I'm a Survivor (Edited)

Last Saturday, Kristin and I headed over to the Metreon for the Titanic artifact exhibit. When you get up to the entrance, everyone is issued a boarding pass with the name of an actual passenger and some facts about them. At the end of the exhibit, you find out if "you" survived or not. I was Lady Duff Gordon, the fashion designer who was traveling first class. Kristin was Mrs. James Warburton Martinez Cardeza, also traveling first class and staying in the most expensive suite on the ship.

I had a great time, and thought it was an excellent exhibit. I probably drove Kristin crazy with my need to examine each individual item and read each placard. But I was fascinated with it all. The elegance of the era is evident in the recreation of the grand staircase and the rooms and the hall you pass through. They don't make things like that anymore.

I thought the exhibition managed to display the enormity of the disaster while humanizing the victims. I think that's great, since so many people focus on the disaster aspect and how it happened, rather than on the individuals affected. There was really a lot of heroism involved that isn't always conveyed - like how the men in the boiler room of the ship continued working to keep the electricity and telegraph working until the last minute, knowing that they were sealing their own tombs. It's really amazing.

FYI - The San Francisco exhibition has been extended to January 28th. I highly recommend it.

I'll leave you here with a photo of Lady Lucile...and if you're curious, read the Wikipedia info on her. She was making headlines for quite some time. And there were originally rumors that she and her husband had bribed the others on their lifeboat not to turn around to take on others after the ship sank. They were cleared during the investigation, but you really never know...