By Jamie Gahlon, American Voices New Play Institute Coordinator
I am picking up where Travis left off in his blog a few days back- so the journey continues. Once settled in Providence, D.W. Jacobs (writer/director of R. Buckminster Fuller: THE HISTORY (and Mystery) OF THE UNIVERSE), Travis & I set off for Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, MA to visit Bucky's final resting place. Even Doug, in all of his research and writing, had never had the opportunity to visit Bucky's grave, so I felt honored to be along for the ride. When I was getting the directions together before our trip, I looked at Bucky's profile on the Mount Auburn Cemetery website and was surprised to see dozens of comments and virtual "in memoriam"s complete with flower icons for the man who inspired so many. Some people posted on his day of passing, others on his birthday, but all gave their thanks. Now I was going to get to do the same, in person.
Not surprisingly, I've never been a huge fan of cemeteries (who is?), but Mount Auburn was breathtaking. Expansive, old (one of the oldest in the United States, in fact), well manicured, filled with sweeping trees and the ghosts of the long gone but not forgotten. Words don't do it justice so I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
We wandered around for about fifteen minutes, just taking in the scenery, and then set out for Bucky's grave. We found him, sitting unassumingly in the ground, next to his Fuller family. We stood, silent, taking pictures, and taking it all in. We were not sad. Bucky's legacy lives strong, and he has inspired the paths of so many that he is far from gone. It made me think and hope that when I'm gone some part of me will live on in positive energy and progress in the world.
It was clear that we were not the only ones who had made this trip. Next to his grave sat a vibrant, weatherproof, geodesic flower. I don't think we could have topped that.
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