Lifelong Learning Institute at Waubonsee Community College

Co-facilitator: Karen Christensen

Now holding a sacred place in American consciousness, the Viet Nam Memorial was harshly criticized when its design was first proposed by a very young Maya Lin. Reviled as "a scar of shame," the memorial was seen by its critics as too conventional. How could those prominent writers, including Tom Wolfe and Pat Buchanan, have so deeply misunderstood the purpose and power of the design of this great and profound work of art? Participants will share personal experience of the Wall, evaluate its current place in our cultural heritage, examine the history of its making and of its designer and examine the underlying principles of how public art, and the Memorial itself, "speaks" to us.