All gone

Written by

Ophelia Benson

in

Sigh.

Destruction is his happy place.

More than a century ago, Japan gifted cherry trees to the United States as a symbol of friendship. Many people know the famous blooms around the Tidal Basin, but East Potomac Park is also home to a historic grove, including the oldest gifted trees that date back to 1910, now more than 115 years old.

The Trump administration is moving forward with a plan to redesign the historic East Potomac Golf Links into a championship-size course. That plan extends into the cherry grove and bike trail area.

More than 60 trees were removed in the last weeks as part of the work.

Comments

7 responses to “All gone”

  1. iknklast Avatar
    iknklast

    I try to avoid using the word hate; it’s too superlative for anything much except green beans and peanut butter. I have found something I hate more than peanut butter, and that is Trump.

  2. Ophelia Benson Avatar
    Ophelia Benson

    Heh. Yes, if we could be rid of Trump I would consent to whole truckloads of peanut butter and green beans.

  3. Francis Boyle Avatar
    Francis Boyle

    If you want a picture of the future, imagine a sea of manicured grass going on — forever.

  4. Athel Cornish-Bowden Avatar
    Athel Cornish-Bowden

    Ten year ago in preparation for a meeting in Japan I took a photograph of a flowering cherry tree close to the building where I worked, planning to show it in my talk to illustrate that we have flowering cherry trees in France. Alas, a month after I took the photograph and a month before going to Japan it received the Trump treatment and had become just a pile of logs.

  5. What a Maroon Avatar
    What a Maroon

    My peanut allergy was so severe as a kid that I had to go to the hospital just because we went to the circus in a closed arena, and the air was full of peanut dust. I also had to keep away from all legumes, and to this day I haven’t learned to like them.

    Trump is sort of like that.

  6. What a Maroon Avatar
    What a Maroon

    On topic, the park was a pleasant place to take a bike ride or a long walk, or play some miniature golf, or just enjoy the views. And I suppose for golfers who can’t afford the fees at a private club it was a convenient getaway.

    Trump’s ruining it for everyone.

  7. guest Avatar
    guest

    Heather Cox Richardson started her most recent daily email with the story about George Washington and the cherry tree and ‘I cannot tell a lie’. Then she writes, ‘It seems like the writers for the 250th season of American democracy are becoming increasingly desperate to get the country’s attention.’ I’d say, like the name ‘Renee Good’ for the first reported murder by an ICE agent, ‘you can’t make this stuff up’. But unfortunately I guess we don’t need to.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More posts