Kicking Out the Old School and Bringing In the New

Media Credit: courtesy of rottentomatoes.com That was then. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: courtesy of vanityfair.com This is now [Click to enlarge]

Published, The Bulletin, 2009

Comedy is changing. In an arena previously dominated by the Will Ferrell-Owen Wilson-Vince Vaughn-Luke Wilson powerhouse team, a new crew is taking the spotlight and doing it awkwardly. The grandiose goofballs of olde provided us with hours of entertainment, changing our vernacular to include every linguistic nuance of "Anchorman," "Old School" and "Talladega Nights," forcing us to witness more of a whitey-tighty clad Ferrell than we thought we could ever stomach, and just generally creating a ruckus.


That was old comedy - loud, raucous and vulgar as hell.

Today, though, the movie comedy world is controlled by loveable lads like Jason Segel, Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen and Michael Cera. These guys are changing up the game by providing us with incredibly accessible comedy. Where Ferrell and Co. provided us with outlandish characters we could laugh at from afar, Segel, Rudd and Rogen portray people we would like to kick it with. Girls crush on Cera, Rudd and Segel (and maybe, even thought we might not admit it, Rogen) and guys want to be them. In short, awkward is the new hot.

Movies like "I Love You, Man," "Knocked Up," "Superbad" and "Pineapple Express" offer a type of comedy in which the viewer can identify with the characters. Whether we watch Rudd in search of the perfect bromance, Cera pine for teenage love, Segel cry at his piano after a breakup, or Rogen deal with an unplanned pregnancy, we feel like we are watching our friends or even ourselves. These men make us laugh partly because they say the things we think, except they say it funnier.

Rudd and Segel's journey toward bromance in the recently released "I Love You, Man" provides ample evidence of this comedic shift. Segel appears in what has now become his typical role: a laid-back earnest guy with uncannily witty observations on daily life. When we first see the two "slappin' da bass" in Segel's mancave, we want in. The genius of these types of movies is that they revolve around simple guys doing simple stuff. There is a twinge of the old Farrell-esque comedy (cut to scene featuring Lou Ferrigno putting Segel in a sleeperhold) but the brightest moments shine when Rudd and Segel are engaged in awkward banter. Laughs are guaranteed as Rudd makes uncomfortable attempts at nicknaming, settling on the oddly hilarious "Jobin" for Segel. The two lovable dorks are charming.

This same sort of narrative also guides blockbusters like "Superbad," in which the played out teen sex comedy is revived. Cera shines as the sympathetic loser in all his films. Cera has reconstructed the heartthrob to fit today - where tube socks, a large vocabulary and earnest intentions trump washboard abs and a dickish attitude. Comedy used to be about the bad boy, now it's just about the boy next door.

This shift signals a change in the world of the comedy movie, but it may also say something about us that has little to do with film. The shift from outlandish to awkward ushers in an era of the resurgence of the nice guy. Wordsmiths unite, because in this world of new comedy, you are the kings and queens. No longer is someone's comedic value based on the decibel count of their yell, their ability to crack beer cans on their head, or anything of the sort. Today, a well-said joke has legs.

Undoubtedly, this new change is here to stay.

South By Southwest unrivaled in scope and credibility

published, Gonzaga Bulletin 2009

Media Credit: courtesy of kalamu.com The Blue Scholars, a hip-hop group with Northwest roots, who dropped beats on the front steps of Crosby last fall, also lit up the stage in the South By Southwest festival. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: courtesy of freeringtones365.net Above: The Cold War Kids (above), participants in South By Southwest, will visit Gonzaga in April along with Death Cab for Cutie and Ra Ra Riot. [Click to enlarge]

Last Sunday marked the end of the eight-day music festival South By Southwest (SXSW), which has become colloquially known as being the coolest music festival this side of Woodstock. While the event itself actually features music, interactive art and film, it is best known for bringing the hippest indie bands together for a week of mind-blowing live music in Austin, Texas.

