almost but not quite

Our second library room review concerns itself with not so much a room as an institution, a concept, a structure: those blocks under some Butler desks; or, a godsend to the vertically challenged population. 

As a person significantly beneath the national height average, finding a space to study during finals is both easier and more difficult. Curling up in mousetrap-width corners? Thanks very much. Sitting cross legged for nine hours? Don’t mind if I do. But if there’s one reason to go to Butler during finals, despite the smell and the tension, it is the long blocks beneath apparently random tables that appear in no other library on campus (as far as I know). So far, I have found them in Butler 209, 403, and most of the reading rooms on the sixth floor, although there are probably other rooms (any outside of Butler would be much appreciated). These blocks are anchored to the ground and allow individuals like myself to rest our feet flat instead of dangling awkwardly for eight hours.

This may not seem like a big deal if you are 5’4″ or over. All of these Butler rooms are all poorly lit, stuffy, and otherwise extremely uncomfortable. However, if your legs are so short you have to sit on your knees at John Jay (a real thing) so that your chin does not hit the table, resting your feet on these blocks will actually improve your posture and reduce back strain, good practice for that office chair you will hopefully avoid occupy for the rest of your working career.

If you are taller than 5’4″, these blocks will probably not help with your posture, but they will encourage flirty footsies–normal-length legs will find that they have nowhere to go but the territory of their across-the-table neighbor.

Just one more week via Shutterstock