Kuykendall Hall

In the greater scheme of college buildings, Kuykendall is definitely below par. It’s so old that there’s almost nothing noteworthy or salvageable about it. I feel especially sorry for the janitors who work so hard to clean the bathrooms with their inextinguishable scent of pee. Yet, I can’t completely slam the place for being old. I’ve had many, many classes in this building, and it earns points for familiarity. One day, it will be renovated or torn down and replaced, but for now, it represents the place I used to eat lunch at between classes, the place I tried to sneak quick naps at and the place anyone can come to if they want to chill out.

A veritable oasis of air-​conditioned bliss within the sea of hot humidity known as the University of Hawaii campus. Many were the day as a forever available student that I trudged along in a sweat soaked stupor, wondering why there wasn’t more shade over the sidewalk. And then, behold, Kuykendall! A delight to be sure, as I barged in through those ugly brown doors, littered with flyers from yesteryear, and breathed in air that was thoroughly conditioned to bring relief to my burning lungs.
Back in the day, when I was young (I’m not a kid anymore), I was never really a fan of stairs. And Kuykendall has three. Three flights of stairs to traverse. Or was it four? I was just here and yet, the amount of flights eludes me. I remember climbing and climbing and climbing and eventually finding a water front, taking a nice long draught. And then finding the restroom.
The restrooms here are what one would expect. It’s a college. It’s the men’s room. ‘Nuff said.
Kuykendall, see you again next week. Or until my enrichment non-​credit photography class ends.

The English department at the University of Hawaii-​Manoa will always hold a special place in my heart. I spent 5.5 years (including summers) at UHM, and English was the only subject at the school I always knew I’d truly enjoy, excel at and obtain a degree in. As it turns out, my double major in journalism was just fodder to my true love of creative writing.
It’s been almost a decade since I’ve last been here for academic purposes, but I do recall a lot about the building, the faculty offices and the types of classes they offered. I liked most of my professors, and I looked forward to attending most of my classes, especially the upper-​level, free-​form ones. Although the English department is the largest in the UHM College of Languages, Linguistics, and Literatures (LLL), I strongly believe that its headquarters at Kuykendall are grossly underfunded and in need of major repair. There’s an inadequate number of classrooms, sometimes the elevator (i.e., only one) doesn’t work, hallways have poor lighting and AC is spotty (especially in faculty offices). It used to feel like a ghost town to me on many occasions, since not very many people hung out on the 2^nd or 3^rd floors despite all the available benches.
I’m giving the English Department /​Kuykendall Hall four stars because — even if it takes another decade or two to actually fund and implement — I still believe there’s potential here for something great.