Music, what SXSW has been steadily becoming known for, started on Thursday and went through Sunday with multiple venues featuring a blowout lineup of hundreds of performers. The schedule included performances from well-known artists and bands like Third Eye Blind, Rick Ross and Ben Harper. The list also included many bands merely on the cusp of their burgeoning success including: Blue Scholars (noted Northwest favorite), Natalie Portman's Shaved Head, Starfucker, Cold War Kids (who will be traveling to Gonzaga in late April with Death Cab), Peter, Bjorn and John, P.O.S. Gomez, Andrew Bird, Explosions in the Sky, and Dead Prez. The exhausting list of artists included music from a multitude of genres including rock, alternative, singer-songwriter, electronic, DJ and hip-hop.

The festival even included perennial throw-down joke band The Oak Ridge Boys as well as the ridiculously side-ponytailed female MC Lady Sovereign.

SXSW has been putting on a festival since 1987, and has grown in popularity, especially within the last five to 10 years. The festival is held every year in Austin and has become a cultural icon for superstars and hopeful bands to come together, providing attendees intimate and unparalleled access to live music performance.

In both scope and credibility, SXSW is unrivaled. Many speculate on the reasons for the festival's success, and it is largely based on three separate elements. First, SXSW offers a uniquely largely cross-section of current music, without most of the fluff that seems to pass for popular music. Second, the festival creates not just entertainment but an experience, tapping into the wealth of the blogging community. Last, SXSW is just good, old-fashioned fun.

The ability of SXSW to draw a massive variety of bands now is undoubtedly related to its growing reputation as the source for legit music. However, it was simple hard work and word-of-mouth that led to its success.

The layout of the festival is not like your typical outdoor music festivals such as Sasquatch, Bumbershoot and Coachella. SXSW features multiple venues around Austin (which now holds the record for most original music nightclubs in a concentrated area than any other city in the world, according to its Web site) and each club has a set schedule of performers for each day. Some clubs are 21 and older; others are not.

The main way in which SXSW attracts fans now is by taking advantage of the highly important, yet largely under-the-radar power of the independent music blogosphere. By utilizing the enormous power of the online music community through both a powerful blog of their own as well as imbedded outside bloggers before and during the festival, SXSW directors exhibit a fascinating literacy in the way to amass power in a changing society.

SXSW organizers know their audience to be an intensely Internet-oriented group and have mastered the way to communicate with them and legitimize the festival in Internet circles which hold sway over powerful social opinion of independent music. If the Internet is the vehicle by which powerful entities grow, it seems only fitting that the enormously powerful SXSW exhibits a textbook skill in mastering the independent music world.

The last way SXSW flexes its social muscle is simply by providing ample opportunity to listen to great music in a fun environment. Austin provides a cultural backdrop ripe for a good time. With great weather, young residents and visitors, tons of music venues and bars and a distinctly international feel within a relatively small city, Austin has it all. With the University of Texas right in the city, the vibe is young and diverse. Additionally, people from all over the world come to play and listen at SXSW. Performers and attendees hail from Oklahoma City to Tokyo and everywhere in between. SXSW and Austin are so indelibly tied that it seems pertinent to ask which came first, the proverbial chicken or the egg?

SXSW provides music lovers, music newbies, and independent spirits a perfect opportunity to see their favorite bands and even hear some new stuff. Bands descend upon the city for one week a year to rock the music scene's socks off. Tickets are pricey but one thing is for sure - everyone should make the trek to see SXSW live at least once in their lives. For more information visit www.SXSW.com.

Hey, It's Cool, You Can Bring Your Green Fedora

Helping you get prepped for the artistic part of Spokane's 'First Friday'

published, Gonzaga Bulletin 2009

Media Credit: Hanne Zak The inside of Art, Music and More has a well-lit and intimate setting conducive for photgraph and art perusing. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Hanne Zak Teapot ladies, tentacled ladies, the Empyrean will feature art by Mariko Sullivan and Tiffany Patterson this Friday. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Hanne Zak Jundt continues its Violence! exhibit through April 4 [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Hanne Zak Jim Kolva hangs a Sandy Ayars watercolor in preparation for First Friday. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Hanne Zak A sampling of the pottery featured at Mark Moore and Chris Kelsey's Trackside Studios [Click to enlarge]

To some, publicly exhibited art seems to exist in a confusing, alternate world where bespectacled ladies and gentlemen go to sip chardonnay and hear themselves talk about whether splattered paint is a sign of their rotting postmodern existence or whether a milk jug with a knife in it speaks to an existential notion of uselessness … or something equally pretentious. Outside of the world of monocles and monogrammed handkerchiefs, art galleries conjure images of a stark white room with a small painted canvas hanging on the wall, its meaning elusive to the viewer, prompting them to return to their world of Pabst Blue Ribbon and reality TV, chalking the entire experience up to a befuddling fluke.

