| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
Fluffy
Administrator
USA
10739 Posts |
 Posted - 06/17/2002 : 7:22:41 PM
|
Hey Genome, check out who this was written by.
Released: June 10, 2002
Monoliths, Wells, Mounds: What Is It We're Trying To Say Here?
The World Trade Center Memorial should be dedicated to life and productivity, not death and destruction.
By Dianne Durante
Memorials proposed for the World Trade Center site include slabs of stone whose lines would correspond to the shadows cast by the Towers when they were attacked; a well 911 feet deep with two towers hovering above it; and a grass-covered mound 650 feet across. For those of us who loved the sight of the Towers and still grieve over the thousands of lives lost on September 11, it's time to ask: what is it we're trying to say here? And how are we going to say it?
A memorial is not primarily a medium for political propaganda, a way to decorate a landscape, or a means to fill a hole in the ground. It's a way for the living to remember those no longer with us—men and women who smiled at us, heartbreakingly, in flyers of those missing after September 11. So much could be said: that we won't forget the victims as beloved family, treasured friends, valued colleagues. That we won't forget the brave members of the New York Fire Department and New York Police Department who perished while striving to save innocent lives. That we won't forget the spare, elegant buildings that used to be the twin focal points of lower Manhattan. And that we won't forget that they were destroyed because they were symbols of capitalism and freedom.
To erect a single memorial that would express all those ideas and emotions would be impossible. Yet there is something those people and those buildings had in common, which we could ask an artist to represent. The people who worked at the World Trade Center were all productive people: they were there to do a job and earn money. They died on September 11 because they symbolized that productivity, not just to millions around the world who aspire to live like Americans, but also to the terrorists who despise all that America stands for.
New York's policemen and firemen were, and continue to be, our defenders—the ones who protect our lives, and the property without which we could not support our lives. The Towers, soaring upward in the greatest city of the most productive nation on earth, were a concrete symbol of man's rise from caves to skyscrapers—with all that implies about our ability to think, to act, to create, and to produce and keep wealth. "Productive work," wrote Ayn Rand, "is the road of man's unlimited achievement and calls upon the highest attributes of his character: his creative ability, his ambitiousness, his self-assertiveness, his refusal to bear uncontested disasters, his dedication to the goal of reshaping the earth in the image of his values."
A monument to productive ability would celebrate the lives these people lived, not the way they died. It would be a tribute to them, not to the despicable thugs who killed them.
What would be the form of a memorial to productive ability? Certainly not chunks of stone, a hole in the ground, or a pile of dirt. The most likely form would be a sculpture incorporating one or more human figures, and the only appropriate setting for such a sculpture would be within a new business complex.
All around New York and the United States, one can see memorials using expressive human figures in positive ways. Think of the Maine Monument at Columbus Circle, with its dramatic, gilded allegorical figures commemorating the sailors who died in an 1898 explosion in Havana Harbor. It doesn't show shattered remains, it shows the virtues those sailors lived and died for. Think of the Firemen's Memorial at West 100th St., with its narrative relief of firemen doing their jobs. Think of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, which shows our sixteenth President not lying in a pool of blood, but quietly meditating on momentous affairs.
What should we say with the memorial at the World Trade Center site? We should say that although an unforgettably horrendous event happened there, we choose to celebrate the positive. We choose to erect a monument to the productivity of our family, friends, and colleagues, whose efforts we will continue; and to their lives, which we shall not forget.
Dianne Durante, PH.D., a senior writer for the Ayn Rand Institute in Marina del Rey, Calif, writes and lectures on art history in New York City. The Institute promotes the philosophy of Ayn Rand, author of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead.
