By Maya Shimony

Our day started in Dallas with a visit to the Women’s Museum. The museum honored women from different eras and time periods. There was an exhibit of famous women in sports and a timeline of important events in the search for equality for women that has spanned from the 1500s to the present day. There was a neat room that allowed guests to choose a song from a list and listen to it. The list is composed of influential women in the music industry. Throughout the museum there were biographies of important figures in the Women’s Civil Rights movement. My favorite exhibit was one on body image and careers. At the end of our visit to the museum, Shulie, our counselor, spoke about recent issues such as reproductive health, international problems and inferior pay that impact women today.

After leaving the Women’s Museum, we headed off on the ride to Oklahoma City. To break up the ride we stopped for lunch and everyone had a few restaurants to choose from.

On our arrival in Oklahoma City, we headed to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. There, we viewed the memorial to the tragic events that occurred in 1995. The memorial is set up in four sections. The first is the large square wall with an opening to walk through. At the top, it says “9:01”, the minute before the bombing occurred. The second section is a long black granite area covered with water. This is supposed to symbolize the destruction of lives at the time of the incident. The third section is identical to the first except it reads “9:03”, the minute after the explosion. The last part is a collection of chairs to the side of the other sections that symbolize the 168 lives that were lost in the tragedy. We spoke with a park ranger who gave us the events and facts of that fateful day. She told us an interesting story about a high school class that was supposed to visit the building at 9 AM on the morning of the attack but their bus got a flat tire and they did not make it on time. That story really put the severity of the bombing into perspective for us.

After speaking with the park ranger, we went across the street to hear a presentation by Chris Emery, who is making a documentary film about the conspiracies he is finding out about the bombing. They believe that Timothy McVeigh did not act alone and that the US government had some information on the possible bombing but failed to act to stop the attack. Charles Key, a State Representative from Oklahoma, also presented his thoughts on the conspiracies as well. We also heard from Janie Cumberland who lost two grandchildren in the bombing. We thought that Mr. Emery and his colleagues were very prepared and made some good arguments.

After dinner at a local Mexican restaurant, Etgar 36 went out for a night of Cosmic bowling. Everyone had a great time playing and dancing to the music being played.

Just as we thought that we were just going back to the hotel, we pulled up to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial again. Being at the Memorial at night was a completely different experience than during the day. We had a very emotional wrap up as Billy relayed a story of loss from his time at Syracuse University that had everyone in tears. Our time at the memorial at night made everyone appreciate their lives and feel the need to make a difference in the world.