Thank you to those of you who took time to reflect and address your feelings on this matter.
Who's to say what the final memorial will look like. The ephemeral state of the beams of light is poignant to which I thought Colin's statement " those souls, radiant, light, leaving here and moving on" was well said. To the contrary, I have heard others say that it reminded them of the Nuremberg Rally of 1936 with A. Speers beams of light as classical columns into the night. Not a memory to be linked with 9/11 in my opinion. Many others I spoke with lean towards what Bob said about a simplistic, straightforward memorial such as the Vietnam Memorial. Yes, as far as I know there are 2 freestanding sculptures ... one honoring soldiers and the other honoring the nurses serving in that war ... both in brass that flank either end of the wall. I think this was to appease those who could not come to terms with the abstractness of Maya Lin's design. That is part of the point with memorials. How do we memorialize this event to ' everyone' ? Americans and foreigners, as Brenda pointed out? Then again, there are the other two sites .... the Pentagon and the countryside in Pennsylvania. How do we incorporate those sites into the memorial ... or do we? When Kakki mentioned the lights and the power of lights in Las Vagas, I remember some students of mine commenting about light pollution. I guess that did not come to my mind. Then I ask myself " should it have?" I like what Anne tried to do. Trying to depict what she thought was representative of a memorial to 9/11. This is part of the process. What represents what and to whom and when (ie - for future generations)? I think there are many folks, like Kakki, who's minds are " still kind of a blank on it ". Mine included. The wound is still too fresh. So what's my point? Only to keep discussing our emotions and resolve. Thanks for reading, Heather At 10:26 PM 3/12/02 +0000, colin wrote: > > It's chilling enough to see the broken New York skyline as it > > is today without the memory of this horrible attack lighting up the skies > > over lower Manhattan for decades to come. > >I see your point. however, this idea does appeal to me. It makes me think >of all >those souls, radiant, light, leaving here and moving on. > > > As it is, anyone who witnessed the > > destruction of the towers in real life or on TV will never forget it > anyway. > >I have heard people say that they rememeber clearly the day Kennedy was >shot, The >Bay of Pigs crisis and the Moon Landings. I remeber none of those. > >I recall vividly Sept 11th. i know exactlly what I was doing. I had just >taken a >break from my knitting. Swithced on the tv and channle hopped. The first >channel >was shwoing some disater novie. So so was the next channel. then the next. and >the next. My stomach lurched and I realised I was not watching a disater >movie. >My heart clenched, my throat went dry and my mind couldn't comphrehend >fully. i >kept hoping I was dreaming. I sat there for the next 2 days. literally. >Couldn't >do anything else but the essentials. >the horror experinced by those people in the planes. The nighmare for those in >the towers. and worse for those whose loved ones were int he plance and >towers. >what awful awful pain was now let loose. >Up until that day, i had lost the fear i had grown up with of the world >coming to >end. Up until then i thought we had finally begun to sort the shit out and >were >heading towards peace. up till then i thought we had a chance. Up till >then i had >lost this silly idea that I would not grow old. The events since have only >increased my pessimism. > >However, if the worst comes, then we too will rise like that beam of light and >will be at peace.......