However, here in Spokane, many places are turning that stereotype on its head by offering cool, calm, unpretentious spaces to explore art of different kinds. For those who cannot recognize Klimt from Kirchner, Jasper Johns from Georgia O'Keefe or watercolor from acrylic, art galleries and studios like Art, Music and More, Kolva-Sullivan, Jundt Art Museum, and Trackside Studio invite art neophytes and experts alike to experience different mediums of visual art.

Additionally, cafes like the Empyrean and hipster hangout Baby Bar/Neato Burrito offer the chance to experience art while chowing or guzzling your way to contentment. Sometimes, puzzlingly, it appears like there is some sort of invisible force field between campus and downtown. However, a quick jaunt over the river toward downtown promises a new, fun way to view art.

Many of these cafes, galleries and studios participate in Spokane's hidden gem - First Friday. Like its homonymic relatives in other cities, is a specific time when local art exhibitors can show their work to the wider public in a fun, community-oriented event. The first Friday of every month, most of Spokane's downtown galleries (and a few in the Garland area) open their doors to eager art viewers. The event has amassed quite the following and is a certifiable must-do before your tenure at Gonzaga comes to a close.

Here's a look at some of Spokane's coolest art spaces:

Arts, Music and More

OK, so their name may not scream "awesome!" but Art, Music and More is an eclectic, loft-like space where music, painting, ceramics, jewelry design and crafts come together in a laidback environment. With exposed brick walls and a quaint, intimate live music stage in the back, AM&M exhibits art for sale, created by local artists. I first came to AM&M for a live music set (shout-out to GU student Kevin Vance for performing) and was surprised by their highly accessible artwork. Their exhibited pieces were displayed for the public in a way that was both inviting and unpretentious. Whether you go to AM&M for live music or visual arts, you will not be disappointed with the relaxed environment and the access to local artists' work. AM&M is located at 608 W. 2nd Ave.

Jundt Art

Many people on campus know the Jundt Museum as the dark building on the other side of campus that they have never been in. With its "museum" designation, Jundt is rumored to be an enigmatic place where stuffy art is exhibited - if it is even mentioned at all. While the museum's ultra-cool and locally acclaimed exhibit "Violence!" just recently closed, the senior thesis exhibit will be coming into the museum within the month. The senior thesis exhibit is a great way to experience art in a traditional museum setting while simultaneously supporting the work of our fellow students. The exact content of the exhibit remains to be seen, given the individualistic nature of the art department thesis program. However, the contents are sure to please. The Jundt Art Museum can be found between Jepson and Dussault.

The Empyrean

This chill coffeehouse has come to be known over the last two-and-a-half years for offering a quiet place to study or read if you're suffering from campus fever. However, not only do they offer delicious coffee drinks and decadent pastries, The Empyrean also features a vast array of cool paintings and ceramics created by local artists. Many times, according to the Empyrean staff, art comes from people who just like to kick it at the coffeehouse. The Empyrean also offers poetry readings, dramatic performances and live music. In fact, Gonzaga students will be putting on a play titled "American Buffalo" that runs at the venue April 23-26. The Empyrean is a great place to hang out and a perfect spot for dipping your toe into the proverbial waters of the art world. The Empyrean participates in First Friday and can be found at 154 S. Madison Street.

