Words on Walls

While I’ve done a bit of blogging for courses during my two years at Duke, I’ve never tried anything quite like this before.  I’m creating this blog out of a desire to track my readings, encounters, and reflections over the coming months as they relate to a year-long creative project that I hope will emerge from these studies. Over the coming months, I intend to use this blog as a space to reflect on readings on walls and borders from my Independent Study with Robin Kirk as well as to respond to readings and experiences as they relate to my creative project (hopefully an interactive poetry and fiction exhibit).

It’s hard to know quite where to start, both with my independent readings and with writing.  The more I consider the topic of walls and borders, the broader the category seems… I’m trying to start producing work by consider some of the walls that I already know.

I’m just starting to learn about the West Bank Wall that the Israeli army built in 2003.  

But here are a couple that I’m much more familiar with:

Peace Wall in Belfast, Northern Ireland

Wall around Duke University’s East Campus

All three have been built for very different purposes and have certainly exacted different reactions from members of the communities in conflict.  Nevertheless, I’m starting to believe that while the stories behind walls are unique and remarkably complex, human beings living in walled spaces often experience similar questions and emotions and maybe even come to similar conclusions about what the presence of a wall means for them personally, for their families, and for their community.  Looking forward to considering these issues more fully in the coming weeks.