Mermaids On Parade

Mermaid on the rise

Norfolk, Virginia is a city of juxtapositions. Her grand old homes situated along crepe myrtle lined streets are reminiscent of the genteel old south while neighborhoods filled with scruffy tract housing are a reminder of her less than polished post World War II days when the Navy was the strongest, but least welcomed, influence in town. Newly built condo high rises and pre-fab cookie cutter houses are like the fourth face lift to a city that is past its prime but refuses to give up. Norfolk is home to the largest naval base in the world as well as PETA headquarters yet has the Pat Robinson religious empire in its Virginia Beach backyard. Religion is worn on one's sleeve and politics here are conservative. Being a local is valued while being an outsider is viewed with suspicion. Being a graduate of their failing public schools and attending a local university carries more weight than an Ivy League education. No government decision is made without an extensive series of debates with costs, morals with hints of race relations being a part of every equation. There is a desire to become a world class city but the a fore mentioned traits seem to really be holding the place back. Its a place that wants to be really nice but doesn't want to pay for it. This critique may seem harsh but I feel as though I can say it with some authority; as someone who definitely wasn't a local, I spent several years living in Norfolk and working for the city and after being away for awhile, my recent return visit reconfirmed all of these thoughts for me.

So given this backdrop, it has always amazed me that Norfolk embarked upon a forward thinking  branding and marketing campaign that revolved around public art. Mind you, this is the same community where city council members would unilaterally declare some pieces of work as art and others not worthy of the designation simply because they didn't like it or didn't get it. And this is the same city where a painting in a private gallery window had to be removed after a public outcry because a female breast was shown partially bare. (Opponents claimed that such an image would traumatize our children, cause them to ask questions and cause impure thoughts all around--I kid you not). Given all of this the fact that the city embarked upon a branding campaign where mermaids (yes, partially clothed creatures that are half fish and half woman) became the city symbol is particularly noteworthy. But I think it is probably one of the best things the city ever did and I absolutely love it.

The mermaid campaign first appeared fifteen years ago as the city struggled to revitalize itself yet again. Local civic leaders, influenced by Chicago's popular Cows on Parade, suggested that such an effort could help sell Norfolk to tourists, residents and businesses alike. The mermaids paid tribute to Norfolk's long relationship with the sea. One hundred and thirty mermaid forms were cast and artists were commissioned to create these life sized statues which were placed in various locations around the city. Business and community groups were able to "adopt" a mermaid whose design reflected their particular interests. Although the sizes and shapes were uniform their decorations were anything but. From American flags to glitzy gold sequins, from the realistic to the abstract and everything in between, the designs were varied. I personally loved the black and white cow one that for awhile found a home at the end of our street.

The Pagoda's mermaid

Even today, fifteen years after they first landed, the mermaids still reign supreme; their likeness is woven into the terminal walkways at the airport, plastered on flags and banners at all of the main intersections and discretely graces all of the neighborhood signs. And the mermaids themselves, they are everywhere. During my recent visit I spent quite a bit of time walking through some of the city's neighborhoods and spotting the mermaids. I found them in neighborhood parks and private yards, gracing the entrances to businesses and government buildings and traffic islands. These works of art are found in areas of the city-- affluent and lower income residential neighborhoods alike, in front of government buildings and commercial centers. This graceful symbol of the sea seems to be the single thing that unites this city of contrasts and I think that is pretty darn cool. And the funny thing is that I thought I knew the locations of so many of the mermaids. I do but then I would take another look and see one that was completely new to me. Because they really are everywhere.

So if you ever find yourself in Norfolk, be on the lookout for the mermaids. They are everywhere and are perhaps the best thing that happened to this city in a long time.

The education mermaid at TCC

Mermaid in a neighborhood park

Mermaid at the federal court house

A Boy & A Boat

Sitting in his dad's old chair

Being all boy my son is obsessed with everything involving transportation. From planes and trains to trucks, buses and boats he loves them all. He already owned an extensive collection of toy airplanes before the Pixar movie Planes was released and was over the top with excitement the first time he saw the movie. While he loved the airplanes he was amazed at airplanes landing on boats (or in this case an aircraft carrier). He just thought it was so cool and his fascination lead to his being gifted with his own miniature aircraft carrier. And, more importantly, this gave Glenn the perfect opportunity to explain that landing airplanes on aircraft carriers is what he used to do before Sidney was born. This lead to Sidney wanting to learn everything he could about aircraft carriers. We checked out library book on the topic and watched documentaries on television but this only added to his obsession with them. But living first in Albania then in Belgium, we never had the opportunity to show Sidney one in person. Until we visited our old Norfolk stomping grounds that is.