Kolva-Sullivan

Kolva-Sullivan is an intimate, funky gallery that features a wide variety of different art on a rotating schedule. This week, a show of watercolors by local artist Sandy Ayars moves in. Kolva-Sullivan participates in First Friday, and today will mark the opening of Ayars' first solo show in Spokane. Her beautiful and vibrant watercolors focus on beauty in nature. Her work features a notably relatable theme, as we all experience nature in our daily lives and her pieces have been described as "transforming the mundane into an artistic story."

While the studio is a working business that sells art, owner Jim Kolva describes the gallery as, at its core, "a space for artists." Sometimes the shows at Kolva-Sullivan are political, sometimes they are ecological, sometimes they are psychological - but they seem to be always relatable. The vibe when I spoke to Kolva was relaxed, yet informative, an ethos that seems to permeate the space. Kolva-Sullivan is the perfect place to go if you want to learn more about the art you are seeing in an inquisitive environment, or if you are an artist yourself looking to speak with knowledgeable staff about deeper meanings in visual art. It's a refuge from the derelict atmosphere outside of the gallery. Kolva-Sullivan is located at 115 S. Adams.

Trackside Studios

In the same building as Kolva-Sullivan, Trackside Studio is a ceramics studio and gallery featuring the works of Mark Moore and Chris Kelsey. One of the owners, Moore, is a graduate of GU. The space, with high ceilings and large open front windows, is a bright and inviting place to check out pottery and sculpture. Upon entering, it seemed like a place made for young people. Music played in the background and I asked myself, "Is this one of my Pandora stations?" and the staff was amiable, helpful and not snobbish in the least. Trackside is a good place for budding artists to go to see art being made in a relaxed, open environment.

When I walked into Trackside, it was evident that they were preparing for First Friday and falling quickly behind. "It's hard to keep a pottery shop clean," explained Chris. Unfortunately for Chris, the Thursday snowfall had drawn his partner Mike to the mountains, so he was left to fend for himself. And he had a lot of work to do. Lucky for me, some of the pottery had already been assembled and arranged, so I was able to take in a fairly august preview of what was to come. Expect arrangements of upper-echelon pottery that will soon be imitated inside of your IKEA and Pier 1 Imports catalogue. Trackside is located at 115 S. Adams.


If you're bored of the same stale house parties, the eardrum-blasting party music and the incessant beer pong - or if you're simply up for some variety - try something new. Head out to Spokane's First Friday to see some local art in inviting, warm, unpretentious galleries and enjoy the community. You will undoubtedly meet some great people, expose yourself to new art and experience a side of Spokane you may have never seen before.

Watching For Watchmen’s Zach Snyder

published, Gonzaga Bulletin 2009

With the upcoming release of the highly anticipated, end-of-days epic Watchmen, film junkies and graphic novel gurus are abuzz with fervent expectation for what will most likely be an undeniably successful blockbuster hit. Zach Snyder, the man who brought you such gore-fests as 300 and Dawn of the Dead, unveils his newest brainchild to the world this Friday.

While many people know about Watchmen, many do not know director Zach Snyder as a household name. He is a relatively young Hollywood director, but, in his short tenure as one of the reigning directing giants, he has made his mark on both cinematic and commercial genres. Devoted followers credit him with a so-called “cinematic wide-screen style”, creating an intensely saturated aesthetic.

Snyder’s fansite characterizes his work as, “landscapes with a painter’s sense of light and color… combin[ing] powerful storytelling with a compelling sense of place.” It may come as no surprise, then, to know that Snyder studied at London’s Heatherlies School, where he was trained in painting. Later, he attended the prestigious Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.

Like many directors, Snyder has accrued a following of disciples, devoted to his panoramic aesthetic and larger-than-life visual ethos.

One thing is for sure when watching a Snyder film, the viewer is immersed in what has been called a “big screen look,” which can be alternately engrossing and horrifying depending on the film. This also plays a part in his commercial work with noted companies like Gatorade, Subaru, Nissan, BMW and Budweiser, making the product the center of what critics have likened “a visual assault”.

Snyder is most well known for the Spartan epic, 300. Snyder’s visually gluttonous aesthetic features splattering blood and spit, as well as enough heads lopped off to make the French Revolution look like amateur hour. Unapologetically making little attempt to be historically accurate, Snyder pushes the viewer into a dream-like world of epic fighting between villains and heroes seemingly sizeable enough to move mountains.

