Today we travelled as a class to Washington DC in order to view several monuments and to be able to experience these sites in their physical form rather than photographic reproductions. It is first apt to note that the photos of these sites do not always paint the full picture. The power of many of these memorials stem from the feelings in which they evoke through the experience of the space. I'd like to talk about a few of these sites where I had particularly notable memories and realizations.
Firstly, I'd like to relay my experience of the World War II memorial. Through class discussions and various readings such as that of Doss, I did not expect the site to be particularly moving. I have heard over and over a gain that the site is far too vast and sterile to connect with the visitors. However, upon arrival I saw something very different as a result of the date and time of the visit. Today was the day in which the European stage of WWII ended and as such there was a ceremony honoring the occasion. The site was swarmed by WWII veterans in their WWII hats. By seeing the veterans themselves being honored in the space, I felt more of a connection than I likely would have on any other day.
Later in the day we went to the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial. We probably spent the most time at this site of any other memorial on the mall. This was because each member of the class slowly meandered through while silently reading names and listening to the insight of various tour guides. I found it particularly interesting to connect what I was viewing to the reading by Hass which spoke primarily about the items which people left behind at the memorial. As I strolled through the site I saw several interesting "gifts" such as a high school wrestling trophy, a necklace and a poem. I find this method of memorial ritual to be especially compelling as it allows people to apply their own memories to the site as a physical offering.
Another site which I found to be particularly interesting was the Washington Monument. What struck me as surprising about the site was the way that people interacted with it. The first time in which I visited the monument I was rather young and was able to actually go inside the monument and ride the elevator to the top. In the past few years, however, each viewing was obstructed by scaffolding. This trip was notable because I was able to see people interact with the site for the first time in over a decade. Many people in our group lied down on the ground with their legs up against the monument so that the could see upwards. I would have never thought to interact with the monument in this way but I understand now that it gave them an interesting and different point of view in which to see the monument.
The final space that I would like to touch upon was a memorial that the group stumbled upon unintentionally. This memorial was a small neoclassical structure honoring the residents of Washington DC who lost their lives in World War I. Despite the serendipitous nature of our visit, the memorial was my favorite which we visited. I liked this space most of all because I felt that it had the most meditative aura of all of them. This was perhaps because the memorial was empty but also because the space was by far the smallest and most intimate.
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