Peace & Keep the Faith
Fluffy          |
|
|
LizT
Fluffy-Esque
USA
1687 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2002 : 8:09:32 PM
|
Fluffy I think this is something I really should think about
before making comments. Thanks for posting, this is the first I've read about it.
|
 |
|
|
Captain Petersburgh
Yak Addict
Canada
779 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2002 : 8:32:45 PM
|
i personally think that we should re-build the twin towers. i feel that by re-building them it will show to the rest of the world that we can overcome from this horrible mess. i wold like to see the structures made taller. we should make a memorial in the towers if they r re-built. all in all we need to make a memorial s o that the innocent victems of 9-11 can be rembered as well as those who died protecting they're country.
i'm keepin' TIMe with my own set of keys.... |
|
|
|
Fleabass76
Fluffy-Esque
USA
1026 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2002 : 11:11:57 PM
|
I'd rather see it rebuilt than have some monument erected. The best thing that can be done is making a building that serves the same purpose and put some monuments in the lobby, maybe a little museum about it so grade schoolers can go there and learn about what happened. Make it a symbol of overcoming adversity and horror. That's what I say. And then free Leonard Peltier dammit, but he's probably considered a terrorist now since there's no real definition. Gunna stop now b4 I start ripping on the govt's prejudices any more...
"Women and rhythm section first."
Mr. Jaco Pastorius
 |
|
|
|
Fluffy
Administrator
USA
10739 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2002 : 11:34:43 PM
|
Main Entry: ter·ror·ism
Pronunciation: 'ter-&r-"i-z&m
Function: noun
Date: 1795
: the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion
- ter·ror·ist /-&r-ist/ adjective or noun
- ter·ror·is·tic /"ter-&r-'is-tik/ adjective
Peace & Keep the Faith
Fluffy |
|
|
|
Fluffy
Administrator
USA
10739 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2002 : 11:41:23 PM
|
"...The killing of FBI agents at Pine Ridge was reprehensible, but the government now admits that it cannot prove that Mr. Peltier killed the agents."--- Congressman Don Edwards, former FBI Agent
URGENT ACTION!
Letter Drive For Peltier's Parole Hearing
Dear Friends:
Leonard Peltier's next interim parole hearing has been scheduled for July 1, 2002. Letters of support are urgently needed.
An interim parole hearing is different from a regular parole hearing. Its purpose is to review the Parole Commission's original decision to deny parole to see if any new developments warrant a change. The Commission can do one of three things: affirm the original decision to deny parole and leave the next full hearing date (2008) in place (the most common scenario); accelerate or postpone the next full hearing date; or grant parole (the rarest scenario).
As many of you have experienced, the Parole Commission does not treat these hearings with any seriousness or fairness. During the last hearing, the Parole Examiner wrote his recommendation that Leonard not be granted parole while Leonard's representatives were still making their presentations. However, it is critical that we maintain a strong showing of support for Leonard's release. We DO NOT want to give the Commission or prison officials the false impression that Leonard Peltier's support is dwindling. This showing of support is what keeps Leonard safe. Furthermore, we must take full advantage of any opportunity to seek Leonard's release, even if the chances for victory are slim. Let's gather as many letters as possible and show officials that we have not and will not give up.
A sample letter that you can use if you'd like is below. If you can personalize it that is even better. Please send your letters to the LPDC so that we can track how many were submitted and compile them for presentation to the Parole Commission.
Thank you for your ongoing support!
For a sample letter click here:
http://www.freepeltier.org/parole_letter070102.htm
If you do not know about the facts in this matter, here is a link to quick facts on the subject:
http://www.freepeltier.org/quick_facts_peltier.htm
For more detailed info please check out:
http://www.freepeltier.org/
Peace & Keep the Faith
Fluffy |
|
|
|
Fluffy
Administrator
USA
10739 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2002 : 11:51:14 PM
|
http://www.petitiononline.com/Clemency/petition.html
LEONARD PELTIER NEEDS OUR HELP!!!
"Each February 6th marks another anniversary of incarceration
for Leonard Peltier. Please, Phone the White House Comment Line
on this day and often to respectfully demand "executive clemency"
for Mr. Leonard Peltier, an American Indian artist and humanitain!
Phone: (202) 456-1111 (Hit 0 to avoid the survey!)" --LPDC
Call the White House Comments Line Today!
Demand Justice for Leonard Peltier!
1-202-456-1111 or 1-800-663-9566
http://www.yvwiiusdinvnohii.net/lpeltier.html
Peace & Keep the Faith
Fluffy |
|
|
|
Saint Jude
Alien Abductee
USA
2144 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2002 : 11:56:28 PM
|
he better be released, otherwise thats total bull shit. ach now im getting angry.