Some critics panned 300 for almost numbingly frequent outbursts of bloody violence, taking away from the viewer’s ability to be fully engrossed in the film. Many viewers, however, do not care and have come to welcome Snyder as a purveyor of borderline pornographic violence with buckets of fake blood smeared from here to Thermopylae.

Snyder’s other famous work, Dawn of the Dead amassed a cult following of its own. While not a true remake of either George Romero’s 1978 horror Night of the Living Dead or the cult classic 28 Days, Snyder infused his same gory carnage. As the undead descend upon the last vestiges of “pure” humanity, Snyder presents us with cerebellum-hungry undead soccer moms and middle-management goobers, the unharmonious birth of a demonic, zombie fetus and rotting flesh galore. One critic characterized the zombies as, “deliciously rotting and pukey,” and one couldn’t agree more. Snyder’s job is done as the viewer walks out of the theater, stomach churning, on the verge of some reverse peristalsis of his or her own.

Not everyone is a Snyder fan and many critics agree that, aside from his visual style, he lacks an ability to direct quality screenwriting. Like a proverbial male model, a Snyder film looks great… but not so much with the talking.

Critics' opinions aside, it is undeniable that Snyder presents not just a movie but a visual experiential moment. With the debut of Watchmen on the horizon, Snyder’s choice to portray graphic novels as films is clear. His style melds the impossible and the possible, bridges fantasy and reality, and draws the viewer into shared sensory overload.

If you are one of the millions of people who will see the upcoming Watchmen, you will likely not be disappointed. Just as his other movies have, Snyder’s films will continue to awe, impress and disturb. Other movies simply beckon you to watch; Snyder’s films punch you in the gut, tie you up and make you forget your own name.

How the Republicans and Democrats Used History at Their Conventions

originally published by the History News Network, Election Season 2008

In this election season, it seems that the point cannot be made forcefully enough by pundits, delegates, supporters, candidates and other members of the political swirl that we are at a historical turning point: breaking with tradition with the first black Presidential nominee and only the second female Vice Presidential nominee of a major party. With all this talk of history being made, the way candidates and their supporters seek to use history to their benefit is often overlooked. A review of the transcripts of this summer's conventions reveals that one of the most common practices has been to borrow the heroes of the opposing party to discredit it.

The Democrats, at their Denver convention, frequently referred to heroes from the Republican Party's past in an attempt to discredit the current party. Retired Rear Admiral John Hutson, in his speech supporting Barack Obama, indicated that he barely recognized his old party: "The Republican Party I once knew has become something different, something I no longer recognize.” By paying tribute to the most admired accomplishments of the G.O.P., the speakers sought to expose what they believed to be a failure of modern Republicans to uphold their legacy.

Congressman Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), speaking of what he believed to be the failures of President George W. Bush, quoted Ronald Reagan in defense of his argument, using one of The Gipper's most famous lines against his putative heir: “In the 2006 election, Democrats, Independents, and even some Republicans scored a victory that President Bush himself called ‘a thumpin'.’ Well, Mr. President, as Ronald Reagan used to say, ‘you ain't seen nothing yet’.”

Former Congressman Jim Leach (R-IA) spoke of the progressive efforts of Republicans Teddy Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower, in a further attempt to suggest that the current Republican Party had grown distant from its roots:

[The Republican Party] includes Republicans like Teddy Roosevelt, who built up the National Parks system and broke down corporate monopolies, and Dwight David Eisenhower, who ran on a pledge to end a war in Korea, brought a stop to European colonial intervention in the Middle East, quietly integrated the Washington, D.C. school system and not so quietly sent the 101st Airborne to Little Rock to squash segregation in public schools throughout the country.

By exalting grand successes of historic Republicans, Leach attempted to highlight alleged failures of Republicans today.

Susan Eisenhower, the granddaughter of Dwight Eisenhower, spoke of the divide between yesterday and today, in regards to Republican policy and action. In her words,

Once during the Eisenhower administration, Ike was under fire from his critics for moving too slowly in responding to political pressure. After a visit to the Oval Office by Robert Frost, the famous American poet sent the president a note: “the strong,” he wrote, “are saying nothing until they see.”

