I'm from Indianapolis. Indiana University is only about an hour from me. I know tons of people who've gone there. I've been there many, many times for a variety of different reasons, but I never knew where the Kinsey Institute was on campus. Granted I've never like done a big search for it or anything, but I know people who spent 4 years there who have said they don't know where it is either. It's a mysterious place, that much was clear.
But guess what?
I went there this week, my friends, and you know what? It's not really mysterious. It's in Morrison Hall, and it says "Kinsey Institute" on the big sign out front. It's close to Jordan Hall. I admit, we got kinda lost walking back to it through the woody pathed back way after lunch, but not really that lost. It was really pretty easy to find, and if you went there for 4 years, I kinda feel like you should have seen where it was at some point.
But wait there's more
Now, you'd think I'd be disappointed that the mystery was lost, but you'd be wrong. You see, it's on the 3rd floor, so we were being all cool about it and decided to use the stairs, but guess what? NO ENTRY FROM THE STAIRS!!!! (I'm using all caps to emphasize the thrilling intrigue of it all). We had to walk down one flight and then take the elevator up. Then, we talked to the very nice receptionist there, and told her we had an appointment for the library/archives ('cause YOU NEED AN APPOINTMENT AND A RESUME AND PROOF THAT YOU'RE THERE FOR A REASON), and she told us we had to use the stairs behind us to go up to the fourth floor - BECAUSE I DON'T THINK THE ELEVATOR GOES UP THAT FAR!!!! Also we had to MANIPULATE THE DOOR A CERTAIN WAY SO THAT IT WOULD OPEN FOR US (This is my theory, actually. She gave oddly specific directions for how to go through it, and when we came back from lunch - a little late because we got a little lost - I did a quick test and made the conclusion above). DON'T DARE ASK! I WILL NEVER TELL THE SECRETS OF THE 4TH FLOOR KINSEY DOOR! Then, as we were heading up the stairs, CHARLIE SPOTTED A WEIRD 50'S BRIEFCASE IN THE STAIRWELL! We really don't know what it was for. WAS IT KINSEY'S ACTUAL BRIEFCASE THAT HE LEFT TO BE KEPT THERE IN MUSEUM-LIKE QUALITY, THE CONTENTS UNKNOWN TO THIS DAY??? Then we got to the fourth floor....AND THE GUY SHAWN THERE WAS SUPER HELPFUL AND NICE!!!! (That's kinda intriguing, right?...sometimes people aren't that helpful or nice).
But what's in it for you?
Anywho, that's what happened. It was actually super duper interesting and awesome. We spent the whole day there, and I didn't get through all the material I wanted to see, so I'm going back. However, I saw enough to start a little series called WHAT I FOUND AT THE KINSEY INSTITUTE LIBRARY!!! Some will coincide with my Journal Articles I Read Series, Some will very weirdly coincide with the SSL Review series, and others will be just little interesting tidbits.
I'm so glad I got the chance to go. I probably should have gone while I was researching for the movie SSL. It wouldn't have changed much given my particular needs, but it would have been way cool, and made a few things easier. I was also a little less confident then. At some point a long time ago, I read something that made me think I probably wouldn't get permission to go, even though I was very likely wrong about that. Instead, I just read long-ass manuscripts of Kinsey Institute round tables and found my material elsewhere. None of that matters anymore though, I have reached a little slice of heaven there, and I will enjoy and utilize it fully from now on.
No comments:
Post a Comment