SHARES
In 2018 goldenrod shimmering in the summer sun reclaims what had once been a golf course in East Lansing, Michigan. In the spring of 2021, the same area is prepared for development. Images: Marshall Lee Weimer.
By Marshall Lee Weimer
My favorite place at college never had an official name.
I think it used to be an old golf course, but I’m not sure. The tallgrass hid any trace humanity had left there, shrouded by sparkling goldenrod and silenced by rustling leaves.
My friends and I called it Bailey Prairie, named after the dormitory we lived in at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. It was only a vacant field off the edge of campus, but it was an excellent escape from the residence halls’ boxy confines. A wildlife professor instructed one of my field courses while standing in the tallgrass.
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