In the beginning

Ending Darkness
--Marie Prucha

Darkness.

Definition: Mitchell 4th.
28 years of darkness.
Unrelenting, unrelieved.
Day or night, night or day,
Always dark.

Darkness.

Students the prisoners,
the victims.
Working endlessly,
not knowing sunlight,
white pallor the rule.

Darkness.

Is there sun?
Is there rain?
Is it summer, spring, or fall?
Could be a blizzard.
No way to tell.

Darkness.

Fluorescent bulbs.
Plastic plants.
Colorful screensavers.
Not enough.
The dark side will always be stronger.

Darkness.

But then a voice:
``This place is a dungeon in the sky.''
Seek freedom!
Money incoming,
Hope outpouring.

Darkness still.

Finally enough!
Then Claerbout declared:
``Let there be light!''
And there was light.
And there was much rejoicing.

Light.

After the Loma Prieta quake, Stanford began the process of reconstructing and reinforcing the buildings on campus, including reinforcement of the Mitchell Building. George Thompson astutely observed to Jon Claerbout that, while he was going to lose one of the windows in his third floor office to a reinforcing pillar, the time was opportune to request that a skylight be installed in the $4^{\mbox{\scriptsize th}}$ floor as part of the construction activity.

Jon Claerbout contacted his friends, colleagues, sponsors and students, both present and former, and raised the requisite funds to turn the idea into a reality. Facts:

• Over 60 donors contributed to the skylight fund.
• Fund raising was completed in 5 months.
• Better than 90% of those solicited for donations contributed--a response rate unprecedented in the history of Stanford University fundraising.