catalogs and displays to attract students to the campus. The bridge has served as a meeting place and has been cited as a favorite location on campus by students and faculty. In April 2003, Tibetan Buddhist monks used the bridge to execute a milk sacrifice and sand dispersal. Former Reed College professor Helen Stafford, who became the institution's first female professor in the sciences in 1954, requested that her ashes be scattered along the shore of Reed Lake by the Blue Bridge; her request was carried out following her death in 2012. The bridge, along with other sites on the Reed College campus and throughout Portland, was featured in the films Feast of Love (2007) and Blue Like Jazz (2012). Scenes from Blue Like Jazz which included the bridge were filmed in January 2011.
Read more about this topic: Blue Bridge (Oregon)
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“But in the reception of metaphysical formula, all depends, as regards their actual and ulterior result, on the pre-existent qualities of that soil of human nature into which they fall—the company they find already present there, on their admission into the house of thought.”
—Walter Pater (1839–1894)
“To aim to convert a man by miracles is a profanation of the soul. A true conversion, a true Christ, is now, as always, to be made by the reception of beautiful sentiments.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I gave a speech in Omaha. After the speech I went to a reception elsewhere in town. A sweet old lady came up to me, put her gloved hand in mine, and said, “I hear you spoke here tonight.” “Oh, it was nothing,” I replied modestly. “Yes,” the little old lady nodded, “that’s what I heard.””
—Gerald R. Ford (b. 1913)