Yesterday, it became apparent that my houseboundedness was on its way to becoming fullblown agoraphobia (or something pathological in any case), so E and librarian kidnapped me and we went out to dinner at some Irish pub in Harbor East with all the tourists. There were so many colors and lights and noises! Or it was just another Saturday night for people who go out of their homes.
We saw the most interesting monument! In the middle of an upscale touristy plaza, between a bunch of hotels, is this fountain sculpture dedicated to the Katyn Massacre of 1940, when the Soviet army executed over 20,000 Poles.
What's it doing in gentrified Bmore? Have no idea.
But it is mesmerizing! It was raining so I couldn't take a picture, but will include some that I've found online. None of them do it justice because it really needs to be seen in 3D - you can't ever see it all from one view point and there's so much going on that you have to stop and really take your time to look at everything. It is astonishing:
Will go back and take some detail pics sometime because I want to look at it again, but I really love how the experience of the monument just doesn't translate well into photos or short descriptions. In contrast, there's another Katyn monument in New Jersey that is *quite* striking and beautiful and surely the Baltimore one is in dialogue it. The NJ one creates such a moment of clarity and singularity that it seems to make other commentary superfluous. It is the definition of "postcard friendly":
In other news, I love the history of dynamite! I totally want to work on that some more. Also, new favorite word that comes from the 19c = dynamitard. As in, someone who uses dynamite to blow up people/things for political reasons. Awesome, right?
I should write my fucking dissertation.
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