Symbolic Symbols

More surprising than the possibility that Woodstock might be reincarnated at Merriweather Post Pavilion is the fact that some people don’t like The People Tree.

Shocking, I know.

The first hint I got was this statement on Twitter which seems to suggest that the writer believes the statue was meant to be a replacement for religious expression in the New American City:

Also, Howard County, or “HoCo” is home to Columbia, MD, developed by James Rouse. It’s sort of a quasi-Marxist utopia. They don’t allow churches there. But they have the “unity tree” by the lake. Oh it’s just splendid.

Well, alrighty then.

And over on Facebook the news of the new Azlon sculpture in the Merriweather District brought this response:

Please tell me this is replacing the “people tree”?!

I have to admit that the first time I saw photos of the new sculpture I thought of The People Tree, and whether Howard Hughes was looking to rebrand using Azlon as the symbol of the new Downtown Columbia. If they did that, I mused, would they be willing to let go of the People Tree as the property of Howard Hughes and allow it (and its name, and it’s likeness) to belong to the community?

Yes, I’m sure it’s far more complicated than that. And it doesn’t need to be either/or, necessarily.

It’s not exactly sacrilegious to dislike the People Tree. It did surprise me, though.

What do you think? Are you a fan of Columbia’s original symbol? Is Azlon competition for The People Tree? If there room in this town for the two of them?

Maybe we should go to the source.

Comments

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents. When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...

F ³: We Are Not Entitled

A college student went missing. His family and friends were distraught. The community was encouraged to be on the lookout and spread the word. Days passed. They must have been agonizing days for those who cared about the missing student. Thoughts that foul play had been involved cannot have been far from their thoughts. Then, at last, the student was found. Alive. The news was shared with the public. So. Much. Relief. A family had been reunited with their child. Even though we know that life is complicated, I think it is okay to accept this as a happy ending and leave it at that. But the world of social media says no. For every expression of joy at the news came questions and even judgement. It became clear to me that some folks felt entitled to an explanation. They wanted the backstory. It’s as though they felt that, by enlisting the help of the public on social media, the authorities now owed them all the details. Television dramas often weave curr...

Separate and Unequal

Remember “Separate but equal”? Remember how that really meant that Black schools languished in broken-down buildings without adequate heat or toilet facilities, with cast-off, ragged learning materials, underfunded and largely ignored? The Supreme Court struck that down in 1954. The evidence was clear that separate was not equal. Plessy v Ferguson had led to - - no, endorsed - - deeply unequal schooling and opportunities. We tend to think of Brown v Board as being purely about racial integration. It was not. It was about the logical consequences of segregation. And they were not, not, not equal. The ruling in 1954 didn’t transform public education for non-whites into a land of milk and honey by any means. But it articulated some essential truths in a way that made including everyone a legal precedent which could be relied upon and built upon. It was better than what came before it but it rested upon unsteady ground. It did not necessarily change the hearts or minds ...

Village Green/Town²

Search This Blog