My class on Friday met on the campus of George Mason University, in Fairfax. Having arrived early and secured excellent directions from the young woman in an information kiosk by the three-level parking deck, I had time to take in my surroundings. I found it to be a very Virginia-feeling place of orange-hued brick, trees, an open plaza, and quiet, low buildings. The displays in the smallish windows at the end of one big, new building suggested I’d find the bookstore inside. In I went, and quickly found myself dazzled by a food court. After terrible coffee and a pretty nice egg sandwich, I took a turn around the building. I found a nice bathroom and – what’s this? The library? This student center boasts a “branch” library, marked with a neon sign and furnished a bit like a chain bookstore. Hunh. Next, I went into the campus bookstore, where the staff was helpful and friendly, and I found and paid for my books in under 8 minutes. Books in hand, I marched off to class, and learned the difference between knowledge and information.

On the way back, having gained a sense of the lay of the land, I entered the student center through a lower level door, to cut through the building. Look what’s down here! The radio station, a movie theater, and offices for student organizations. Cool. The concrete and brightly painted metal stairs I climbed jogged a memory: of what does this remind me? Oh, yes: a mall.

My brother swears that while at William & Mary making small talk with someone along the “and where did you grow up” line, he got the reply, “Oh, Chesterfield! What mall did you hang out at?”

In its cover story articles on the immanent opening of two new shopping centers, Style says, “within two weeks, the local mall supply will jump from 3.2 million square feet to 5.13 million.” That’s 36 square feet of shopping per capita, with a national average around 20, we’re told. Ed Slipek seems to have been fairly charmed by Stony Point; less so by Short Pump Town Center, which flouts the notion of “town” and “center” by failing to provide a pedestrian walk to adjacent Downtown Short Pump (mega movie theater, a skating rink, and some big box stores).

Capital City weather: 79 at 6:30 p.m., thunderstorms likely.