By highlighting the prudence of that characterized Eisenhower as President, she attempted to convey the message that the modern Republican Party behaved with a lack of prudence. She continued, “Let us restore the hope and bring the change that our nation so desperately needs.” While the themes of “hope” and “change” were certainly emphasized in almost every speech at the Democratic convention, the Democrats hoped they would ring truer coming from the progeny of one of America’s most well known Republicans.

Citizens involved in the American Voices Program also spoke of the difference between historic and contemporary Republicans. One speaker, Pamela Cash-Roper, elaborated, saying, “I’m a lifelong Republican who voted for Nixon, Reagan, Bush and Bush. But I can’t afford four more years like this.”

Not to be outdone, Republicans also used the opposing party’s historical figures to score points. But in their case, history was used to reassure Americans that Sarah Palin was up to the tasks of the high office to which she had been nominated. Most frequently they invoked Harry Truman's name in defense of Palin.

Palin herself cited Truman in an attempt to reassure Americans that someone with her background in rural America could perform admirably: “Long ago, a young haberdasher from Missouri, he followed an unlikely path to the vice presidency." She then attempted to compare her life to that of Truman, saying, “A writer observed: ‘We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty, sincerity, and dignity.’ I know just the kind of people that writer had in mind when he praised Harry Truman. I grew up with those people.” By positioning herself as a kind of “everywoman” she hoped to borrow some of his luster as America's "everyman." In what has become one of her most famous lines from the convention, she remarked: “I was just your average hockey mom, and signed up for the PTA because I wanted to make my kids' public education better.”

It was a neat historical swap. In 1948 the Republican "elitist" Thomas Dewey had been defeated by Truman, the everyman. Now Republicans were using their own "everywoman" to discredit a candidate they decried as an elitist.

A neat trick--if people buy it.

Killing Angels: Martyrdom, Spirits and the Business of Symbolic Death

written for history class, 2008

What does one think of when the word “angel” is mentioned?

Perhaps, one sees an image of a cherubic, pudgy-cheeked, rosy-skinned infant or a curvaceous blonde draped in finest silks ascending towards the heavens guided by gilded ivory wings. Likely, the mind does not first conjure an image of a haggard, bearded, middle-aged man of towering stature lying slumped forward in a spectator seat of Ford’s Theater with a noticeable chunk of cerebral matter missing. Upon the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the populous of the United States (especially in the Northern states) began to associate Lincoln as a man and president with a higher meaning, a higher power, and indeed, a higher standard- a veritable angel, sent from God. Immediately following his death, newspapers ran sensational headlines and cartoon-style homages to the fallen leader. By careful examination of these papers and images, it becomes abundantly clear that Lincoln’s death transformed him from politician to demigod. Biblical allusion, attenuated metaphors regarding the Lincoln’s “guiding” influence and villainous media portrayal of John Wilkes Booth indicate a fervent opinion regarding Lincoln’s role in the cohesion of a union divided. Through examination of newspaper accounts immediately following his death, Abraham Lincoln was imaged as martyr, patriarch, savior and soul of the United States.

It becomes imperative to note, regarding sentiments about Lincoln’s death, the
seemingly unanimous nature of the populous’ feelings. On May 5th, 1865, the New York
Times ran a piece about the assassination, stating,

“Those national emblems, thousands in number, but yesterday floating proudly in the breeze, are lowered to half-mast, to mourn the loss of one dearly loved by all. Every house became one of mourning, none were found here so depraved as to refuse to condemn the act of the assassin, and all breathed but one sentiment that the deceased was an honest man.”

This unanimity reached across class and racial divide, as, in New Orleans, “Sixty thousand people assembled on the public streets to give vent to their public grief- not the least among them was found the colored race.” While people of all skin colors lamented the loss of their leader, solidarity amongst members of different social classes emerged as well. “It was the universal grief,” Harper’s Weekly reported, “that so heavily draped our streets. Not only the mansions of the rich, but the squalid hovels of the poor put on the habit of mourning.” The muddling of class divides indicates the extent to which Lincoln had become embedded in the fabric of the union. His death was recorded as, “a personal blow to every faithful American household.” The fact that one could plausibly claim that the death of one man touched every American household seems enough to show that Lincoln’s stature in society was not merely that of a removed president or war general, but of a man personally effecting millions of people.

