Columbus Day

Columbus Day was today apparently...and for the first year in a long time I didn't even realize it was today until I was in the classroom!  I am really pleased about it.  California apparently recognizes the day, but doesn't give government workers the day off.  And I guess by being part of the state university system, I am some kind of government worker, right?

I'm pleased about not knowing what today was and not having it is a vacation day because, like many people, I don't think that Columbus is a real cause for celebration since his "discovery" of the Americas marks the violent vanquishing of native populations among other atrocities.  I'm pleased about how I found out it was Columbus Day.  I am a Teaching Assistant for an American literature class entitled "The Historical Imaginary", which deals with precisely these kinds of issues within history.  My students used the story of Columbus as an example of how one can understand the difference between historicism and historical materialism in response to Walter Benjamin's theoretical work.  It was awesome to see students relate the issues that we were talking about in theory and literature into contemporary memorials, days of observance, etc.  

As a result, I felt like this was the best celebration of Columbus Day I've ever had!  In homage to rethinking Columbus and the one-sided stories that history so often tells...and in honor of historical materialists who seek to tell a different story than historicists...I'm posting the artist Tatzu Nishi's "Discovering Columbus" for your consideration.  I like the idea of bringing the public statue into a private space, which seems to be an interesting way of getting people to think critically about our public icons by showing how absurd such a sculpture would appear in a private home.