Morrison Library

Beautiful reading room inside Doe Library at UC Berkeley. Quiet and serene. Student workers at front counter are very helpful and accommodating– they allowed me to take in a small group of High School students for a quick peek without prior notice.

While everyone at Berkeley is busy protesting the rather trivial issues of incessant tuition hikes, staff layoffs, increased class sizes, etc, I have launched a crusade to fight back about what matters most at UC Berkeley — our right to nap in the Morrison Reading Room!
I propose a flash mob of nappers as our first method of protest.
Whose reading room? OUR reading room!

I am in mourning. At this moment i sit half-​awake in the north reading room, longing to be back in Morrison Library enjoying the most perfect nap. Alas, i was just awoken by the attendant and informed that sleeping is not allowed in the room.
I don’t know if the anti-​napping policy is a recent development or if it’s just beginning to be enforced, but it is a travesty and a waste of ideal slumbering space. That room was built and designed for sleeping, its plush chairs and couches entirely conducive to midday naps.
I guess Berkeley would prefer to sustain the image of students sitting proudly in leather chairs, tucked away in the pages of Joyce and Faulker (the books they’re reading for relaxation, of course). Preposterous that these students might actually need a break from their everyday intellectual exertion, right?

Like a Russian Nesting Doll, Morrison Library is the treasure hidden within the Doe Library, hidden within the UC Berkeley campus. Swept away are the common stereotypes that CAL’s thrives on: a picture of patchouli soaked hippies dancing around a maypole come to mind. (No offense, I love hippies) Instead, Morisson Library transports you to a fleeting and regal elegance found in New England campuses, gentleman’s clubs or Presidential dens yet serves as a refuge for many a student, and the occasional wandering hobo alike. Plush 1920’s style couches beckon students to nap, catch up on pleasure reading (studying is scoffed at), or sit and stare at the backdrop of tranquil academia. The architectural setting itself, with its wood paneling, carved ceilings, and second floor nooks, make it all too tempting to ditch class on the first Thursday of the month to attend «Lunch Poems» featuring prominent wordsmiths.
I make it a personal mission to tell that prelaw/​thermo nuclear engineer/​future senator robot to come inside, slow down and get a taste of the esoteric.