Lincoln’s effect on the masses was also portrayed nicely in an illustration from Harper’s Weekly . As Lincoln’s coffin lies in front of sturdy, solid pillars, Lady Liberty kneels nearby, weeping, overcome by grief. With the American flag clutched in her hand, she embraces the coffin, signifying the connection between Lincoln and the livelihood of the United States. Around the name on the coffin there emanates glowing light, as if to indicate an influence reaching beyond temporal, socially constructed divisions. That distinctly different social and racial groups came together to mourn his death is an integral piece in understanding the seemingly extreme manner in which Lincoln was eulogized publicly, immediately following his death.

One significant way in which the American people remembered Lincoln was as a paternal figure, guiding the nation through rough times, leading the people with keen wisdom. Upon his death, the April 29th, 1865 issue of Harper’s Weekly reported, “and in his death it is not a party that loses a head, but a country that deplores a father.” The idea of Lincoln as the American patriarch permeated, as he was remembered (without irony) as, “holding the nation together through its darkest hours.” While he was the literal father of four children, he garnered a position in the collective mind of the country he left behind in death as a metaphorical, even metaphysical, father figure.

The “Lincoln-as-father” idea was not only found in the articles of the contemporary newspapers, but also in the images used to supplement the coverage of his death. In one illustration in the famous Harper’s Weekly , Lincoln was shown with his young son, Tad. As an aged Lincoln looks on, Tad stands at his side, intently laying his gaze upon the book in Lincoln’s lap as Lincoln turns a page. This picture creates a nice metaphor for Lincoln as the father figure of the nation, turning the pages of American history as a proud and diligent people look on. This picture, and indeed its underlying meaning, was a clear facet of the manner in which people eulogized the president publicly, as it ran the week after his death. Much like a young child without a parent, America is portrayed as an eager but young, entity without their guiding influence. But the nation did not stop at showing Lincoln as a father figure, and further images and metaphors were created that put Lincoln in a religious light.

Upon his death, newspapers immediately began using language and imagery that portrayed him as a savior and martyr of the nation, pulling it back from the brink of entire collapse. Spiritual and religious undertones circulated in the accounts of his death. Harper’s Weekly again reported, “The dust of our great leader, kissed to rest, and folded to our hearts, is there interned, beyond the breath of scandal, in sweet peace. Wounded with his wound, our hearts receive the mantle of his spirit as it flies.” The biblical reference (“ashes to ashes, dust to dust”) sparks an image of a person ordained by God for some sort of earthly mission. This image of Lincoln was countered by a devilish image of John Wilkes Booth and his actions. In The Chicago Tribune, the collision of good and evil was explored, as it was said, “President Lincoln, whose life was covered with glory by his faithfulness to his country, has ascended to his God. Pale in death, murdered by the hellish spirit of slavery, his body lies at the nation’s capital- a new sacrifice upon our country’s altar.” Lincoln assumes, in this text, the role of sacrificial lamb. It seems as though this sort of eulogy wording was perhaps heavy-handed in its estimation. However, other articles spoke quite literally about a connection between the messianic tale of Jesus on the cross and Lincoln’s death at Ford’s Theater.

To equate Lincoln with Jesus may seem far-fetched or sensationalized, but it was said, “He has sealed his service to his country by the last sacrifice. On the day that commemorates the great sorrow which Christendom reveres, the man who had no thought, no wish, no hope but the salvation of his country laid down his life.” Talk of an “ultimate sacrifice” was not fully fleshed out, as even more explicitly stated words were to follow. “It is the world’s old story, told again,” it was written, “that they who bruise the venomed head must bear, even as Christ did, its last foul sting, taking the savior’s passion with his crown.” Muddled metaphors thrown away, the newspaper directly correlated Lincoln’s death with Christ’s final act of faith. In both the press coverage of Lincoln’s death and in the collective mind of the American people, Abraham Lincoln had died a martyr, a savior of the union.

