Comments on: Appropriately Located

By: shteve

shteve — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 12:40:20 +0000

That’s odd, and kinda funny, but no more ironic than rain on your wedding day . . .

Or ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT1TVSTkAXg

By: delicious pundit

delicious pundit — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 03:32:57 +0000

“But I always thought that when it was your time that you would be the one to hold the strings. Department Chair Corleone. Dean Corleone. Something.”

By: Wilson

Wilson — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 02:52:54 +0000

I went to a little college in East Texas (LeTourneau University) that has just opened an auditorium called the Belcher Performance Center. Also, the campus dining hall is named B.A. Skipper.

By: Edward

Edward — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:53:56 +0000

The University of Texas has buildings named after both Sweatt and Painter of the landmark 1950 Supreme Court case Sweatt v. Painter.

By: DHN

DHN — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 21:28:49 +0000

Some background on the Arizona law college and the Corleone Buildings—
The law school building is being remodeled. During the remodeling, some of the law school offices are temporarily located in a building that once housed a restaurant called Corleone’s. The restaurant was owned by a non-Italian guy named Goodman (I went to high school with him), who opened it in the Godfather era in the mid-70s. When the university acquired the building, and an adjoining apartment complex, the name Corleone’s remained attached for reference.

By: Kieran Healy

Kieran Healy — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 21:05:31 +0000

Presumably the building is named for a donor who was proud enough of their place-name heritage to not change it because of a work of fiction.

Actually, it isn’t.

By: Jeff R.

Jeff R. — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 20:01:52 +0000

Couldn’t it just reflect the presence of, you know, random, Italian Americans, rather than Italian Americans In The Mob, since Corleone was a place, not a person.

It’s both. Here’s what the Wikipedia synopsis of The Godfather II says:

Arriving at Ellis Island, an immigration agent, mishearing Vito’s hometown of Corleone as his surname, registers him as “Vito Corleone”.

By: Henry (not the famous one)

Henry (not the famous one) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 18:51:22 +0000

Heading west towards Reno on I-80 you come to an exit for the Donner Camp Picnic Area. You can look it up: http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/regions/pacificsouthwest/DonnerCamp/index.shtml

And as for where the movie belongs, back in 1973 one of my anthropology professors assigned The Godfather, along with Barth’s book on the Swat Pathan and Turner’s book on the Ndebele, in a course on cultural management of political conflict in small-scale societies. The book may have been simplistic but it also illustrated the dynamics of maintaining the peace in a context of rivals with a common interest in equilibrium—until they’re not interested any more. Or, as Professor Clemenza said, “this thing’s gotta happen every five years or so—ten years—helps to get rid of the bad blood.”

By: ninety_nine

ninety_nine — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 18:06:12 +0000

I’m tempted to dig up an academic building named ‘Black xxx’ as a caustic riposte. Normally, this stuff washes off as easily as someone who casually refers to Italian men as ‘guidos’ since it is indeed not as volatile as calling a black man a thug—or far worse—but for some reason it sticks that an academic blog would bother with such a sorry jape. Presumably the building is named for a donor who was proud enough of their place-name heritage to not change it because of a work of fiction.

Moreover, it also champions a particular concept of judicial order. After all, most attorneys lust after a record of success on the order of Tom Hagen, do they not?

By: rea

rea — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 16:33:47 +0000

Hoffa . . . Then we’d finally know for sure that he’s not buried under one of the end zones in the Meadowlands.

Well, of course, he’s not under one of the endzones in the Meadowlands! He was kidnapped in Detroit, never to be seen again. Why transport him all the way to Jersey to dispose of him? He’s under one of the Detroit freeways . . .

By: Michael Bérubé

Michael Bérubé — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 16:23:18 +0000

If only Rutgers had a Hoffa Building! Then we’d finally know for sure that he’s not buried under one of the end zones in the Meadowlands.

By: anchor

anchor — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 16:11:20 +0000

American University’s student center was the Adnan Kashoggi building (in the 1990s)- not sure if his name is still on it.

By: Gene O'Grady

Gene O'Grady — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 16:05:31 +0000

My understanding was that the Alfred Packer dining room was named by people who were perfectly aware of what Packer did and were joking; the rename was by embarrassed superiors. Packer in fact is not famous for anything other than his dietary habits.

On the subject of Western cannibalism Keysburg the cannibal (more significantly murderer) from the Donner Party, a thoroughly despicable person, later in life opened a restaurant in Sacramento. It went bankrupt and he died on the streets. Which may be the only argument against having lynched the guy in 1847.

By: Barry

Barry — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 15:52:41 +0000

Thanks, Jacob.

By: rea

rea — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 15:42:22 +0000

I don’t get the irony.

Check out Arthur Curry.

That’s odd, and kinda funny, but no more ironic than rain on your wedding day . . .