Class and Detention

Yesterday my class visited the Virtual Guantanamo installation in the online virtual world Second Life, and those who created Gone Gitmo gave them a tour and discussed how they designed the space to encourage interactivity and activism. Of course, some of my students were flying around the area, something that the U.S. held detainees can not do, rather than pose for the photograph above. Orange jump-suited Nonny de la Peña and Peggy Weil were their guides. Now that closing the facility has become an Obama administration priority, it is interesting to think about possible ways that the site could serve as historical commemoration rather than reminder of present policy.