But the Biblical references did not cease there. Taking from another famous Biblical allegory, Lincoln was compared to Moses in a fusion of both his perceived image as a father figure and savior. In what can best be described as the climax of fervent Lincoln analogizing, it was said, “Like Moses, he had marched with us through the wilderness. From the height of patriotic vision he beheld the golden fields of the future waving in peace.” This quote encapsulated all three major themes in how the country began to memorialize Lincoln. First, the Biblical reference to Moses indicates the idea that Lincoln was somehow closer to God as a living man, given a divine purpose to guide the nation as the benevolent patriarch. Secondly, it says the “height of patriotic vision”, indicating that Lincoln was somehow of a higher intellectual plane, able to decipher the complex code of saving the union. Lastly, Lincoln is imaged as seeing “the golden fields of the future” as if to show that he had undoubtedly ascended to heaven was gazing down upon his country from the right hand of God. Lincoln emerged from these sort of memorials as a divine patriarch who had guided the nation as a politician and would continue to do so as an ascended spirit. However, the image was not completed without a complementing image of evil to act as a foil to the heavenly Lincoln.

In both words and images, John Wilkes Booth garnered a reputation as a villainous character. The Chicago Tribune reported in a headline, “Terrible news. President Lincoln assassinated at Ford’s Theater. A rebel desperado shoots him through the head and escapes.” Booth as the “rebel desperado” was used as a counterpoint to the divine image of Lincoln. In the minds of the American people, only a true scoundrel would murder the president in cold blood. This image was furthered by the wanted posters, which circulated the nation, offering a reward for Booth. In this poster, large bold type offers reward for “THE MURDERER” of “ our beloved president”. By using the word “murderer” juxtaposed with “beloved”, it puts the villain Booth in direct opposition to the angelic Lincoln, creating a battle between good and evil.

Even in smaller newspapers the theme of good and evil permeated. In Burlington, Iowa, a story ran saying, “That our most kind, lenient and magnanimous chief magistrate has been stricken down while in the exercise of his high office, by the bloody hand of the assassin, the climax of rebel crime, a martyr to the cause which lies dearest to the hearts of the people.” In this paper, the murder of Lincoln would only be reasonably justified by characterizing Booth as a “rebel”, clearly disregarding the ethos and moralities of the American union. By using the words “bloody hand”, Booth is portrayed as a devilish character who assumed full blame for the martyring of Lincoln. In a final characterization of Booth, it was reported that, “The assassin then leaped upon the stage brandishing a large dagger or knife…” By imaging Booth as a crazed man, armed and dangerous, he loses the human quality and takes on a slightly depraved, maybe even animalistic appearance. His craven image contrasts perfectly with the morally and socially elevated image of Lincoln as seraphim.

Abraham Lincoln’s death catapulted him into a posthumous image simultaneously as guiding father, selfless martyr and angelic savior. As the American people began to make sense of the assassination, newspaper and magazine accounts of Lincoln’s death and immediate legacy transformed him from human to demigod. Through metaphor, Biblical allusion, illustrated imagery and vulcanization of John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln’s death elevated him morally, ideologically and socially and placed him deep in the hearts and minds of his contemporaries.

American Girls in Florence 2008

We made it, we landed, we’re finally here!
Our school’s reputation, we’re ready to smear.

Our lips are all pouty and the camera shoots,
Who cares about Dante, look at my new boots!

From our tongues not a word of Italian does slip,
Our waiter didn’t speak English- let’s not leave a tip.

We’ve been drinking all night, Ponte Vecchio and back,
Excuse me, but upon this palazzo I must yack.

Il Duomo, what? Sistine, who?
Let’s hit Chanel for a bag or two.

We don’t do the carbs, no pasta for us,
Can we grab a taxi? I’m not one for the bus.

Sure, we’ve “studied”, taken classes and stuff,
But knowing grazie, that oughta be enough.

We’ve train’d, we’ve plane’d, we’ve bus’d so far,
Where the hell is the American bar?