The Horace Mann Building was the epitome of opulence for Pasadena Polytechnic High School. The building was unto itself a view, grabbing the gaze of onlookers from Colorado Boulevard to its seemingly meticulous attention to detail and craftsmanship. Atop the structure's sat a glass-coated dome that leaked in traces of sun into its vast hallways and kept the building in mood with the weather.
As students scurry up and down the stairs on the south side of C Building, they rarely take the time to acknowledge their surroundings. But had they taken a glance up, right before turning toward the stairs in the break of the second and third floor, they would have seen a work of art from 1973 by former student Guillermo Martinez, whose appreciation was lost along with its meaning.
"The Little Prince", by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, reminds of us those instances of infrequent intellect in which we existentially question the world around us.