Reese Phifer, what more can be said about you. Well a lot actually. You might be isolated all by yourself, but anyone who has ever stepped on campus knows that you leave a lasting memory in their mind.
You might be the home to the College of Communication and Information Sciences, but you really should be the home of the College of Engineering. Why? Well to put it in simple terms, you are, without a shadow of a doubt, the most confusing building in the state of Alabama. If you have ever stepped foot in the building, you understand the struggle. If you haven’t, allow me to explain.
Reese Phifer is the most confusing building for many reasons. First, there is no direct way around the building. If you try to walk from one side to the other you will eventually hit a wall or dead end. You walk up the main stairs and you will be on the second floor. Walk up the stairs directly in front of you, they will bring you to the fourth floor. Want to go to the third floor? You have to go to the side and take the staircase there.
How about if we enter through the bottom floor? If you take that staircase to the fourth floor, you cannot get to the front of the building. You are stuck in the back-half of the fourth floor. What happens if you need to get to the front-half of the fourth floor? Well you need to go to the third floor, walk to the front and then back up to the fourth. What happens if you walk up the stairs from the fourth floor, you would think you would be on the fifth right? Wrong, it is still the fourth.
Confused? I am too, and I am a fifth-year senior who has spent most of his college life inside of Reese and just figured out that there is technically a fifth floor, even though it is labeled as the fourth. Most students only interaction with Reese is when they take Public Speaking. You can find room 216 fairly easily. How hard was it though to find your lab, only one floor above? Let me guess, you probably asked someone for directions and were still confused. Did I even mention the bathrooms in the building? If you even find a bathroom in Reese, congratulations, that is half of the battle right there. The other half? Every bathroom in the building is uncomfortably small. Like smaller than it should be.
How about the smell? Now I don’t know if it is because of the former TV and radio stations that it used to hold, but the whole bottom of the building smells like 1978. The stench of the old carpet that really should have been changed sometime during the first Bush Administration, gets ingrained in your nose and you cannot get it out of your head. I understand why many of the media stations left and moved next door to the digital media center inside Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Being next to Bryant-Denny has no benefits. Every Friday in the fall, it is a pain in the butt getting to Reese, because the road in the front is blocked off. That doesn’t even matter though, because there is nowhere to park even close to Reese.
Even though you have your faults, which is a lot of them, I still love you Reese. I love how you do have the best vending machines. I like how you challenge people to find the bathroom. I love how every Friday before game day I can hear Bryant-Denny testing the music. There have been numerous times I have been writing a paper and I have heard Scott Cochran’s voice screaming, “Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah” over the loud speakers.
Through it all, Reese you never fail to disappoint in throwing a challenge in my face, when I am simply trying to go to class. Now all you need is a map and direction arrows and you will be perfect.
