Letter from L.A.

I‘m currently in Los Angeles and driving along the Pacific Coast Highway today, I happened upon this remarkable sight on the campus of Pepperdine University. A memorial comprised of 2977 flags mounted on thin aluminum rods, the display stands for the number of lives lost during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. It was installed this past 9/11 and will only remain in place for one week. However, it has not been widely written about and only a few people pull over to photograph it, walk amongst the flags, and reflect.

Digging around on the internet, I discovered that one of the most controversial aspects of the project is that it was conceived of by Ryan Sawtelle – the president of Pepperdine’s College Republicans – and was funded by a number of strongly right wing outside donors. However, after some debate the “Wave of Flags” as it is called was ultimately supported by both the university administration and the undergraduate Young Democrats. So it is at once a memorial, an almost Christo-like art installation, and a tribute to freedom of expression.

Set against the deep green grass of the campus front lawn on one side and with the Pacific Ocean across from it on the other, however, it is both joyful and surprisingly abstract – qualities which happily depoliticize a symbol that has long been co-opted by one end of the political spectrum.