Mt. Rushmore
All states flags are displayed at Mt. Rushmore, along with a dedication plate.
Below's a pic of George W...he, he, the first one....It looks like one of those rip-away affects, but this is the actual picture taken through two rocks. I was close to the faces and took a click of George through an opening in between some rock. I thought it was a cool effect.
Below is Gutzon Borglum, the genius behind Mt. Rushmore:
Some of the high-tech equipment used to carve out the Rusmore monument:
Internet connections have been few and far between on my mini-sabbatical to the remote midwest. Currently I am furiously blogging away on a wireless connection at Starbucks here in Davenport - and this despite the fact that the good folk at Starbucks claim that they have no wireless internet connection. This is, of course, better than the McDonald's and Burger King in Huron who claimed that they had a wireless connection that was non-connectable.
Fast thoughts on Rushmore:
- Struck by irony as I viewed the faces with the other tourists.
- Felt very patriotic and nationalistic.
- Mt. Rushmore is an incredible, massive work of art.
- Borglum, its creator (see above), was a motivated, patriotic, energetic genius. (Like Hesiak!)
- Irony: Major national monument carved into sacred Indian grounds stolen away from the Indians by the US (pale face).
- Perhaps this irony and many like it are at the heart of our American heritage.
- US = A nation whose ideals are sound and just and good.
- US = Rarely fully lives up to said ideals.
- US = Often forced into pragmatic (see "lesser of two evils") means to accomplish just/good ends.
- Melting pot = a collage of ideals.
- The ultimate product is a strange brew, indeed.
- Prez. faces carved into stolen Indian land is as ironic as the fact that "French Fries" are an American food.
6 comments:
I thought that was supposed to be "freedom fries".
Ironic it is...
Meh, I don't think it's that ironic. Most countries are what they are right now because they conquered somebody at some point (or several points), yes?
Melody - Yes, I would say so.....for some reason I now feel like fast food, except that wouldn't be good for the strange state that my stomach is in....
lol, so you can answer the obvious questions, can you?
Fast food isn't good for your stomach ever. Darn the convenience of it!
" Borglum, its creator (see above), was a motivated, patriotic, energetic genius. (Like Hesiak!)
- Irony: Major national monument carved into sacred Indian grounds stolen away from the Indians by the US (pale face)."
Funny...not the least because you called me a genius. More more of the archetypal Fool than a genius, but OK.
As for Indians and Cowboys...I'm a "Washington Redskins" fan, itself slightly ironic. Not my point. Point is...when I was on vacation in Virginia near Jamestown, I saw a billboard with a picture of a Native American Indian, celebrating the founding of our country in Jamestown, that said, "Thank me me for my sacrafice." Maybe it was "Thank you for your sacrafice," but you get the point. That's disturbing. They didn't wilfully sacrafice themselves to some great cause. We brutally killed and chased them off!!! That's "ironic," in that we have suddenly decided to rewrite the history. Which is different from the simply fact of history that the barbarians eventually conquered the Romans.
http://forsclavigera.blogspot.com/2007/07/tourism-revisionist-historyhttpwwwblogg.html
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