Your Turn: Baker Center's 'Iraq Ocean' negates country's populace
Feb. 21, 2007As you walk into the Court Street entrance of the new Baker University Center, look down and to the left. On the far left colorful tiled floor map, you will see an ocean where Iraq should be. It's true! Take your own walking tour of the Baker Center-sponsored World. Maybe this was just a construction error. Maybe there were not enough land-colored tiles in the budget to cover the war torn country of Iraq. On the other hand, maybe this slip-up was more of a slight. I imagine chuckles and sideways glances of amusement as construction crews and administrative overseers toured the building before its opening. Maybe a picture was taken and attached to an e-mail with a funny tagline: And the war is finally over or Iraq '08. Quibbling about floor tiles would seem a little trite except that every time I walk over the new Ohio University-sanctioned Iraq Ocean, I feel like I am taking part in the negation of not only a country, but its populace. The mothers, grandmothers and grandfathers, children, young adults and (yes) even the American troops of Iraq are all rendered nonexistent by a floor tile in the multi-million dollar building that I helped pay for. Bring your green Sharpies and let's fix it. Samantha Flores is a senior English major.
