Useless in Savannah? Or, the Scent of Tobacco

The Daily Beast recently posted a listing of "20 Most Useless College Degrees."

One of the majors was Art, and an accompanying picture showed the campus of the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).

If you ever visited downtown Savannah, GA, you wouldn't think an art college was useless, because...well, how do I put it...SCAD basically owns it.  And, however they have managed to do it, they have made a lot of money in the process.

Was it a bad thing?  From the point of view of this tourist, I don't think it was a bad thing at all.  SCAD has given back a lot to Savannah, including a lot of urban renewal.  (and, one of these days, I'll even post some of my Savannah photos.)  Their students provide downtown Savannah with a lot of vitality.  Binghamton could take a lesson from that. (we are trying, true, but still have a long way to go.  Still, if they want to study Savannah in depth, I volunteer to go.  Just not in July or August.  March 17 would be nice.

I tried to support SCAD, honest I did.  We went into one SCAD store hoping to buy a souvenir but found a lot of very pricey items for sale.  True, the items were high quality.  If I had the budget I definitely would have paid $15. for a bottle of tobacco scented hand cream.  Tobacco?  No, it didn't smell like cigarette smoke.  It smelled like tobacco flowers.  I had never smelled this fragrance, and I loved it.  Alas, I passed it up.
...Binghamton could learn a few lessons from Savannah and the role a college can play in the revitalization of a city's downtown.  And, who knows, maybe Binghamton will have a special scent too, one day.