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04/26/2003 Archived Entry: "Ron Drummond Journal Update"
My friend Ron Drummond is still working on his Garden Steps WTC Memorial project, and has just posted a new journal entry -- for December 5, 2002! In it, he explicates some of his design issues in his conversation with Yvonne Morrow, Director of Constituent Services for Sheldon Silver, a New York state Assemblyman. "I went around the table to get closer to the windows, and stood for a long moment looking out. 'But — my God, you must have had an incredible view of the disaster! I can’t even —' imagine it, was what I started to say, but what I really couldn’t do, for twenty seconds at least, was so much as speak. Finally I looked at Morrow, who gazed out too, with a look that somehow combined long familiarity with enduring surprise at what, each and every time, she saw. Or rather didn’t see."
Replies: 3 comments
Anita, your comment is certainly valid. But that odd combination of the familiar and the surprising is what struck me at the time -- it wasn't just her gaze, it was the context, it was what she was looking at. I was very aware at that moment that her workaday routine was carried out with the constant visual reminder of the result of a singular devastating event, which felt very eery to me -- so perhaps I poured too much of my own imagination into the situation. I'll certainly change the line if Ms. Morrow objects, but that was my experience of what happened.
Posted by Ron Drummond @ 04/27/2003 10:47 AM PST
Ron, my only real qualm about your journal entry was you attributing such complicated emotions to Yvonne Morrow's silent gaze, on the first time of meeting.
I hope you'll be able to do more journal entries soon! Fresh content brings repeat visitors, as we've discussed before.
Posted by Anita @ 04/27/2003 08:02 AM PST
Lest folks think I'm continuing to work on the Garden Steps in the absence of any connection with reality, allow me to point out that officially, the Daniel Libeskind design is for everything BUT a memorial. The official international memorial design competition rules will be posted on Monday, 28 April, and the window for submitting designs is a three-week period this June. It's likely that my design will be disqualified going in, because of its size, but in fact two-thirds of the space needed for it is potentially available, so the question is whether I can accommodate my design to the new constraints. Thanks for your interest, Anita! And your sense of humor!
Posted by Ron Drummond @ 04/26/2003 09:17 AM PST