Jake Boswell

Alumni A&S '02

As a student I worked as a messenger for Pitt's Office of General Counsel, back when it was on the 32nd floor of the Cathedral. I had a small office where I did data entry when I wasn't delivering packages or taking files to the Prothonotary office downtown. The window in the office looked out on one of the Cathedral's roof terraces. At some point, a peregrine falcon started nesting on that terrace and that was the closest thing I can imagine to doing data entry next to the lair of a dragon. The falcon would bring prey back, devour it and leave the bones to dry in the sun and wind. We eventually moved the general counsel to the 16th or 17th floor, but by then that terrace on the 32nd floor must have been three inches deep in pigeon, squirrel, and rat bones. I think of that whenever I think of the Cathedral. It felt appropriate that the Cathedral would have its own dragon.