War Memorials

5/23: NOTECARD (beginning of class): on the back of the notecard: write about the purpose of memorials in contemporary America, based on memorials you've seen (like Vietnam Memorial, 9/11 Memorial, etc.). Fill the back of the card. In class, we talked about the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial and about the controversy of Maya Lin's design and we watched a segment about the new lynching memorial in Montgomery, AL.

5/22: NOTECARD (end of class): on the front of the notecard: rank the memorials you looked at: for #1 tell me which memorial most appealed to you and why. #2 which memorial most effectively memorializes the event and why and #3 which memorial challenges your thinking the most and why.

Today, I am going to ask you to explore and evaluate some memorials to Kent State. The purpose here is to think about how events are memorialized, what aspects of the events become enshrined in the memorials and how those help us to remember and help to shape our memory. For each, listen to/ look at/read about the monument, take notes about what you hear, see, think and about how that particular monument is creating a particular kind of remembrance of Kent State.

To understand two of the memorials, (George Segal's sculpture and Bob Dylan's song) you need to know the biblical story of Abraham and Isaac. Genesis tells the story of Abraham, faithful man whom God calls to follow him. God tells Abraham that God will give him descendants to "number the stars," despite the fact that Abraham and his wife Sarah are old and childless. Eventually, Sarah does bear Abraham a child named Isaac. When Isaac has grown into adulthood, God tells Abraham to take Isaac to Moriah and sacrifice Isaac to him. Abraham obeys, and he travels with Isaac and two events to Moriah. He binds Isaac, ties him to an altar and is prepared to sacrifice him when an angel of God takes hold of his hand and stops him, saying that by proving his willingness to sacrifice his son, he has proven his loyalty to God.

Two are songs (choose at least one of these - lyrics are attached below) Bob Dylan's "Highway 51 Revisited" and Neil Young's "Ohio"

Here's a link to The Kent Four a sculpture by Alastair Granville- Jackson.

Here's a link to May 4 Memorial

Here's a link to George Segal's Abraham and Isaac memorial and here's more information (audio) about that sculpture (rejected by Kent State in 1978).