ABSTRACT
The relevance of Lacan’s sign-emblem to electronic monumentality presented itself to me through the circumstances of my own encounter with this hypericonic emblem. The context was the fifth-grade trip to Washington, DC, for which I was one of the chaperones, accompanying my son. The trip was a reward for those students who had served in the safety patrol during the year. Such trips have become part of an annual ritual at schools all over the country, whose official purpose is that of a pilgrimage to the shrines of American democracy, inculcating in the younger generation a connection with the monuments representing the founding beliefs of the nation. The unofficial or actual experience of the trip itself is somewhat different from the ideal. Our group took the train from Gainesville, Florida, to the nation’s capital, a long, overnight ride. It soon became clear that our destination was a matter of symbolic importance only, relevant to the educators and the institution of schooling, but of no importance to the children. Their focus was never on the monuments or any part of the object of the tour, and always on their interactions with each other.
