| A Memorable World Trade Center Memorial |
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 Norman Spinrad  The current design for the WTC site features the "footprints" of the original towers and the 1776-foot tall Freedom Tower   Spinrad's concept for the memorial would feature a symbolic sculpture, perhaps similar to Jon Hair's "Phoenix Rising"  The design could take inspiration frm the Arc de Trimphe in Paris (above) or Madrid's Castellana traffic circle and fountain (below)  Here's my vision for the memorial: Picture a large circular fountain. The retaining wall for the pool of water within is of black marble, about three feet high. In the center of the fountain is a flat circular pedestal, also of black marble. Atop this pedestal is an open framework built of World Trade Center girders and other actual debris from the disaster. Within this framework burns an eternal flame. Atop this framework is a great phoenix, a silvery, or perhaps gilded, stylized bird, in the manner of Brancusi, freeze-framed in the moment of taking flight, its wings cupping the air, its eagle-like head gazing upward at the pinnacle of the Freedom Tower. The bird suggests both an American Eagle and a jet plane. Water spraying from the leading edges of the wings cloaks the center of the fountain in mist. The phoenix is the mythical bird which is reborn from the ashes of its own destruction, of rebirth, and this one is also symbolic of America. At night, a beam of light from the top of the Freedom Tower illumines it so that it seems to be about to ride it to the heavens. On the outside of the fountain's black retaining wall, the names of all who died are incised in the marble, and the lettering is gilded. Each name has its own marble block. Within each marble block is an inner block of something like clear lucite. Embedded and clearly visible in each transparent block is an item--it could be anything--emblematic of the named victim and chosen by his or her survivors. Thus each of the victims is memorialized with a personalized plaque chosen by the survivors in the manner of a headstone and what would have been a mass and anonymous grave if the "footprints" were the only remembrance becomes instead a monument that both expresses their collective fate and becomes an individualized burial site for those who died where mourners can stand by a specific memorial plaque to their loved one and one, moreover, chosen individually by them. And instead of being just a remembrance of tragedy, this monument would symbolize both the human tragedy, and the spirit of transcendence over it, collectively for the city and the nation, and individually for the spirits of those who died, surely a statement which the survivors, upon reflection, would come to prefer as a mode of remembrance. That is the memorial itself. But building it would accomplish practical things as well. The downtown street grid could be restored by making the memorial fountain the center of a traffic circle, in the European manner. Also in the European manner, the circular roadway could be encircled by a wide sidewalk which would become an esplanade, and the ground floors of the buildings around it could be zoned for restaurants, shops, theaters, and museums. Thus, what is now a hole in the heart, spirit, and practical traffic flow and commercial and residential viability of the area and the city itself would be transformed into the vibrant center of a new quarter of New York, encompassing Tribeca, the government center, Chinatown, and more, which in time could come to rival Times Square, Greenwich Village, and Columbus Circle, converting a disaster into a renaissance. About Norman Spinrad: At one time, writer Norman Spinrad was considered one of the leaders in a revolution--science fiction literature's new wave movement. This movement included writers such as Harlan Ellison, Brian Aldiss, Phillip K. Dick and J. G. Ballard, who applied cutting-edge literary standards and experiments to stories with a rich vision and a skeptical outlook towards the world and the future. These writers not only changed the face of SF, they affected other writers working outside the genre and made statements of importance that have influenced generations. Spinrad wrote the award-winning book, "Bug Jack Barron," a visionary novel about power versus the media--and it still seems relevant nearly 50 years later. His later books have touched on to such subjects as rock n' roll, Adolph Hitler, The Druid King and the pornography of violence among many others. Though this native New Yorker spends his time between here and Paris, he joins Timessquare.com as a columnist/blogger commenting on, well, whatever he wants to.
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