Inauguration Poetry: Revolution

My poem remembers the Inauguration of President Barack Obama, President Joe Biden, and after 8 years of them trying to rip apart the country that voted them in, the election of President Donald John Trump:

Revolution, 2009, 2013, 2021

Historical moments,

meiosis of human spirit,

evolve into prospects,

for rebellion to split open 

the festering wound of ignorance,

bleed with hastening progress 

in anticipation

of a conscious 'woke-ness.'

"I plan to make fundamental changes."

Revolution, 2017, 2025

Historical moments,

meiosis of human spirit,

evolve into prospects

for rebellion to split open 

the festering wound of ignorance,

and bleed with confidence and truth

in anticipation 

of a conscious awakening:

"Make America Great Again!"

© Jeanne I. Lakatos

The 'Garbage Man' and Iconic Realism

 The 'Garbage Man' cometh.

The 'Garbage Man' taketh away!

Congratulations President Donald J. Trump,

45th and 47th President of the United States of America!

Photo from Google Images and Fox News

How is this photo an example of iconic realism? A duly elected President of the United States of America and those who supported him were labeled 'garbage' by the current President Joe Biden. The garbage man is an iconic figure in that we see garbage men working diligently and collecting trash every week. However, to see the former President (and now President-elect) sitting in the garbage truck with his name on it is an image not expected. This image sets forth a message to those who attempt to insult President Donald Trump and his supporters: It won't work! Common sense will prevail. 

Again, Congratulations President Donald J. Trump. 

May God's Blessings be with you and our country. 

Sandy Hook Elementary School Tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut

(Photo from Google Images)



May the Perpetual Light Shine upon Them. 

On Friday morning, December 14, 2012, as I sat at my desk, grading final papers, I encountered some strange occurrences on campus and eventually received word of a shooting in a town nearby. The first news indicated that there were multiple shooters and one or more were unaccounted for. Overhead, helicopters circled the university as ambulances stormed down the street to Danbury Hospital, located two blocks away from my office.

By day's end, this entire area was in mourning, for the beautiful town of Newtown was now in the history books, not as the idyllic southern New England town we all love and cherish around here, but in the same league with Aurora and Columbine, Colorado and scores of other towns over which this cloud of horror has shrouded. As the names became revealed to us, many persons in the area had some connection with the, school, the victims or their families. We were all in mourning in the Newtown-Danbury area, once given the title as the 'Safest town in the State.'

No further words will come to me. Please pray for peace, understanding, and the power of love this holiday season.

Blessings,
Jeanne Iris

Pentagon 9/11 Memorial and Iconic Realism

(Photo from Washingtonpost.com)

I post this every year on 9/11, and will continue to bring it back on the anniversary of that horrific day. No, we will never forget:

The memorial in Washington, D.C. for the Pentagon victims of 9/11 as an abstract object represents each person who died at this location in the terrorist act that day.  The designers, Julie Beckman and Keith Kaseman, have created the memorial with objects, which appear on the lawn as granite benches, which one would normally associate with comfort and relaxation. They also have the appearance of airplane wings, jetting out of the ground. However, the one hundred eighty-four objects, juxtaposed to the lawn outside the Pentagon serves as a reminder of the great loss of life that day. The dedication of this memorial states:

The Pentagon Memorial contains 184 memorial units, each of which is dedicated to an individual victim by its unique placement within the collective field. The field is organized as a timeline of the victims' ages, moving from the youngest, three-year-old Dana Falkenberg to the oldest, John D. Yamnicky, 71.

Each memorial unit is specifically positioned in order to distinguish victims on board American Airlines Flight 77 from victims within the Pentagon. The memorial units representing the 59 lives lost on American Airlines Flight 77 are positioned so that a visitor to the park will face the sky when reading the name of the victim to whom that unit is dedicated. When standing at a memorial unit dedicated to a victim who was inside the Pentagon, the visitor sees the victim's name and the Pentagon in the same view. The simple but elegant memorial units are at once a glowing light pool, a cantilevered bench and a place for permanent inscription of each victim's name.

Through each season, the maple trees' beauty will contribute to the park's atmosphere of peace and remembrance, enhancing each visitor's personal experience of the memorial. (from the Pentagon Memorial website) [1]

The iconic realism of this memorial provides the visitor to this site an opportunity to reflect on the magnitude that this event has had on the culture of the United States of America and the world, in general.

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[1] Pentagon September 11 Memorial. 2008. http://www.defenselink.mil/home/features/2008/0708_memorial/memorial.html

Gary Russo, NYC Construction Worker, and Iconic Realism (Click this title to view Mr. Russo singing.)

photo from Google Images

Those who visit any major construction site in Manhattan instantly become aware of the resilience that is needed to persevere in rebuilding an area of the world with millions of eyes attending to every detail. Cameras installed at the Ground Zero construction site monitor every movement of the rebuilding process there. These multi-sensory experiences in lower Manhattan: the cacophony from construction crews, visual monitors, and the many artistic renderings of the human reaction to the process of rebuilding, all create a living example of the semiotic theory of iconic realism.

In particular, one construction worker at the 2^nd Avenue subway site demonstrates this theory. His name is Gary Russo, and he has made it his mission to bring awareness of the beauty of music right in the midst of the barrage of sound associated with the machines involved in this subway reconstruction. Passersby experience his crooning with recorded big band musical accompaniment, and soon their sensory bombardment is melodically soothed with the songs of the musical icon, Frank Sinatra.  

       Iconic representation of art within any community develops from that community’s awareness of the connection between artist endeavor and human awareness. When the community understands that each artist is contributing to the possible transformation of consciousness, fresh ideas offer the possibility for growth in the potential for change. Thank you, Gary Russo!