- Without you, without you everything falls apart
Without you, it's not as much fun to pick up the pieces.
|
|
|
|
Captain Petersburgh
Yak Addict
Canada
779 Posts |
Posted - 06/18/2002 : 7:46:28 PM
|
yeah i like the idea of puttin' a museum in the towers.
i'm keepin' TIMe with my own set of keys.... |
|
|
|
Fluffy
Administrator
USA
10739 Posts |
Posted - 06/18/2002 : 10:21:47 PM
|
TTT since postwhoring has driven it to the bottom.
Peace & Keep the Faith
Fluffy |
|
|
|
genome
Fluffy-Esque
1098 Posts |
Posted - 06/19/2002 : 12:54:10 AM
|
Fluffy, I saw this right away, I just didn't know what I wanted to say. I don't really have anything to add. I think what they that article says is the best thing we could do (what the hell would a well 911 feet deep prove?). But I think that what it says is just plain common sense. That's what I would have suggested whether or not I worked for the Ayn Rand Institute or not. I'm not bashing your bringing this up, it's just a problem I have with stressing Ayn Rand's philosophy too much. I guess what I'm saying is that it seems like the people that are in Ayn's Institute are just riding her coattails for a job, and I'll bet it's a lucrative one, at that. It almost feels like profiteering or something.
I don't know. Either way, I agree with the result of the article.
And you mentioned a movie about the book? I didn't know there was a movie. Where do I look to find this movie?
 |
|
|
|
Fluffy
Administrator
USA
10739 Posts |
|
|
Captain Petersburgh
Yak Addict
Canada
779 Posts |
Posted - 06/21/2002 : 11:13:56 PM
|
tru tru
i'm keepin' TIMe with my own set of keys.... |
|
|
|
Fluffy
Administrator
USA
10739 Posts |
Posted - 06/23/2002 : 07:46:30 AM
|
You only typed 2 words!! You couldn't even type the whole 2 words?
GEEZ!!!!
Oh wait, I forgot, you have a spelling handicap. True is spelled with an "E" on the end. t...r...u...E
Peace & Keep the Faith
Fluffy |
|
|
|
pcbTIM
Alien Abductee
USA
6501 Posts |
Posted - 06/23/2002 : 4:17:51 PM
|
tru dat
"I didn't think it was physically possible, but this both sucks and blows." |
|
|
|
tericee
Alien Abductee
USA
2579 Posts |
Posted - 06/24/2002 : 01:02:21 AM
|
quote:
i personally think that we should re-build the twin towers. i feel that by re-building them it will show to the rest of the world that we can overcome from this horrible mess. i wold like to see the structures made taller. we should make a memorial in the towers if they r re-built. all in all we need to make a memorial s o that the innocent victems of 9-11 can be rembered as well as those who died protecting they're country.
I think that would be cool too, but I think it might be hard to get people to work in them. I've heard a lot of people say they will never work in a high rise again.
teri 
Did I mention that I finished a marathon? |
|
|
|
Fluffy
Administrator
USA
10739 Posts |
Posted - 06/24/2002 : 01:09:35 AM
|
It is true people have said that, but I feel that there are alot of people like me who would, and given TIMe I think people would come around. Either way, I think they should rebuild(if it is at all possible)and use the buildings as the monument. Let them serve a dual purpose. If we don't build them back for whatever reason, the terrorists will feel they have succeeded in teaching us a lesson. Rebuilding, I think, would send a very strong message about this country and it's people. Not rebuilding is definitely sending the wrong message to the rest of the world and the terrorists. Just my 2 cents.
Peace & Keep the Faith
Fluffy |
|
|
|
Silky The Pimp
Alien Abductee
3321 Posts |
Posted - 06/24/2002 : 09:22:12 AM
|
I have read that the property will definitely be rebuilt, but that the owner said that he will not build any taller than the tallest building in the immediate surrounding area, which would put the new building(s) at about 55 stories. No doubt there will be some kind of memorial, but that amount of space in Manhattan is just too valuable to leave as a giant well. I also saw a proposal for a new 10,000,000+ square foot skyscraper that would be the tallest building in the world. It has its own biosphere and everything. If I can find the link I will post it here, it is a pretty unbelievable design.
-J
 |
|
|
|
Silky The Pimp
Alien Abductee
3321 Posts |
|
|
dan p.
