Noice loves poetry… and we love it even more when it gets randomly emailed to us (but not in that my-mom-won’t-stop-sending–me-inspirational-chain-mail kind of way). So imagine our delight when a couple beatniks set themselves to the task this week on Lev Open while lamenting the missing dining hall clock. We’d applaud…but uh, we’re already over quota.

FAS webmail’s 100 MB limit notwithstanding, there’s always room in our hearts for this kind of collective creativity.

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hen entering Leverett’s dining hall after an exhausting day of class, even the hungriest student will notice the garishly colorful mural hanging at the head of the hall above the fireplace, a notorious work of art known among all Leverites.

In 1990, Leverett House Masters John and Judith Dowling commissioned painter Jerald Webster to compose the mural, entitled “Coltrane.” The modern piece—composed of abstract shapes and lines of vibrant and divergent colors—acts as a wild and unfortunate contrast to the beautiful Georgian-style dining hall. The painting supposedly depicts a bird’s-eye view of Harvard Yard, and pays homage to the influences of famous jazz musician John Coltrane, whose music Webster listened to while he painted the piece. Webster originally painted three separate murals to allow house residents to choose their favorite, but over the years, the selected mural quickly fell out of favor among Leverett’s denizens.

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