Blog 3- Paper 2 Proposal

The RAC


“Most people in the United States do not consciously notice in their everyday environments.”

“The term landscape means more than a pleasing view of scenery. Landscape denotes the interaction of people and place: a social group and its space, particularly the spaces to which the group belongs and from which its members derive some part of their shared identity and meaning.“

From Paul Groth’s article, “Frameworks for Cultural Landscape Study.”


Description:

The UMBC Retriever Activity Center better known as the RAC is a place that I visit at least 3 times a day. And up until now I have never really taken the time to actually “look” at this everyday space that many people, UMBC students or not, visit. When walking up to UMBC’s main campus one of the first building’s one will see is the RAC. It is a huge red brick building show cased with a glass entrance and flowerbed’s surrounding the building for aesthetic appeal. Out front of the RAC is a statue of our school mascot “True Grit” which adds to the aesthetic appeal of the Center.

UMBC’s website describes perfectly what the RAC holds in store for its visitors and the things that people most commonly visit the RAC for which includes: “A multi-purpose recreational facility, including two gymnasiums used for indoor tennis, lacrosse and soccer as well as traditional court sports; a fitness balcony with state-of-the-art cardiovascular equipment; a track for walking; indoor and outdoor swimming pools; a weight room and locker rooms. The RAC Arena is used for varsity basketball, volleyball, concerts and other special events, and seats 4,000.” However, being a UMBC athlete I get a more behinds the scenes look at the RAC and actually visit the RAC for other purposes than the ones that are listed and seen by many. The RAC also includes many offices, a Varsity Student-Athlete Study Hall room, a Varsity Athletic Weight room and a Varsity Athletic Training room. It is in these places where I see “the spaces to which the “group” (varsity athlete’s) belongs and which its members derive some part of their shared identity and meaning” (Groth).

History:

The UMBC website relieves that “The UMBC RAC opened in 1999 and decided to offer the extended UMBC Community the opportunity to enjoy our new facility. You may purchase a membership to the RAC and enjoy the benefits of a convenient location on a university campus, state-of-the-art fitness opportunities and a comfortable environment in which to pursue your fitness goals, even if you are not a UMBC/UMB student or faculty/staff member.” I think that the fact that UMBC is such a family friendly campus really adds to the appeal of the RAC and has allowed for many events to be held here since its opening. Since the RAC is so new there is not that much history to date like there would be at older Universities but again this is an appeal to the RAC in the fact that when you visit, you are in fact making the RAC’s history.

Cultural Significance:

As Paul Groth said, “in cultural landscape studies, the term landscape means more than a pleasing view of scenery.” He goes on to talk about the “interaction of people and place.” In the RAC you see this meaning really put to use. People interact with the RAC facilities through using the many features offered here. Whether they are working out in the weight room, swimming, running, playing some sort of sport, studying, meeting with coaches, or getting treatment on injuries people are interacting with this place. In the RAC we can also see people interacting with each other that sort of “social group and its space idea.” I see people playing basketball on different courts that end up playing a pickup game together. The RAC has a way of bring people with the same sort of interests together and maybe starting new friendships. Even though I am on the Lacrosse team I have made many new friends on other teams through being in study hall and in the training room. We all have the same interest, UMBC sports and our academic’s, which gives us a shared identity. I would have never thought that a place that I visit so often would hold such meaning and bring so many people together. But through looking at the RAC through the “lens” of the “cultural landscape studies,” it really makes sense and makes me see how there are so many other places in life where this same sort of thing happens, all we really have to do is open our eye’s.

“Better knowledge of ordinary environments can foster deeper understanding of American people and American culture and can lessen the environmental dangers caused by people who cannot see and interpret their surroundings.”- Paul Groth

Argument:

The UMBC RAC is a facility that unites the community, UMBC Student/ Faculty or not, and helps them to pursue their fitness goals. The RAC is a central part on this campus that has a lot of cultural significance and even though it is a new building with not much history it is building one day by day.