Alien Abductee
Uganda
3776 Posts |
Posted - 06/24/2002 : 5:37:01 PM
|
yeahi'd say go with the well. sure, it has nothing at all to do with 911 besides it's depth, but hey, at least you can't knock it over.
get in the car, little girl. |
|
|
|
enthuTIMsiast
Alien Abductee
6990 Posts |
Posted - 06/25/2002 : 12:05:05 AM
|
I like the wtc2002 idea. Building looks great. I don't think it'd fit in well with the other buildings, but I guess that's ok. And people WILL work there. Maybe not the same ones, but some ones will. I think it'd be great. I'd visit it.
But I have to say, I think the well idea is silly. What purpose could a 911 feet deep well serve? I mean, really. That's a deep well. Just silly. I don't care if you couldn't knock it over.
-what- |
|
|
|
Fleabass76
Fluffy-Esque
USA
1026 Posts |
Posted - 06/25/2002 : 02:31:26 AM
|
I like it...but i like all shiny new things so...
I'll take 5 rings please!
"Women and rhythm section first."
Mr. Jaco Pastorius
 |
|
|
|
My_Bad_Side
Alien Abductee
2000 Posts |
Posted - 06/25/2002 : 11:21:50 PM
|
I'll take the One Ring.
No one understands me. |
|
|
|
dan p.
Alien Abductee
Uganda
3776 Posts |
Posted - 06/26/2002 : 01:02:47 AM
|
i'm glad this got brought up. two things.
1) sauron and a maia of aulë, right?
2) sauron was held captive (intentionally) by the numenoreans. and then they sailed agaist valinor, the valar called on iluvatar, who sunk the island of westernessë. sauron's body perished. but sauron had the one ring at the time. when his spirite fled back to barad-dûr, he had the ring again. how did the ring travel from the sea to mordor if it was on sauron's body?
get in the car, little girl. |
|
|
|
pcbTIM
Alien Abductee
USA
6501 Posts |
Posted - 06/28/2002 : 9:51:08 PM
|
ummmmmmm.......flying monkeys!
"I didn't think it was physically possible, but this both sucks and blows." |
|
|
|
Fluffy
Administrator
USA
10739 Posts |
Posted - 01/05/2003 : 9:32:33 PM
|
Here is a beautiful one: A HEALING POLE!!!!
Northwest Indian tribe carves
totem to heal New York City
By KARI SHAW
The Bellingham (Wash.) Herald
BELLINGHAM, Wash. — Jewell James was sitting on the shore of Hale’s Passage, where the icy waters of the San Juan Islands lap against the Lummi Reservation, when his heart spoke.
He had a vision, clear as day, of hundreds of totem poles bobbing in the water beneath a silvery moon. But the moon was going west to east, the wrong way across the sky.
Then he was flying on a totem pole himself, chasing the errant moon and looking back down on the gravel canoe grounds of the reservation. There were people below, hundreds of people. He tried to make out their faces, but he couldn’t.
A voice told him to focus on unifying the people, not on their individual faces. The voice — the Great Spirit — spoke to him.
“The spirit says, ‘Look at the reds, the blacks, the whites and the yellows,’” James said. “But I kept trying to see the faces.”
Sacred grounds
Americans have asked many questions in the year since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, perhaps none more often than “what can I do?”
It’s no different for the Lummis, an impoverished fishing tribe of 4,000 in Washington state’s northwest corner. Here, in the House of Tears, a 20-foot shed with a gravel and wood-chip floor, James and other artists created an answer: Carve a totem pole to heal New York. Imbue it with symbols of unity of the four races: red, black, white and yellow. Urge America to remember its heart.
“In Indian country, sacred ground is common ground,” James said. “The pole is a call for unity through prayer and ceremony.”
James, his family and fellow carvers will pack the 13-foot tall totem pole on a flatbed trailer soon. For two weeks, they will drive it to Indian reservations on the way to New York City, asking for traditional blessings and songs of healing for the families victimized by the terrorist attacks.
The journey will end with a pole-raising ceremony on Sept. 7 in the Sterling Forest, an hour’s drive from ground zero.
American Indians are accustomed to grieving over desecrated lands and have much to offer the country in the way of healing knowledge, say tribal leaders. The Lummis work daily to rebury their dead at nearby Semiahmoo, a sandy coastal spit where contractors dug up an ancient cemetery.