As luck would have it, a good friend made a series of phone calls and the next thing we knew a personal tour of an aircraft carrier had been arranged. And it wasn't just any aircraft carrier; it was the last carrier that Glenn had served on. Now I've been aboard carriers on several occasions so they are no longer a novelty to me but I knew Sidney was going to be thrilled when he found out what we had planned. We managed to keep him in the dark until the last minute so he was beyond excited when we told him that not only was he going to see the carrier but he was going to be able to go aboard. His pace quickened as we walked up the brow and into the expansive hanger bay. If you've never seen one they are cavernous affairs. Void of aircraft we felt dwarfed by its size. With Sidney standing by his side and listening intently, Glenn explained the ins and outs of the hanger bay. Then we moved up into the tower, climbing up one ladder after another. I had been a bit worried that Sidney might be hesitant to do all of this climbing on steep ladders but he scrambled up them like a pro only pausing to ask questions about what he saw.

Checking out the view from the tower

Sidney loved exploring the Pri Fly (a.k.a. the tower) where he plopped himself down into his father's old chair and took his turn using the binoculars to check out the water below us. (And true to form, he was also impressed by the large bottle of ketchup sitting by the coffee maker!). By this point in our tour Sidney had a broad grin stuck on his face and kept saying how "amazing" it all was. Down on the flight deck Glenn explained how the catapults worked and Sidney was quick to say that his aircraft carrier also had them. As we walked the length of the flight deck Sidney checked out the various lines and stopped to look at each light that was imbedded on the surface. While the F-18 was impressive Sidney said that he had seen bigger airplanes before and it wasn't the Concorde (a reference to our earlier visit to the Air and Space Museum in Washington).

I was momentarily forgotten as I followed along behind the two of them but that is OK. I loved watching my two boys, my husband and his little mini-me exploring the carrier. Glenn was excited to be sharing such an important part of his life with Sidney and Sidney was eating up every one of Glenn's words. After the tour Sidney said he couldn't wait to go back to Belgium to tell all of his friends about being on an aircraft carrier. And hours after leaving, Sidney was still grinning broadly and as he said "thinking about the aircraft carrier". It really doesn't get much better than that.

Exploring the flight deck

A Sinking City?

A recent Washington Post article left me simply feeling sad. The article was about our old home city of Norfolk, Virginia and focused on the growing flooding problem in the city. Norfolk is a city surrounded by water and is low lying with many places being barely above sea level. It stands to reason that the area floods; I remember the flooding all too well.While hurricanes, tropical storms or Northeasters were reason to worry, a simple heavy afternoon rain storm was enough to cause the city's waterways to overflow, underpasses to flood and streets to become rivers. I quickly became adept at figuring out which streets were most prone to flooding and learned how to safely navigate from my downtown office to my house when the streets were flooded. But not everyone was so savvy. During our years in Norfolk I lost track of the number of times I saw cars floating in flooded underpasses. Yes, even under the best of conditions water was everywhere. It was simultaneously beautiful and scary but reminded me that despite all of our modern technology, Mother Nature was really in control.

Although we left Norfolk in 2010 I knew the water problem was only getting worse but I didn't realize just how quickly the problem was growing. And then I saw the article. Norfolk's water problems are two fold. First, normal tides in Hampton Roads have risen an average of 1 1/2 feet over the past century, reflecting an increase that is higher than the rest of the East Coast. (But the entire East Coast has been designated as a sea level rise hot spot). Secondly, Norfolk is actually sinking. Yes, sinking. 35 million years ago a meteor hit the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay creating a crater that is now slowly consuming Norfolk. Simply put, all of this water does not bode well for a city whose existence has always revolved around the sea.

But the Post article struck a particular chord with me when I saw the Reverend of the church we were married in talking about how the flooding problem was forcing her church to seek a new physical home. This made my heart lurch. The beautiful old Unitarian Universalist Church sits on the edge of the Hague, a basin of water abutting what I consider to be the most beautiful part of the city. The thought of this church, which holds such special memories for me, being flooded out was simply so sad. Water was a problem when we got married and I feared flooding on our rainy wedding day but fortunately for us, on that April day the water never overflowed the banks like I had seen it do so many times before.

Despite the vocal minority who still denies its existence, global warming is at the root of these water problems. Throwing a lot of money at the problem may offer short term solutions for today's Norfolk residents but it won't stop the ever increasing presence of the rising water. I don't want to sound like a fatalist but it would appear that there really isn't a long term solution to the problem. Mother Nature really is in charge. And while I believe her force is awe inspiring this dilemma makes me sad. Very very sad.