I've been thinking over what Adrienne wrote about whether descendants--or others--can make too much of a fuss in commemorating the deceased of one tragedy or another. I don't have a problem with a group of descendants taking time to commemorate those lost on the Titanic--especially since they are also recalling how that tragedy affected their families. After all, it's not like they can put flowers on the graves or something like that. I do have a problem with filmmakers making such fusses, and I'm beginning to get bugged with politicians who seem to bring up 9/11 just to get an emotional response from the audience. By and large, though, I think it's important to remind people of what happened in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire in the seventeenth century so that we understand what happened and don't do it again. Despite the way Miller changed the actual events for the purposes of his plot, he did show that Salem could happen again and was happening again in the McCarthy hearings. I tend to think that as descendants we have a special responsibility to see that the trials are not repeated, and that people today understand what really happened: that it wasn't a bunch of spooky, Blair-Witch sort of business, but real communities so divided by hate and fear that some people turned on others and ensured that they were stripped of their property, tortured, brutalized, and killed. Salem today is a weird conglomeration, a mix of busy commercial center, colonial remnants, and hokum. I have friends who are Wiccan and some who identify themselves as witches, and they have *very* mixed feelings about Salem and some of the current inhabitants and are definitely bugged by stuff like the logo on the local potato chips. But, though the trials took place in Salem (is that right?), the fuss began in Salem Village, which is down the road and less apt to capitalize on the notoriety. Salem definitely is a fun place to visit. I'm not sure how one also communicates a sense of what was not so fun in its past. Time has a way of wiping out the horror and leaving only sunshine and flowers and seagulls looking for leftovers. Francine _________________________________________________________________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com