Memorial, By Night, Gold Medal Park, Minneapolis, Minnesota, August 5th, 2007, shot through the grove of trees at center circle, facing the I-35 Bridge, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
I heard on the 9p.m. news that they found the final and 13th person from the I-35 Bridge collapse. The final person as far as they know. Our visit to the Memorial two weeks ago was unplanned. Liz had purchased tickets in May to see 1776 at the Guthrie on August 5th. We had plans to take her Mom who flew in from Wyoming the night the bridge collapsed.
By the time of the Guthrie performance, the Memorial in the grove of trees in Gold Medal Park had already formed. We took some flowers to the play that night. Before the performance, we ate dinner and walked out on the Guthrie’s Endless Bridge to view the I-35 Bridge.
And after the performance, we trudged through the soggy grass up the hill in the dark, and placed the handful of flowers down under the trees. The bridge was lit up in the background. We said our prayers.
I wanted to wait until everyone was found to post these shots. The eerie, blue neon lines from the benches that square the trees on the hill at Gold Medal Park threw strange shadows on the handmade signs that night. A light breeze blew through the summer air.
We stood together silently for a while. Then walked down the hill, picked her Mom up in the lobby next to a group from the 1776 cast, drove through the city, and headed back home.
Perhaps tonight there is a little more peace. Yet I heard that 6 died yesterday in severe flooding down in southeast Minnesota. Roads, bridges, and railroad tracks caved in. Houses flooded, fell away in mudslides, and are buried in layers of silt.
Maybe there is no peace. Only the idea of it. And the gentle acceptance and quiet strength that reverberate through our town.
Memorial, By Day, Gold Medal Park, Minneapolis, Minnesota, August 5th 2007, shot from high inside the Guthrie Theater, Memorial is in the center of the circle on the hill, left view is the reflection in the stainless steel window panel, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
-posted on red Ravine, Monday, August 20th, 2007
– related post: Bridge To Nowhere – The Great Connector
2 great shots QM,
Memorial by Night (the dissecting brilliant blue on stark blackness) and Lines of an Urban Pond (beautiful visually moving graphics)
Nice Work 🙂
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Thank you for the feedback, Heather. Always appreciated from a fellow photographer. That night shot is exactly how it looked. Minus the cool night breeze and quiet stillness.
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Your last three sentences are beautiful. It’s the kind of peace most in the world are lucky to be able to settle for. It’s a lovely portrait of your town.
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http://drawingafineline.blogspot.com/2007/08/mosaic-5.html
QuoinMonkey, This link is off topic, or maybe not. I visit over here, and saw this and thought of you.
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Leslie, not off topic at all. We are all connected by these archetypes. That is a beautiful piece of work. And thanks for the link to the blog. Her mosaics are fabulous.
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Thanks, individual voice. I think you are right…the kind of peace we are lucky to be able to settle for.
I wonder if the idea of things is most times more powerful than the thing itself? I am guessing that might be true. But perhaps not when it comes to love.
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The photo with the reflection caused a double-take. I thought it was a splice or something. On the top photo, are those blue lines related to the neon blue from this photo (link)?
I find your post to be a memorial itself to this last person who was found in the river.
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ybonesy, thanks for the thoughtful comment. And about the blue lines – I hadn’t made the connection. They aren’t related, but they are so similar.
The blue lines in the 5th Street Towers link that you provide are downtown Minneapolis. And the blue lines in this post are around the benches in the grove of trees, center circle, in the day shot above.
If there is a connection, I don’t know about it. But I do find I am drawn to photograph neon at night. It doesn’t have to be blue. But seems to be lately. Neon fascinates me. But then, so does the warm glow of tungsten.
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There is comfort for me in the movement from the night shot to the day. I can see the lights on the bridge in the dark one, and I know there is a frantic effort to search. Dangerous. Hope fading. The divers lives in peril searching in murky water.
The one by day has peace. People paying respects. Sadness with resolution. Sitting silently with what is.
I’ve heard that since the construction worker has finally been found, more nearby bridges will be opened for public use & viewing. Now that I am finally able to get closer to the site (and potentially see the collapsed bridge), I can hardly get myself to go. And yet, I must.
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Teri, I know what you mean. I haven’t been back down to that part of town since we were at the Guthrie. Last night, I watched footage of the bridge on the news and they seem to be letting the reporters in closer as well. There were angles I had not seen before.
Since everyone has been found, the bridge itself seems to have a different feel when I look at it. Like old dinosaur bones whose parts and plates are being carefully removed, dissected, and sent to Washington for study. It sounded like they were closer to finding out the cause of the collapse.
And, of course, there are all the plans for rebuilding splashed on the news every day. I have faith they will get through all the politics – and keep moving toward a new bridge. I do want to walk down the river road again when they open it. I’m not sure when that will be.
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