Tin roof, rusted

    Or copper roof, corroded. Columbia is the capital of South Carolina. Thus, we have the State House, the state capitol building. It has a really big dome. A really, really big dome. Other states, such as Georgia, Massachusetts and Maine (MAINE for goodness' sake!) have gold domes on their state houses. But we, we wanted a really REALLY big dome. A dome for which gilding would not be cost-effective. So we went with copper.
    I am fifty years old, and for at least 35 of those the State House had this hideous huge green dome. Somewhere along the line in the '90s (1998, says Wikipedia), there was a massive renovation, including, uh, re-copperization. (Repennifying? Whatever!) The newly not-green dome was never pretty and shiny like a new penny, but pleasantly brown like an old one. But here's the key: my friend Paul, who lives within sight of the dome (and did then, I think) and I both remember that officials at the time said that the metal had been specially treated so that it would turn green again faster.
    Now this seems crazy on its face even by local standards. I had no idea there was this much love for the big green dome. What brings it up is that after 14 years, the new metal is finally starting to corrode. That doesn't seem all that fast to me, but maybe on a scale of centuries it's downright zippy. Maybe our politicians are just recognizing that they only deserve to be under a big corroded dome. Anyway, if there are any Columbians or ex-Columbians out there reading this who have a clearer memory of the renovations and whether or not anyone said anything at the time about the speed or slowness of the return of the big green dome, I'd appreciate hearing from you. Or if you just dig the big green.:)