[Mb-hair] Nina's about Amherst Exhibit

[Michael Butler]

Thanks, sending on
Michael

> I wonder what made them choose the title for this exhibit?
> 
> "Our eyes are open, our eyes are open....Wide, wide, wide........"
> 
> Nina
> 
> The Hair Archives
> http://www.michaelbutler.com/hair/holding/Hair.html
> 
> 
> Daily Hampshire Gazette
> Exhibit aims to bring home human costs of Iraq conflict
> By NICK GRABBE Staff Writer
> 
> 
> AMHERST - Kevin English of Amherst was close to tears as he walked past 908
> pairs of black combat boots, each bearing the name of a U.S. soldier killed
> in Iraq.
> 
> I find it seriously moving, said English, a Vietnam veteran. ''It's not a
> protest; it's a fitting memorial for those who have died.''
> 
> The exhibit on the town common Tuesday also included 1,000 pairs of shoes
> placed in concentric circles, a memorial to Iraqi civilians killed in the
> war. Called ''Eyes Wide Open,'' the exhibit also included a 10-minute video
> on justifications for the war, photographs of Iraqi civilians, and a
> sculpture of 10,000 bullets molded into a plowshare, a biblical reference
> symbolizing peace.
> 
> Elaine Mishkind of Amherst said the combat boots, arrayed in 31 rows of 29
> boots each, resembled a graveyard. ''It puts a human face on the war,'' she
> said.
> 
> The exhibit is scheduled to be at the Easthampton Library Thursday from 8
> a.m. to 7 p.m. and at St. Mary's Church in Northampton Monday from noon to
> 8:30 p.m.
> 
> A Belchertown couple whose son committed suicide six weeks ago, about a year
> after returning from Iraq, addressed about 200 people on the Amherst common
> Tuesday night. They added his boots to the display.
> 
> ''The horrific evils of war ate away at his humanity,'' said Kevin Lucey. He
> called his son Jeffrey ''an uncounted casualty of the war'' and said there
> are many like him.
> 
> ''He extended his hand for help, but he didn't reach soon enough or far
> enough,'' he said. ''These boots may represent a number or a statistic, but
> to us they represent souls, smiles, laughter, tears, hopes and dreams of
> lives ended far too soon, of lives unfulfilled.''
> 
> Joyce Lucey said the boots show the emotional cost of war. She said many
> soldiers come home with demons that society must confront.
> 
> Her son was not prepared for the horrors of war, she said. ''His humanity
> was in conflict with what he had to do,'' she said.
> 
> His sisters, Kelly and Debbie, read from their brother's letters from Iraq.
> A hat Jeffrey Lucey wore there was affixed to a display of photographs
> showing him at different stages of his life, including his time in Iraq.
> 
> Karen Hurd of Florence, the mother of a soldier who returned from Iraq in
> February, read a letter he wrote shortly after his captain was killed. ''As
> we look at war, we must remember that there are no winners,'' she said.
> 
> Al Miller of Leverett, a Vietnam veteran, said all people who die in war
> send out vibrations to those who knew them.
> 
> ''I'm afraid to tell you what the cost of war is and that it never goes away
> and we can't seem to change the direction,'' he said.
> 
> Nick Grabbe can be reached at ngrabbe at gazettenet.com.
> Copyright Daily Hamshire Gazette
> 
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