The devastation at ground zero and at tribal sacred sites offers a connection in grieving between Indian nations and the larger nation, tribal leaders say.
“Now they have some sacred grounds: Oklahoma City, New York,” said G.I. James, a Lummi tribal council member. “I hope theirs are never desecrated as ours have been.”
The healing pole is painted red, black, white and yellow; an eagle represents the fathers, a bear is for the mothers and a cub for the children who died on Sept. 11.
James carefully designed every inch of it, instructing other carvers in the lines, depth and symbolism.
Each of its 13 feet in length represents an original American colony.
The totem will face west over the country to stand over it and heal its sorrows. At the same time, Lummis will raise a pole at the Semiahmoo cemetery and face it east, connecting the two totems and casting healing prayers over the nation.
Personal healing
James feels the need for the pole personally, too.
As a policy analyst for the tribe, he works from his head all the time — lobbying for protection of sacred lands and changes in federal tax codes.
This is purely work from the heart, work that helps others and mines compassion from his own pain over the deaths of his two oldest children. Both were struck by cars on the reservation.
“I know what it’s like to lose someone. I think about them,” he said.
New York disaster relief counselor Eileen Pesek praised James and the effort put forth by all the tribes to bring the healing pole to the city. She runs a support group for people who lost family members on Sept. 11 and counseled firefighters in the first few months of recovery work.
“Losing a child is the worst thing. It’s out of the order of life,” Pesek said. “That he has lost two children and he’s doing this ... it’s his way of grieving.
“The love and energy he is putting into this is going to help other people here,” she said. “This man knows suffering firsthand. He didn’t read it from a book.”
’They need healing’
James and the other House of Tears carvers leave the week of Aug. 18 for Portland, Ore., the first stop on their journey to New York.
From Portland, they go to Celilo Falls, Ore., and the site of one of the oldest inhabited villages in North America. Then to Spokane, Wash., and Billings, Mont.; the Yankton Sioux reservation in South Dakota; the Winnebago reservation in Wisconsin, and Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot reservations in Connecticut. Then to Sterling Forest.
Although they are different and distinct nations in language, culture and history, American Indian tribes share some beliefs, said Lummi tribal Chairman Darrell Hillaire. Those beliefs include a community obligation to share in grief and a year of grieving after the death of family.
Both make this journey significant, he said.
“This process is familiar to us. Just this time, it’s a nationwide ceremony,” Hillaire said. “We’re not doing anything different than what my grandma would do. To offer something for their sorrow, to listen to their grief is to give them medicine for their hearts.”
http://www.gannettonline.com/gns/911/feature2.htm |
Peace & Keep the Faith
Fluffy
"THE MUSIC BUSINESS IS A CRUEL AND SHALLOW MONEY TRENCH-- A LONG PLASTIC HALLWAY WHERE THIEVES AND PIMPS RUN FREE AND GOOD MEN DIE LIKE DOGS. THERE'S ALSO A NEGATIVE SIDE..." -Hunter S. Thompson |
|
|
|
PJK
Alien Abductee
USA
4159 Posts |
Posted - 01/05/2003 : 10:00:18 PM
|
Whoa...this one is really choaking me up. I can't think of a more perfect way to remember those who died in 9-11. I almost lost my brother-in-law that day, and one of the boys at the school where I work lost his father. The pilot of the first plane lives a few miles from me. I think about 50 people from my area died in the towers.
What Jewell James is doing just seems so right.....I hope it all works out. I didn't think I would ever feel the emotions of that day again, but this has brought it all back. I guess those feelings will never really go away. |
"It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them!"Friedrich Nietzsche |
|
|
|
Fluffy
Administrator
USA
10739 Posts |
Posted - 01/23/2003 : 05:26:24 AM
|
| Does anyone know if this has been delivered or is in place yet, I would love to take a trip up and see it. Any info would be greatly appreciated. |
Peace & Keep the Faith
Fluffy
"THE MUSIC BUSINESS IS A CRUEL AND SHALLOW MONEY TRENCH-- A LONG PLASTIC HALLWAY WHERE THIEVES AND PIMPS RUN FREE AND GOOD MEN DIE LIKE DOGS. THERE'S ALSO A NEGATIVE SIDE..." -Hunter S. Thompson |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
READ : What should we be saying with a Memorial
