Maya Lin

I groaned when I read the title of this piece, Art and Architecture. Art writing can be more brittle and lifeless than how-to manuals for vacuum cleaners, and my patience has worn thin with boring nonfiction. I find no excuse for any piece of nonfiction, of any genre, to be boring. Especially in the 21st century. Just because it is based on fact, or explaining the inner workings of a simple household device, or you discovered a new and easier way to boil pasta without leaving the comfort of your bed, does not give you leave to just state it and move on, be a wordy show-off, or an old wind-bag. Nonfiction is as close to reality as you can get without having to take responsibility for it. It should be fun and insightful, embarrassing and irresistible, charming and neighborly. Even better if its just like having a mirror held close enough to your face you can see the dirt pores around your nostrils and the crust built up around the corners of your mouth and in that little crease on your chin.
Lin's piece didn't do that for me, really. It didn't reveal anything about myself to myself that I didn't know was lurking in the shadows there, nor did it shed any true light on something politically stupefying. It is, however, so obviously written from the heart, and enthusiastically, I had no trouble at all relating to her. She and I are nothing alike. She is ethnically diverse, I am plain vanilla white Caucasian, she is probably a Mensa-caliber genius, I am most definitely not, she has overcome great diversity to get to where she is today, I have kind of coasted along with everyone else, kept the pace with traffic. But I wasn't bored when I read her piece. In fact, I reread it to make sure I got everything. It's written in what I can imagine how she talks and thinks, which is concise and clear, and very very smart. The pacing may be slow, yes, but she doesn't spend time wasted on needless words or sentences or anecdotes. My favorite thing about this piece is that every sentence is necessary for the entire picture, to achieve the effect that she's going for. There is a serenity and calm acceptance emanating from Lin; she is telling you, yes, but showing you, also, the non-surprise of her winning, the struggles the veterans gave her concerning the structure of the monument she designed. Underneath it all is the fact that she is Asian, she designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial while still a student at Yale, she is a she (yes, sadly, that is still an issue these days).