[capeAngedlelp]

Hi everybody

This is my first post here. My name is Nick (as the name suggests) i'm a third year student studying Human Geography at the University of Aberystwyth in the UK.

I'm am currently writing my third year Dissertation project on 'How Forms of Representation of Post 9/11 New York have Created Contestation Over Ground Zero and The Freedom Tower'

I was hoping everybody here would beable to help me by answering a couple of questions linked to this stating your opinions on the matter as i'm keen to get an insight into how regular a. New Yorker's b. Americans and c. the Global public view events.

Anyways the questions are:

1. Are you happy with the plans drawn up which will see a mix of memorialisation and economic prosperity? Would you rather have seen one rather than the other?

2. Are there anything missing from the project which you think should of been considered?

3. Do you think that the current stance of American foreign policy that the name 'Freedom' maybe slightly hypocritcal?
(please don't anyone take this last question the wrong way its after reading a variety of academic literature that i feel this question needs to be asked)

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated

Regards
Nick

[Rupeviv]

I think you can find most of what you are looking for in the http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4463 thread.

Try using the Search feature when you are looking for thnigs. You can get there a lot faster.

Read what is there, and if you have any questions/requests, you may know who to ask, or what to ask to get you exactly what you need!

GL!

[VotsUtegems]

I think you can find most of what you are looking for in the http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4463 thread.

Try using the Search feature when you are looking for thnigs. You can get there a lot faster.

Read what is there, and if you have any questions/requests, you may know who to ask, or what to ask to get you exactly what you need!

GL!

Yeah i'm already about halfway through the 119 pages, its very useful thanks but i'm still short of some information on the questions i've posted...

[EzequielTMann]

Understood.

But trust me, if you wade through all of that you will find at least (and I say at LEAST) one post on every point/question you raised.



So read up, skip the spam/emotional stuff that comes up every so often (althoug hthat will give you a perspective of some of the differeing opinions on the subject) and come on back.

I know it is a lot, but it will give you a good base to go on.

If thi sis just for a paper or homework assignment, give some information on what you have found already. What do YOU think is going on. What have YOU found. If you let us know a bit of that we will be able to help you a bit more.

Otherwise your paper might just end up being a creative collage of what you find here...

NOT that anyone EVER does that!!!!

[IodinkBoilk]

Understood.

But trust me, if you wade through all of that you will find at least (and I say at LEAST) one post on every point/question you raised.



So read up, skip the spam/emotional stuff that comes up every so often (althoug hthat will give you a perspective of some of the differeing opinions on the subject) and come on back.

I know it is a lot, but it will give you a good base to go on.

If thi sis just for a paper or homework assignment, give some information on what you have found already. What do YOU think is going on. What have YOU found. If you let us know a bit of that we will be able to help you a bit more.

Otherwise your paper might just end up being a creative collage of what you find here...

NOT that anyone EVER does that!!!!

Its the opinions i'm interested in. Your right their is at least 1 reply which relates to the questions above BUT in order to critically engage the subject i need some more depth in people's thoughts especially related to the questions above....

My work isn't just a piece of homework its my main dissertation which will be 12000 words and makes up a 1/4 of my final year mark so its the biggest piece of work i've ever done.

Certainly the link you sent me has been extremely useful in particular the interviews with some of the leading architects and their opinions on memory.

As for my work i have enough webpages / articles which tell me all the general information such as whats going there, materials, time scales and i have found another link from the New York Times website which gives the architectural opinions of the public but from all my research so far its the questions i've posted which i still need some more depth in so i can critically review whats been said by both academics and everyday people think on these subjects

I could go on in alot more detail about what i've already found and my opinions but at the end its other people's which are going to get me the better marks

Anyways sorry for the mini rant feel free to merge the topic with the one you sent me if you think that will work better?

[arrismVam]

1. Are you happy with the plans drawn up which will see a mix of memorialisation and economic prosperity? Would you rather have seen one rather than the other?

The memorial is overblown. I'd rather have 90% of that space considered a "park" with a memorial within it. As a memorial, the entire place is going to be a somber, activity restricted space. About as horrible an addition as one could ask for in the middle of a rapidly growing 24/7 neighborhood. Plus, there can really be no live and lively lunchtime entertainment for the office workers in Spring and Summer.

I think the commercial portion and transportation portion are justified and needed. The audacity to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a memorial is just stunning. However, it does reveal a lot about American society and our materialistic, warped value system.

2. Are there anything missing from the project which you think should of been considered?

The cultural center was the most constructive and valuable addition to the area. It was the first item sidelined, which was really sad. There's a line from the show "Rent" which says, "The opposite of war isn't peace - it's CREATION." On-going creativity has been tossed out of the WTC site. We are building monuments, not to the dead, but to this specific generation - the survivors. I am very disappointed in the statement the end produict will make. It really has very little to do with September 11th, 2001.

3. Do you think that the current stance of American foreign policy that the name 'Freedom' maybe slightly hypocritcal?

The criticism exists in numerous places on this website that the contradiction between the name "Freedom Tower" and it's 20-storey windowless bunker base says it all. Freedom is just a word. Our government and the Bush administration in particular have co-opted patriotic words and phrases and perverted them. It is very disappointing to live in a country that is a destructive aggressor.

This country really does not have a foreign policy. It has a "national security" task force that acts on whims. We do what is in the interest of this nation. We have no regard for foreign opinion. Those national interests have little in common with the needs and desires of the majority of the American population. Our actions are driven by Big Oil, Big Pharma, the Military Industrial Complex, and 435 of the most corrupt Americans in the land (Congress), who happen to operate within a political system that makes it nearly impossible to unseat an incumbent.

God bless America.

[AlexanderDrew]

Thanks alot for the reply you raise some interesting points....surely their must be other people in here with an opionion help me out a little here folks