Posted on 11/14/2005 4:38:45 PM PST by roostercogburn
My 14 year old son has been given a project to design a memorial to the fallen soldiers of the Iraq war. It must be designed as though it will be built on the Mall in Washington D.C. which means it must follow the same design restrictions that applied to the Vietnam Memorial. It must Honor the memory of those who served and those who gave their lives. Be harmonious with the Mall and its surroundings. Somehow fit into the "historic continuity" of American art. Be durable, buildable and not hard to maintain. Please , any ideas would be appreciated.
This is the letter I wrote to his teacher.......
Mr. Graham
I am Stephan Caricchio's father. I would like to know what designing a monument has to do with Language Arts? It seems a bit outside of the realm of reading. This is not graphic design or art class.
I hope that there are no political motivations here. To allow an option to students to basically make protest art is poor judgement in my opinion. These kids are not mature enough to weigh out all of the reasons and whys sacrifices are made. All they have are images of the dead. No logical discussion of terrorism. Why we want to fight terrorists over there instead of here, that there are groups of radical muslim fanatics that have no other goal than to kill Americans. At 14 kids are either to sensitive and think killing is never right, or overzealous and think killing is never wrong. There isn't that area of thought in between that allows them to weigh issues and options. I truly believe that this is not appropriate for my son to be involved in. If it were just monuments to the sacrifice of our soldiers, fine. But I will not allow my child's immature thought process be weighted in a way that I do not choose. And I do not choose to have him be influenced by your possible underlying political motivations.
This will turn into a discussion of politics in a classroom where you are the final arbiter. Where your views can be accepted as fact and the truth can be tilted to meet your opinions.
Please do not take this in a bad way. Nothing personal, just the way I feel. I look forward to a response from you. Please contact me at your convenience.
How about a statue of our troops passing the Iraqi flag back to an Iraqi with a purple finger?
Show the soldiers and the kids, the purple V's, the women and girls in schools.
Then show the soldiers day in and day out, especially the one with the "thousand yard stare" that wowed women everywhere.
Then show the solemn graves and the tears of the comerades for the fallen. And the President when he comforted the war widow.
Make sure you get all 4 branches of the Military.
Under the whole thing, post:
"We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail."
-President George W. Bush, October 7, 2001
That should piss his teacher off completely and send them into a real rage.
Give him a flag instead then. Times are bad, but they still can't openly hate the flag.
Wait...
Wait....
Dammit.
Just make a bronze statue of that.
How about a picture of a 7 foot American GI stomping on cowering likenesses of Hitler, Stalin, and some bald little fat guy with an NEA pin.
That one is great!
How do they get the gun to stay like that?
A hand prying/lifting up another hand while freed peoples walk out from under the first hand. The theme being, the Hand of Democracy frees all from the hand of oppression. Peace doesn't free people, War does.
a wall of urinals with pictures of ted, nancy, harry, john, et al, placed in said urinals. it'll be an interactive display.
Hey, the positive side is that the title of the assignment ISN'T:
"Show Why These Soldiers are Baby Killers sent by the Monster Hitler Bush so he could get more Oil for his Halliburton Firends".
That's progress if this is a public school.
I wouldn't seek to compose it for you, since that's your child's job. But here are some elements I would include:
1. A dozen Iraqi children reaching out to a smiling US soldier; 2. Several adults holding up purple fingers with a ballot box nearby; 3. A copy of the Iraqi constitution; 4. A mosque, to remind people we stand for freedom of religion (unlike our enemies); 5. Date palms which stand for life; 6. The confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers; and 6. Somewhere noticeable but more subtle, the face of President George W. Bush. All in bronze of course.
C'mon Coop. He is 14. I am all about him doing things on his own, but this assignment is a tough one. He needed help. And I am as close to an artist as I am to Pluto.
Ug. Firends -> Friends
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