Probably the only brilliant thing Jordan Peterson has ever said was that there are cathedrals everywhere for those with the eyes to see. This beautiful turn of phrase has been lovingly repeated to cherish stunning scenes of mundanity, or admire gigantic Coors adirondack chairs. As spring begins to bloom in Walla Walla, the cathedrals of our campus may reveal themselves to you. I offer the following marvels as a starting point.

A cathedral is something so serendipitous and simplistically beautiful that it stops you in your tracks. Such is true of the magical and inspiring tree growing through a sign pole at the intersection of Park and Boyer. Everytime I pass by this feat of nature, I am in awe of the tenacity of the tree and its providential coincidence with the sign. Constrained by a metal cage it could never overcome, only grow out of, this fantastic tree can be a lesson to us all. 

A good cathedral should also have a tinge of humor and display the human tendency to create without abandon. Between the library and the science building is an unassuming tree with a small, hanging chain of branches woven together. I think about the creator of this little art object, could it be a Chaco-wearing EH major? A landscaper with some spare time on their hands? What does it mean for a tree, an organism bound to the Earth, to be adorned with a chain of its own materials? Trying to make sense of a cathedral is like ‘solving’ a poem. 

Starting your day at the library may feel unnatural but it is made all the more easier when you catch the rainbow that adorns the main stairwell in the early morning light. Surely, even the longest faces condemned to work on their thesis from sunrise to sunset can be brightened by this flash of color, a cathedral if there ever was one. How lucky we are to have a rainbow in our library. When they built this library, did they know it would contain a rainbow?

These are just a few of the cathedrals I have found. I dare you to start looking.