Arlington Visit: (Ted Kennedy 1932 - 2009)

On August 25, 2009, Senator Edward M. Kennedy died, due to the effects of brain cancer, a malignant glioma for which no known cure exists. Mr. Kennedy fought a brave last fight.

[Legislatively, Ted Kennedy personified the decades-long, political journey toward national, all-citizen covered Health Care Insurance. It would be interesting to hear his comments on how Congress (esp. his Senate colleagues on either side of the aisle) has approached the matter, given its recent penchant for - typically - a watered down plan touted as "reform". Of course, as of Jan. 1, 2010, that is exactly what has happened].

I respect Senator Kennedy's clear and valiant commitment to civil rights and his career-long quest to help all American citizens become covered by guaranteed U.S health care, "a right and not a privilege". It is ironic that this passionate advocate of universal health care for the citizens should, in the end, have been afflicted himself with such a difficult and terminal diagnosis, and which no amount of personal wealth could ever alter.

This week, I have returned to Arlington to re-visit, and to find some new reflection by viewing Senator Kennedy's final resting place.

It is quite a powerful impression: seeing all three Kennedy brothers sleeping in the same location. I believe time and events have already suggested that Ted Kennedy achieved more than his two predeceased brothers, for obvious reasons.

Kevin Martin

nlicari in Washington DC

From the outer structure to the inner sanctuary of the Supreme Court we find the nine justices seating behind the columns of antiquity. (At least we see their chairs!) Equal Justice Under The Law predominates every architectural structure that pursues that notion. It is an attempt to physically visualize what the internal values of a nation reflect.

The notion of Equal Justice Under the Law predominates the overriding values the Founders of our nation attempted to ingrain within. The structure of the Supreme Court reflects that notion derived from antiquity and is seen in the Greek and Roman revivalist structure.

nlicari in Washington DC

One of the scales of justice in front of the Supreme Court introduces the concept of Justice and Equality before the law. It is a fitting example of what how the architecture reflects the concept of the Supreme Court.

Searching for the Mayor of Castro Street; or, a Monument of One’s Own

But, you may say, we asked you to speak about women and fiction—what has that got to do with a room of one’s own? I will try to explain.

Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own

But, you may say, we asked you to speak about national monuments and American identity—what has that got to do with the Mayor of Castro Street, Harvey Milk? I will try to explain.

Washington, DC, Monday, July 27, 2:00 pm

I've been assigned to blog about the Library of Congress, the first historical site that we will visit during our four-day expedition to the nation’s capital to study the complex relationship between place, memory, and citizenship. What are the facts about this cavernous repository of books, a repository so vast that both the gorgeous late-nineteenth-century Jefferson building that has housed its impressive collection beginning in 1897 and the John Adams building that was added in 1938 were no longer sufficient to accommodate its ever-expanding holdings? I won’t really be able to answer that question today, however, since our first meeting takes place in the map room of the Library’s most recently acquired, but architecturally unimpressive, James Madison building. We’re here to study early plans for the District of Columbia. I stop feeling disappointed by the exterior of the structure and instead become absorbed by L’Enfant’s vision of this new city—an absorption that is heightened by a lecture on the history of a swamp that became the seat of American government and of multiple marches on the city by wide-ranging groups of the marginalized, the disenfranchised demanding that their voices be heard, demanding their right to equality and participation in the democratic process.

Washington, DC, July 27, 9:00 pm

Although I have been to Washington many times since my first visit in the early 1980s, I have seen the Lincoln Memorial only from a distance, so I am excited about finally climbing the steps to the sculpture of a President who has been immortalized in history books for preserving the Union and for issuing the Emancipation Proclamation. I’m not expecting the well-spring of emotions that are churned up by the magnificence and majesty of the work of art itself and, perhaps more importantly, by the man it commemorates, a man whose name is synonymous with equality and freedom. I look up at him looking down at me and feel nothing but reverence. This reaction starts me thinking about emancipation, about equality, about freedom, and I realize that I have mapped onto a man, a sculpture, and a place—all of which have figured prominently in the ongoing struggle of African-Americans to achieve equality—the story of my own quest for liberation and equity. At the top of the stairway, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. These words have been carved into a stone right in front of my feet. I have a dream, too. I hope that I will live to see on the Washington Mall not just the Lincoln Memorial and the massive sculpture of King that is in the making, but a monument to Harvey Milk, the first openly gay member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors who, like Pres. Lincoln and Dr. King, was assassinated by a man with hatred in his heart.


Washington, DC, July 27, 11:00 pm

I don’t realize as I stand here gazing at the Washington Monument and at the cupola of the Capital that this hope will shape the rest of my week in DC. But by the time I get back home late Thursday night, I will know what I’ve been seeking, but haven’t yet been able to find: a monument that says to America, “I am a part of your history, too. Yes, me. Me, a man, who had the courage to love other men in a time and place when love like ‘that’ was for most Americans still unspeakable, when that love still seemed like just cause for murder.” A monument that says to America, “We all matter. We all must be remembered. We must remember all. Not just me, but everyone who has lived and died in the name of emancipation, equality, and freedom. Chief Joseph and Susan B. Anthony and César Chávez and K. Patrick Okura and others.” A monument that lets me say to America, “Hey, I’m here. I was here. And when I’m gone, I’ll still be here. Carved in this statue of ‘The Mayor of Castro Street’ is my story, too. And the stories of generations of men and women who like him, like me, believe in a world in which everyone is truly free.” I know now what I’m seeking and in my lifetime still would love to find: a monument to Harvey Milk, a monument of my own.

Reflections...

After discussing the blog with Carolyn, we decided it would be inappropriate for us to edit the blog. We found the comments to be quite personal and to tamper with that would diminish the authenticity of the blog. For us, the blog is more of an ongoing dialogue among teachers than a published website with interesting facts that we can share with our students. It could potentially be used as an example, but it would have to become something else if we wanted it to be a resource for students.

Things that were useful from the blog that we can use in the classroom were the initial requirements that were labeled on the site: 1. The essential question 2. Asking for the historical context of the assigned monuments with accompanying visuals and 3. Reflecting on each other's work.

One suggestion for improvement would be requiring students to reflect on the day of the actual visit in order to have a more immediate/ fresh response. After conducting some research I came across these helpful suggestions... (below, is a modified version of what I found)

1. Decide the Main Use for Your Blog and be clear about its purpose

2. How you structure classroom blogs depends on its utility. Here are various approaches:

a. Classroom management: Use a blog to post assignments, handouts, and notices. You can also put up study notes and have students take turns summarizing what happened in school that day.

b. Learning journal: uses individual or small-group blogs as a place for students to "write reflectively" on what they learned from a particular assignment and how they might do better next time.

c. Class discussion: set up a single blog for the whole class. You may post entries for discussion, or have individual students and guest bloggers post entries.

d. Use blogs to post homework for traditional evaluation but with the added component that students must choose a follow classmate's entry and compose their response to what they have read.

In all cases, it will be important to decide in advance how the work will be graded.

We are interested in hearing your feedback in order to better implement this tool with our students. Please post a comment.

Thanks!
Cindy