-----Original Message-----
From: John Martinson <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sep 11, 2007 11:06 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] A Moment of Silence<[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2007 09:45:35 -0400
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] A Moment of Silence
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> I did not complete reading your email. I could not. I read enough to see
> that the email had nothing to do with museums. I should just completely
> ignore it. However, since it has been brought up, I would like to say:
> There have been unjust wars since very near the beginning of time.
> Countless innocent people have died in atrocities through the centuries.
> War is never pretty but will always be, at least until the end of time as we
> know it. Innocent people will die throughout that same timeframe. That
> does not mean that we should not pay respect to specific peoples who die
> tragically nor does it mean we should not honor those who sacrifice or
> endanger their lives to try to help others. That said, I believe this
> should stop right here as, again, it has nothing to do with museums and it
> is an inappropriate place for such a discussion.
>
> Frances Hayden
> USMC retired
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "L Dewey" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2007 9:16 AM
> Subject: [MUSEUM-L] A Moment of Silence
>
>
> >A Moment of Silence for 9/11
> >
> > By Emmanuel Ortiz, 9/11/02
> >
> > Before I start this poem, I'd like to ask you to
> > join me in a moment of silence in honor of those who
> > died in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon last
> > September 11th.
> >
> > I would also like to ask you to offer up a moment of
> > silence for all of those who have been harassed,
> > imprisoned, disappeared, tortured, raped, or killed in
> > retaliation for those strikes, for the victims in both
> > Afghanistan and the U.S.
> >
> > And if I could just add one more thing...
> >
> > A full day of silence for the tens of thousands of
> > Palestinians who have died at the hands of
> > U.S.-backed Israeli forces over decades of occupation.
> >
> >
> > Six months of silence for the million-and-a-half Iraqi
> > people, mostly
> > children, who have died of malnourishment or
> > starvation as a result of
> > an 11-year U.S. embargo against the country.
> >
> > Before I begin this poem, two months of silence
> > for the Blacks under Apartheid in South Africa,
> > where homeland security made them aliens in their own
> > country.
> >
> > Nine months of silence for the dead in Hiroshima and
> > Nagasaki, where death rained down and peeled back
> > every layer of concrete, steel, earth, and skin and
> > the survivors went on as if alive.
> >
> > A year of silence for the millions of dead in Viet Nam
> > - a people, not a war - for those who know a thing or
> > two about the scent of burning fuel, their relatives'
> > bones buried in it, their babies born of it.
> >
> > A year of silence for the dead in Cambodia and Laos,
> > victims of a secret war ... ssssshhhhh ... Say nothing
> > ... we don't want them to learn that they are dead.
> >
> > Two months of silence for the decades of dead in
> > Colombia, whose names, like the corpses they once
> > represented, have piled up and slipped off our
> > tongues.
> >
> > Before I begin this poem, an hour of silence for El
> > Salvador ...
> > An afternoon of silence for Nicaragua ...
> > Two days of silence for the Guetmaltecos ... None of
> > whom ever knew a moment of peace in their living
> > years.
> >
> > 45 seconds of silence for the 45 dead at Acteal,
> > Chiapas.
> >
> > 25 years of silence for the hundred million Africans
> > who found their graves far deeper in the ocean than
> > any building could poke into the sky.
> > There will be no DNA testing or dental records to
> > identify their remains.
> >
> > And for those who were strung and swung from the
> > heights of sycamore trees in the south, the north, the
> > east, the west ... 100 years of silence ...
> >
> > For the hundreds of millions of indigenous peoples
> > from this half of right here,whose land and lives were
> > stolen, in postcard-perfect plots like Pine Ridge,
> > Wounded Knee, Sand Creek, Fallen Timbers, or the Trail
> >
> > of Tears.
> >
> > Names now reduced to innocuous magnetic poetry on the
> > refrigerator of our unconsciousness ...
> > So you want a moment of silence?
> >
> > And we are all left speechless
> > Our tongues snatched from our mouths
> > Our eyes stapled shut
> > A moment of silence
> >
> > And the poets have all been laid to rest
> > The drums disintegrating into dust
> >
> > Before I begin this poem,
> > You want a moment of silence
> > You mourn now as if the world will never be the same
> > And the rest of us hope to hell it won't be.
> >
> > Not like it always has been.
> >
> > Because this is not a 9/11 poem
> > This is a 9/10 poem,
> > It is a 99 poem,
> > A 9/8 poem,
> > A 9/7 poem
> > This is a 1492 poem.
> >
> > This is a poem about what causes poems like this to be
> > written.
> > And if this is a 9/11 poem,
> > Then this is a September 11th poem for Chile, 1971
> > This is a September 12th poem for Steven Biko in South
> > Africa, 1977
> > This is a September 13th poem for the brothers at
> > Attica Prison, New
> > York, 1971.
> > This is a September 14th poem for Somalia, 1992.
> >
> > This is a poem for every date
> > that falls to the ground in ashes.
> >
> > This is a poem for every date
> > that falls to the ground in ashes.
> >
> > This is a poem for the 110 stories
> > that were never told.
> > The 110 stories that history
> > chose not to write in textbooks.
> > The 110 stories that
> > CNN, BBC, The New York Times, and Newsweek ignored.
> >
> > This is a poem for interrupting this program.
> > And still you want a moment of silence for your dead?
> > We could give you lifetimes of empty:
> > The unmarked graves
> > The lost languages
> > The uprooted trees and histories
> > The dead stares on the faces of nameless children.
> > Before I start this poem
> > we could be silent forever
> > Or just long enough to hunger,
> > For the dust to bury us.
> > And you would still ask us
> > For more of our silence.
> >
> > If you want a moment of silence
> > Then stop the oil pumps
> > Turn off the engines and the televisions
> > Sink the cruise ships
> > Crash the stock markets
> > Unplug the marquee lights,
> > Delete the instant messages,
> > Derail the trains, the light rail transit.
> > If you want a moment of silence,
> > Put a brick through the window of Taco Bell,
> > And pay the workers for wages lost.
> > Tear down the liquor stores,
> > The townhouses, the White Houses, the jailhouses,
> > The Penthouses, and the Playboys.
> > If you want a moment of silence,
> > Then take it on Super Bowl Sunday,
> > The Fourth of July
> > During Dayton's 13 hour sale
> >
> >
> > Or the next time your white guilt fills the room
> > where MY beautiful people have gathered.
> > You want a moment of silence
> > Then take it now,
> > Before this poem begins.
> >
> > Here, in the echo of my voice,
> > In the pause between goosesteps of the second hand,
> > In the space between bodies in embrace,
> > Here is your silence
> > Take it.
> >
> > But take it all.
> > Don't cut in line.
> > Let your silence begin at the beginning of crime.
> > But we, Tonight
> > We will keep right on singing
> > For our dead.
> >
> > by Emmanuel Ortiz 9.11.02
> >
> > =========================================================
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========================================================= Important Subscriber Information:The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).
If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).
The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).
If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).