Is there a word for a nostalgic visit to a place where you’ve never been before?
My late father Donald graduated from Ohio State University in 1948. Neither my mother nor I think he ever went back to Columbus for any reason. So I may be the first Seliber wandering the campus in 71 years.
I first got a walking tour map at the Visitor Center. They looked up that his old fraternity Tau Eplison Pi (I have his old paddle in my basement!) Left campus in 2004, so I had no frat house to look for. So I walked around, focusing on the buildings that were there when he was. The first and largest is Ohio Stadium, where I’m sure he was rooting for the Buckeyes football team on Saturday afternoons (I still do too). The campus is a mix of old and new buildings surrounding not a quad, but The Oval. See pictures below.
Since my father gave me my love of football, it’s fitting that my other main stop of the day was the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton. I saw the busts of all the Hall of Famers in a room that’s kind of dark. I enjoyed all the exhibits and the featured film was this year’s Super Bowl. I’m pleased to report that the Patriots only scored 13 points but still won!
I went to yet another State House today, in Columbus. The most interesting thing was outside on the grounds, a recent Holocaust and Liberators Memorial, with the story of what an Ohio soldier witnessed when he arrived at Dachau on 1945. And then the Ohio History Center, with exhibits on Ohio sports and living in the 1950’s (for us Baby Boomers).
Super Bowl rings, including two for the Patriots. That’s why Bob Kraft doesn’t want to pay a fine – he’s got to shell out another fortune for THIS year’s rings! 
This year’s Hall of Fame inductees, including former Patriot Ty Law 
The Hall of Fame building with the football sticking out 
A wall of 1950’s memories 
Akron’s Soap Box Derby, a quintessential Ohio pastime 
Ohio Stadium, from the 11th floor of the Thompson Library 
The Thompson Library, built in 1912 
University Hall – this is actually a replica of what was the university’s first building in 1873 
Photos of Natve American “Trail of Tears” sites. I spoke to the artist Laurie Saurborn, as she was mounting her exhibit called “Captive Spaces”, photographs of prisons and war and internment camps. 
Page Hall 
The Oval 
Orton Hall, built in 1893 
A monument to the best athlete ever to compete inside Ohio Stadium – Jesse Owens 
The Holocaust and Liberators Memorial 
The Ohio State house in Columbus
For the second straight day, the song of the day relates to a place I will see tomorrow – Kent State. It is if course “Ohio” (Tin soldiers and Nixon’s coming … four dead in O-hi-o), by Crosby, Stills, Nash and especially Young (he wrote it a few days after May 4th, 1970).
Mark's cross-country trip 