His Work: Professor of Government and Politics.

When talking about organizing and planning his new office space he explains to me that it’s just about organizing stuff into the right spots, that it’s also about how you use the space. He says “I think there’s an aesthetics quality to that too. It’s not just aesthetic in preference; I think its aesthetic as a very practical value. In terms of working, form and function in some respects are interrelated. ” Mr. McKown moved into this workspace only 4 weeks ago.

Mr. McKown tells me that he thinks about “how the space is contextualized within the building.” He speaks about the character of the building and says “I kind of like that even though you can see all the drywall pieces, I like that this is a historic place. I like that it has a little more charm and character to it, and I love being able to see out to the water. So I kind of like the character of the space, but then there are the other kinds of factors. It’s a very quiet section of the building.” He says he likes the space a lot, and that he will like it even more once he has the opportunity to really get settled in. He tells me how the little things make a big difference in the office, like having a rug. He says “the little things can actually make it comfortable, make it more conducive to working.”

His old office was close to the auditorium and music practice rooms, and next to a dirt road that spit up dust through his window in the spring, summer, and fall, and had flat tubular fluorescent lighting. In his new space he says “I like the light a lot more. I like this office a lot more for both its very vague aesthetic qualities and also its functionality.”

Mr. McKown says that you “have to have some self -realization or self knowledge about what you need to be able to function efficiently” and that having a good workspace isn’t that “just simply putting up some posters or something like that” but that it requires understanding what environment you need in order to work efficiently and comfortably. Mr. McKown thinks about how he can make the office feel like your own more and speaks about both the physical and emotional investments that you make in a space.

Mr. McKown says that his work is like a “rollercoaster ride, sometimes it can be frustrating, it can be very positive or negative but you feel all of that and that can be very exhausting.” He tells me both about negative and positive emotions he has in regard to his work and his workspace but says that the positive and negative “are always in flux and they come together” and that you “have to have the sweet and sour at the same time.”

Themes: rollercoaster, history, charm, character, sweet and sour.