firrst!

is this little green soccerballs? fuck!

anyway...i didnt read the post or nothing- but i can totally imagine if they put, like,... an islamic thing or something.

Heh.

I remember reading about this on Sissy's site a while ago, where it was being defended on the grounds of "stop reading so much into things - it's purdy".

My point was that the memorial could be interpreted as memorializing the deaths not only of the 40 passengers and crew but also of the 4 terrorists who killed them.

Now, maybe I was reading too much into it; I'm not an art critic after all so would do I know. But that only begets a greater point:

You shouldn't have to look at a memorial and guess at what the hell it is trying to memorialize.

And there is only one correct subject here for memorialization: patriotic Americans who died resisting terrorism. Any Tom, Dick or Jane should be able to look at the memorial and get that at a glance without needing an art critic to interpret it for them (or in this case to try, fail, and then just say "what the heck - it's beautiful in the Fall").

I've said before that I find that whole argument -- "you're reading too much into the symbolism of the thing" -- utterly disingenuous, as the whole point of po-mo memorials is symbolism.

And, furthermore, by the express statement of this memorial's designer, you are free to bring your own interpretations to the symbolism.

I don't think it's unreasonable to ask that certain interpretations be avoided by deliberate design choices.

If there's an award for an architect that has done the most damage to culture, then Maya Ling will win it hands down.

I looked at all of the design finalists for the Flight 93 memorial and they all copied the Vietnam War memorial. They talk about being free of the restraints of previous memorials in the neoclassical tradition of western civilization. Yet, modern architects have now handcuffed themselves into making brutalist style memorials of exposed restraining walls and bared concrete and rusted metal. It is the worst of both worlds; unoriginal and uninspiring.

Reminds me of the question about whether you could get a modern painter or artist to draw a realistic human figure if you put a gun to their heads. The answer is no; "an artist must sacrifice for his art".

An Islamic terrorist sympathizer ought to be out of luck when trying to find support for his cause in the Flight 93 Memorial ....

Pretty much my thesis back in the quibla-calculation days.

Another cold stone resurrected
on empty field of bones and ashes
A park of life and loss instead
a place to commemorate lost one.

Souls veil wondering around
A mother, father, wife, child, and loved
Entering the park to reconnect again
In memory and in thoughts,
in happiness and in pain
In memory of that last fly
where souls departed
to the sky.

A wind swinging trees
whispering words and song
you used to hear from the soul
you liked to look their eyes
you have lost in the clear day
which became darkest on the heart

I walk through alleys
I hear your voice
I lost touch in years
I feel you are here, around, beside me
somewhere walking along, my dear

I walk this serene place
I speak to you what I will do
I came to share and let you know
you still there in the heart. Forever.

I know you are there, somewhere alive
among trees, birds in sky, and colorful flowers
I know you are there, you are alive
in my heart and in my souls.
I come to see you and speak to you again and again
As we walk along the alley in company of whispering wind.

A park of life and loss is the
place to commemorate lost one.
Not another cold stone resurrected
on empty field of bones and ashes.

Scott - im not sure i get what youre saying. but i (think i)agree, regarding the ridiculasnesses of "art interpretation."

maybe we can shrink (with nuance & diversity, of course) their heads and put' em on sticks - in a crecent!

fyi- i think there were 44 'non-muslim terrorists' that were slaughtered.

If this pisses you off, then just write your Congressmen.

This is the National Park Service after all. If they get any flack from the Public, they'll cave like craven little bureaucrats that they are.

And they'll call us Daddy. Because they're hungry.

This is exactly what I was talking about. Dumb country conservatives that cannot appreciate the artistic symbolism that goes beyond the simplistic inklings of a socially retarded acceptance of a substandard knowledge of esoteric and evolved thinking that is crucial to the evolution of the conservative mindset when attempting to elevate a classic awarness of the arts and intellectual paradigm that we should all strive for.

"When I die, I want to be memorialized on the Quarter and the Twenty dollar bill. And I swear if any monument to George Washington is taller than my monument I will wreak havoc from the after life" -
Thomas Jefferson from his deathbed

It wont be a creasent will it?

Oh jesus, not another crescent, that'll usher in Armageddon for sure.