Day 317: Phil’s Sausagefest

 

November 13th, 2011Today was a pretty laid back Sunday as I stayed home, wrote an essay as well as a Vietnamese dialogue, before proceeding to campus to work. I sadly forgot to eat and had to eat Panda Express for lunch while migrating to the Communications building for video editing purposes… unfortunately all the rooms were taken, so I went to Geisel for 2 hours to work/play. I then went straight to Henry’s place where Adam picked me, Henry, Sid, & Luke up for a trip to Phil’s. We decided to go in the “to-go” line to avoid a 50 minute wait. Subsequently, we struggled to find a location for which to ultimately eat our food. Sid ordered a cheeseburger which delayed all our orders and made us ultimately wait more. We eventually stopped at Target which generously allowed us to eat inside in the food court (near Starbucks, where I got a free cup of water). I snapped a picture of a beautiful decoration of Target to help honor them. When I got home, I relaxed for quite some time before busing over to Geetha’s, where we exchanged stories regarding our respective weekends.

Near the end of a weeklong national salute to Americans who served in the Vietnam War, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington after a march to its site by thousands of veterans of the conflict. The long-awaited memorial was a simple V-shaped black-granite wall inscribed with the names of the 57,939 Americans who died in the conflict, arranged in order of death, not rank, as was common in other memorials. The designer of the memorial was Maya Lin, a Yale University architecture student who entered a nationwide competition to create a design for the monument. Lin, born in Ohio in 1959, was the daughter of Chinese immigrants. Many veterans’ groups were opposed to Lin’s winning design, which lacked a standard memorial’s heroic statues and stirring words. However, a remarkable shift in public opinion occurred in the months after the memorial’s dedication. Veterans and families of the dead walked the black reflective wall, seeking the names of their loved ones killed in the conflict. Once the name was located, visitors often made an etching or left a private offering, from notes and flowers to dog tags and cans of beer. SAD.

About 50 people crammed into Lee Mac’s Market on Friday afternoon to get some face time with GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul. Paul is known for attracting crowds at his campaign stops, and Friday was no different as people lined up outside the store to get a picture with the longtime Texas congressman. Paul posed for pictures, and signed campaign signs, books and even a baseball during his roughly 20-minute visit. TRUE LIBERTY FROM AT THE INDIVIDUAL LEVEL!

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