Lecture Podium in Copper Autumn Light

Warm golden light from a projector spills across the front of a wooden lecture podium, illuminating the grain and dust motes suspended in the beam. The room sits inside an art classroom in San Pedro de la Paz, where canvas-covered easels stand silent in the shadows. Outside the tall windows, rainwater darkens the campus paths, creating a slick, reflective surface that mirrors the copper-toned sky. Autumn leaves rest on the branches visible through the glass, their edges sharp against the fading daylight. The podium stands empty, its surface catching the last glow before the room falls into institutional calm. A wet reflection of the projector beam stretches across the floorboards near the base of the stand.