Step One:

Watch the documentary, “The Healing Wall” (56 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-082gadmDw

Visit the 9/11 Memorial Website online

http://www.911memorial.org

Step Two: Read the following article, “Stones and Bones: Visiting the 9/11 Memorial and Museum,” by Adam Copnick.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/07/07/stones-and-bones

Step Three: Answer the following seven questions. The first question is based on the documentary and is worth two points. The other six questions are based on the article and are worth six points total (one point each).

Provide a detailed summary of the comments by at least four participants in the documentary on the visual design of the Vietnam Memorial. Your answer must include at least 400 words total. Please include the names and the positions of the commentators you selected from the documentary.

Example: Bob Sonderman, (Director, M. R. C. E. National Park Service): Sonderman discusses the later additions to the original design by Maya Lin: first, the three soldiers reminiscent of Iwo Jima, then the more dramatic woman memorial, featuring a woman holding a young solider and looking at a helicopter. Then, a flagpole and an honor roll. He considers the additions not a distraction, but an enhancement because “it satisfied everyone’s need.” He also speaks highly of the original design, with its undulating landscaping design, to be “pretty evocative.” (87 words)

Copnick uses the words “contradictions” and “contradictory” repeatedly in his essay. What are some of the visual contradictions that he identifies at the site of 9/11 Memorial?

Copnick describes the 9/11 Memorial as “chasms” and “two huge sinks.” Compare his description to the description you find at the 9/11Memorial official website. Which of the two descriptions do you agree with and why?

How does Copnick criticize the political correctness in the visual representation inside the 911 Museum?

Copnick identifies some deep-seated problems with American design of memorial sites by comparing them to historical memorials in Europe. Do you agree with his opinion? Why or why not? Explain.

How does Copnick describe the Civil War memorials in the South, in particular, its visual style and the political controversy involved? Explain.

Copnick hails Maya Lin’s 1982 design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial as “the greatest of modern American memorials.” He also considers “statue of a trio of soldiers” that were added to the original Vietnam Memorial at last minute “ugly and now overlooked.” Do you agree with his assessment? Explain.

No late/electronic submission will be accepted. You forfeit all eight points for the quiz if you fail to turn in your answer on time. Your syllabus states that there are ten quizzes accounting for 80% of your final grade. This means each quiz is worth eight points.

This quiz is required.

Grading criteria:

Careful attention to details in the documentary film and in article;

Critical, sensitive, and thoughtful visual interpretation and visual judgment;

Quality of writing.

Your best grade would be a D or 5 points (out of a total 8 points), should your essay include three or more common use errors. Hasty, perfunctory (careless) work will receive an F (4 points or lower).