Saturday, June 10, 2006

Honest Abe in Oregon


Last weekend I was in Ashland, Oregon, where I saw five plays* at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in two-and-a-half days. It was heaven.

Since we’re moving to Gettysburg, I decided to take a six-CD, 12-lecture course on Abraham Lincoln with me (from the library). As luck would have it, the teacher, Professor Allen S. Guelzo, is from Gettysburg College, where Carrie will be next year.

Surprisingly, there was a statue of our 16th president in Ashland, at the entrance to the wonderful Lithia Park. Sadly, though, he was headless.

Vandals had beheaded the Great Emancipator. Fear not though, compatriot, a new head is on the way, according to a man at the visitors booth. The kindly gentleman also told me a tale that proves there are silly civic controversies everywhere (even outside Palo Alto).

Apparently, there was apparently an uproar when the populace learned that the replacement head (and the backup, just-in-case-this-atrocity-ever-occurs-again head) are coming from – Horrors! – Japan!

I also learned more local folklore: The statue in the plaza near the park of a soldier holding a rifle used to – long ago – face the other way. But the ladies in the brothel on the second floor of the downtown establishments complained the soldier was peering into their windows, watching them with their clients. The prostitutes made enough noise, they eventually convinced the town fathers (surely they were men then) to rotate the statue.

There he stands, a few paces from the headless Lincoln.

I’ve posted a number of photos from my trip on my Flickr page. Check them out here.

Also, wish Carrie good luck – she’s defending her dissertation on Friday. I’ll try to post about that next weekend, which also happens to be graduation

Until then: Learn about Lincoln, hear funny tales from old men and see An Inconvenient Truth.

*Intimate Apparel, Bus Stop, The Importance of Being Earnest, Up and A Winter’s Tale

1 Comments:

At 1:10 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wish I were there!

Beautiful photos that really convey a sense of the environment. I like "Honey, I shrunk the Bill".

 

Post a Comment

<< Home