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Come Outside: Green Spaces at UAMS

Ever find yourself inside on one of those glorious warm sunny days when nature seems to beckon us to come outside?  Maybe, like me, you weren’t raised in the city, and you need some fresh air and a chance to stretch your arms and inhale and exhale deeply.  Maybe you miss the the chatter of the critters and the sounds of human living going by.  It’s rejuvenating (it makes us young again) to smell the delightful aromas of the blooms or of a just-passed rain—you can almost taste the dewy sweetness.  How nice to be caressed by the gentle massage of a breeze, to see green plants and birds on the wing, butterflies at a blossom.  But, we live in a mini-city of concrete high rises and technological marvels.  It’s not so easy to get outside and breathe free.

There are some green spaces around UAMS, don’t you know.  Tucked here and there are some spaces where you might decompress for a few moments.  You might even take your studies and work outside.  I’ve located and noted places around the campus with benches, in some cases tables and shade.  For the most part, these are also green spaces designed with a variety of plant life and often soothing water feature backdrops.  Come outside and enjoy.

Green Spaces at UAMS

  • The gardens among the campus buildings behind the student center and the COPH building.  There are 3 outdoor spaces, each of which is lined with greenery and includes benches:
    • Between building 4A and building 5A.
    • Between building 7A and buildings 2 and 3, next to 5A.
    • Between building 7A and 6A, this is the “Legacy Garden.”
  • There are some shaded tables and chairs outside the student center (around the side of the building from the entrance).
  • There are benches on the hill behind and above I. Dodd Wilson building.
  • There are some shaded tables and chairs outside the Resident Hall Administrative Services building.
  • There are several balconies with tables and chairs in Rahn Education building.  The largest (also the most used) is outside the Metro Deli 2 indoor seating area.  It appears to me that there are balconies facing north toward the Hillcrest area, facing east toward downtown, and facing West.
  • The UAMS Garden, also called the Chancellor’s Garden on Campus Drive outside the Chancellor’s suite and accessible from the sidewalk on Campus Drive.
  • There are shaded tables and chairs outside the cafeteria which is located on the ground floor of the Central Building.  There are often several people in this area, eating and visiting so it may not be as conducive to study and quiet.
  • The Healing Garden outside the Gathering Place café on the first floor of the Rockefeller Cancer Institute.
  • Off the first floor lobby of the hospital toward parking one and looking toward the VA center there are some outdoor benches.
  • Outside of the Psychiatric Research Institute (PRI) there is a small green garden space with bench seating.

The weather appears to be moving slowly toward cooler Autumn.  It’s a good time to be outside.

Fun with Words: An Invitation to Enjoy Learning

Words are Fun

Academe is a proper noun referring to “An ancient school where morality and philosophy were taught.” Academy is a noun derived from Academe and referring to “A modern school where football is taught.” Some years ago I ran across the Devil’s Dictionary in which these and other delightful definitions are found. I like to have fun with words; I hope the same for you. You have to do some learning while here, might as well have some fun. Ambrose Bierce, the editor of the Devils’ Dictionary, was a Civil War general and later writer who assembled this collection of wry observations. For instance, he defined an acquaintance as “A person whom we know well enough to borrow from, but not well enough to lend to, a degree of friendship called slight when its object is poor or obscure, and intimate when he is rich or famous.” Bierce is probably most famous for his definition of history, “n. An account mostly false, of events mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers mostly knaves, and soldiers mostly fools.” He also includes the following entry I love for its succinctness and subtlety. “Once, adv., enough.” I hope I’ve tempted you. Be warned: Bierce’s dictionary was published in 1906 and includes material we might find troubling today. He’s not gender inclusive, for instance, and his terminology may offend at times.

Second, way back in the Dark Ages of 1982, I received a book with the following inscription,

The book is Mrs. Byrne’s Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure, and Preposterous Words. Aside from you wondering what sort of friendship includes the gift of a dictionary as a present, here again I hope to tempt you to learn enjoyably. You would find that tomomania is an excessive desire to undergo surgery. You might discover that zymology is the science of fermentation. And, if you are aware that something insipid is unappealing, then it makes sense that good food is quite sipid, tasty. You’d be surprised at the number of manias and phobias that are frequent enough to have been named. There are a number of medical terms here, a reminder to us that, even if we know the terms tocology, xerotic, bromatology, occlude, variolation, or even oncology, our patients hear a foreign language. These entries are in a dictionary of obscure and unusual words. It’s good to learn to describe them in simpler terms. By the way, be sure to guard yourself each year against the seasonal condition of vernalgia. Personally I find the best treatment includes pointless outdoor activities enjoyed simply for their pleasure—frisbee tossing among friends, a stroll (people don’t stroll enough anymore), a bask on the lawn on a sunny afternoon.

A final gem I discovered: “Sherry’s Grammar List” at https://languageandgrammar.com/common-grammar-errors/.  I have added this address to my favorites tab.  Included is a handy index to common grammatical questions and mistakes:

  • When to use “affect” and when “effect?”
  • Using “had,” the past perfect tense.
  • There, their, they’re.
  • Beside/besides.
  • A.M./P.M. (unfortunately—to my way of thinking—she does not point out the correct use of 12:00 noon and 12:00 midnight; there is no 12:00 A.M. nor 12:00 P.M., but that’s my losing fight).
  • Incredible/incredulous.

I trust the third reference is of immediate and practical help in your studies.  The other two are a reminder to keep learning and have fun.

These definitions and many other delightful entries can be found in the Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce, New York: The World Publishing Company, 1911; available online at http://www.hermetics.org/pdf/Bierce_Ambrose_-_The_Devil-s_Dictionary.pdf and at https://archive.org/details/cu31924014323772 (several other online copies available).