Thought-provoking memorials

While I was in Berlin, I visited the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, which is just south of the Brandenburg Gate. It's the size of several city blocks--4.7 acres--and it's simply covered by enormous concrete slabs. The slabs are all the same width and length, but their height varies from about 6 inches to over 7 feet tall. There are no words. There is no plaque, explaining the meaning of the stone slabs. There isn't even a sign in on corner, explaining what the memorial is for. It's just there.


I was really impressed by this memorial. The size, color, and material of the concrete slabs gives the memorial a weight, a gravitas, if you will, that makes the place quite solemn and even sacred. The design allows visitors to walk in between the slabs, letting them feel as if they are a part of the memorial. And often, this participation can be quite unsettling--the slabs are tall enough that you can lose sight of the edges of the memorial, or lose contact with those you came to the memorial with. It's disconcerting.

Perhaps even more importantly, it allows visitors to figure out for themselves what they think the memorial means. The lack of direct labels on anything allow people to openly interpret what they think something stands for, yet the scale and solemnity of the memorial steer their thoughts in certain directions. It's a memorial that will stay with you, keeping you wondering, for weeks to come.

This is a similar to how I felt when I visited the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. It's so different from all the other memorials, and so subtle about being a memorial, that it really made me think. And I felt greater reverence there than I did at any of the other nearby memorials.

In his slide essay about the Spire of Dublin, Witold Rybczynski argues much the same thing, saying that since the Spire is open to interpretation, it is more meaningful to those who see it. He also points to the memorial for the World Trade Center disasters as a memorial that doesn't live up to its potential--it is too literal of a representation to really affect people and challenge them to think. I think this is really unfortunate--the disaster of September 11th affected so many people in so many different ways, that creating a memorial with a fixed, definite meaning denies the reality of that day for many. I would like to see more open meanings in national memorials--the chance for the viewer to become an active participant in the event, where the memorial provides a set of questions and the viewer is forced to figure out for him or herself what to think about these questions. Simple tributes are a fitting and nice way to memorialize something, but memorials such as these discussed above are the ones that truly stay with you, that even have the power to change you.

Vacation pics!

Ok, here are a few of my favorite pictures from our recent trip to England and Germany:

In Penzance (England), we visited St. Michael's Mount, a castle/monastery built on an island. The island is really close to shore, and you can walk to it when the tide is out. So we did.
Perhaps our favorite part of the trip was our visit to Tintagel (also in England), where we stayed at this tiny youth hostel right on the edge of the cliffs. Kids under 3 weren't allowed to stay there, because they might fall off the edge. Honestly. There were picnic tables, then 2 feet, then cliff. It was awesome.

After we went to England, we spent 6 days with my brother and his wife in Berlin, which was quite different from hiking in the British countryside, but also very cool. One of the things I enjoyed the most was how much variety there was in the city. New buildings were right next to old, different architectural styles were sprinkled throughout the different neighborhoods--and it worked. The city doesn't seem jumbled or a hodge-podge, but instead a living, evolving organism. The Fernsehturm (TV tower) that is in the former East Berlin is one of the architectural icons of the city that I was most impressed by.It was an amazing two weeks, but it's nice to be home, too...even if it means I have to go back to work.

Things you probably didn't know about the UK

As some of you probably know, I'm heading to Germany and England for two weeks in August. I've been doing a lot of planning for the trip, and it's gotten me really excited to go. So, because I can't wait to go to Europe, I've been doing the next best thing--reading everything I can find online about the places we're going. Yes, I know I have issues.

In the course of my reading, I've found out some very strange things about the UK:

• They call curling irons "hair tongs." And what's more, it appears that some hair tongs are powered by gas cartridges, rather than electricity. A cordless curling iron would be nice, I suppose...
• Shepherds in northern England, Wales, and southern Scotland used to have their own specialized number systems for counting sheep. Some speculate that these counting systems led to the idea of counting sheep to lull yourself to sleep. According to Wikipedia, here's how you count to twenty sheep in the Borrowdale region of the Lake District: Yan, Tyan, Tethera, Methera, Pimp (5), Sethera, Lethera, Hovera, Dovera, Dick (10), Yan-a-dick, Tyan-a-dick, Tethera-dick, Methera-dick, Bumfit (15), Yan-a-bumfit, Tyan-a-bumfit, Tethera-bumfit, Methera-bumfit, Giggot (20). I know I shouldn't laugh at other people's languages and cultures, but I can't helping giggling a little, especially at "bumfit."
• You know how everyone says that carrots are really good for your eyes? Well, apparently, they're not quite as good as we all think. Carrots do contain vitamin A, which is necessary for healthy eyes, but eating lots of carrots won't help to improve your eyesight. The connection between carrots and super eyesight was solidified during WWII. Carrots played a big role in both the US and the UK, with citizens being encouraged to grow their own produce to make these nations more self-reliant. The "Dig for Victory" campaign in the UK and the "Victory Gardens" in the US promoted the carrot as a great way for children in particular to get nutrients that they normally got from fruit, which was no longer available. Well, according to the Carrot Museum, the powers of the carrot were exaggerated to hide the new radar system that the UK had developed. In 1940, Flight Lieutenant John Cunningham shot down the first German pilot using this radar system. The Royal Air Force wanted to keep the new system quiet, so instead, they spread the rumor that John "Cat Eyes" Cunningham had exceptional vision that let him see in the dark because of his love of snacking on carrots. The Germans bought the myth--as did the British people, who started growing and eating more carrots so that they could see better during mandatory blackouts.

That's all the crazy facts for today. I'll post more if I find them :)

My weekend

Well, this weekend my husband and I drove to Sheboygan, Wisconsin for my cousin's wedding. Gratz to D & L on your marriage! May you be blessed with many wonderful years together.

My husband took some pretty cool pictures at the reception, some of which could even be labeled "artsy." :) Here's my favorite:


Other thoughts from the weekend....

• Before we left, I thought gas prices in Minnesota were awful. Then, we went to Wisconsin, where it's at least 30 cents more per gallon. Nothing like traveling to Wisconsin to make gas in Minnesota feel cheap, even at over $3 a gallon.
• We drove through a lot of Wisconsin farmland, which I think is quite beautiful. We had a fun time picking out different animals we saw as we drove--cows, horses, llamas, elk, buffalo, turkeys, chickens, goats, sheep, donkeys, deer, and geese. The more we saw, the more I thought, "You know, maybe it would be fun to own a farm. It could be relaxing, I'd be outside a lot, we'd be more self-sufficient than we are now, I could own cool things like goats, horses, and chickens..." Wait, what? I'm the girl who hates watering plants and who has managed to kill almost every plant I've ever owned. I think driving through Wisconsin farmland must make me suffer from the same delusions that Bing Crosby's character did in the movie Holiday Inn.
• And finally, on Monday, we went on the annual Memorial Day Fishing Expedition. I'm not a gung-ho fisherperson, but I like the lures (they're cool colors and they sparkle...I wouldn't last 2 seconds as a fish) and being out on the lake is fun. I caught zero fish. /sigh

Anyways, happy summer!