May 30, 2008
May 2008
I know the month is nearly over, but we have been busy and haven't picked up the cameras much for fun lately. CJ and I went to Dallas last weekend for a short visit with our friends Teresa and Paul. While we were there we went downtown where President Kennedy was assassinated. I had never been there, and I don't believe my friends had been there either. These are native Texans, and reminded me the event was a black mark for Texas history.
This picture is Teresa and Paul in front of what is referred to as "The Old Red Courthouse" but is now a museum in downtown Dallas. They have been friends since my college days at Pittsburg State. Teresa and Paul grew up in Dallas and married while Paul was still in college. It is grounding to keep in touch with people that have known you for so long. These guys are family to me, and I always enjoy getting together.
This building looks like something out of a video game to me, but it is located in downtown Dallas. If you look to the left, the building in the corner is the book depository from which Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated President Kennedy.
I circled the window from which Oswald shot Kennedy. The motorcade passed right in front of the building. In the movies, this looks like a difficult shot for Owald, but in person it seemed very close. It is convincing, once you are there, to believe Oswald could have been the lone shooter. The grassy knoll referred to in most of the assasination descriptions is to the immediate left of the book depository. By the way, I took this picture and the previous one with my portable Nikon camera. I chose not to correct the perspective. We think the camera tends to shoot soft images and was probably not worth the price. I like the digital SLRs from Nikon, but would look elsewhere for a handheld.
This picture is Teresa, Paul and I standing at the "grassy knoll". We took this one primarily to show what a small space in which this tragedy took place. Like the book depository, the grassy knoll is virtually on top of the street where the motorcade passed. We thought the "X" marked the spot where Kennedy was shot first by Oswald, with another "X" just down the street for the final shot. It is hard to believe someone could have fired a gun from the left side of this picture and escaped unseen. The photo doesn't have a lot of detail, but the supposed shooter would have been at the left side of the image where you see the tree. I am sure the site has changed with the passing years, but this is a very small space for anonymity.
