Message text written by "Only in Vermont: \"What is Cerveza?  --Ruth\""
>Since Maya Lin's stunning Vietnam memorial a generation ago, not much new
seems to have happened in memorial design.  If anything, her piercingly
clear
vision has been muddied by regular repetition by other hands, vide the new
Oklahoma bombing memorial.  <

The innovative often becomes boring with repetition (when it is no longer
innovative but standardized). Consider how often this has been true with
architecture. Then, when enough time passes, the formerly commonplace but
now rare becomes impressive again. Context is essential to understanding.
An oject or a building can become more interesting merely by outlasting its
contemporaries. Everything old is new again, once it is old enough. 

Also the 'other hands' and minds are not always as capable as those
responsible for the original innovation. 

Monuments and memorials often are created serve the emotional needs of
those close to the event. Whether they serve the secondary purpose of
keeping memory alive in later generations is harder to predict. Time gives
perspective, and what it often does is reduce once-important events or
people to insignificance. The Vietnam memorial was created, as were most of
the Civil War memorials, to help the bereaved and veterans cope. The
Jefferson, Lincoln and (to an extent) Washington monuments were created
when it was clear that even people who had no personal memory of their
subjects still regarded them as worth remembering. Perhaps that is why they
(especially Lincoln's) are so successful. 

The current horror being perpetrated on the Mall as a WWII memorial will
please few; in a generation it will probably be considered an eyesore. The
Vietnam memorial will eventually be a curiosity, but it is unobtrusive
enough to be ignored once it no longer has so many visitors. And it may
still be admired for its design. 

As a resident of the DC area, I do wonder how much of our limited public
open space should appropriately be taken up with monuments and memorials,
especially of more recent events and people. But sometimes these structures
are part of the healing process. I believe that history is important, but I
know how hard it is to make it live for those who do not have my ability
(probably common in this group) to bring it to life in our own minds. 

I like the idea of the on-site French memorials to ordinary victims of
WWII. I am not so sure about naming every street corner in NYC for a WTC
victim. 

On the Civil War battlefields there are often a number of memorials placed
by survivors of the units that fought there, or families of the dead. I
have seen these on the Antietam battlefield. And I was in Manassas on
Sunday, driving past the battlefield (the only kind of open land Virginians
really care about protecting). There are, of course, many people for whom
the Civil War of great concern, despite the last veteran having died 43
years ago. 

Don White

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