When you enter New Haven from the North, the first images greeting you are thick white outlines: a figure skater with her head cocked back in mid-spin, a guitar god with a mullet, a monster truck, a charging yet friendly hockey player. These are the blank, comical, but still alluring "faces" of the New Haven Veteren's Memorial Coliseum. Christopher Schuck, 34, a New Haven native, described these expressive silhouettes as the most exotic visuals going his (beloved) town. This view is arguable (What about the old-school Town Green? And those weird Gothic dorms?), but Betty understands the possibility of transcendence they promise.
(Who do you think designed these urban reference points, and when?)
Koko and Betty have been following the Coliseum's potential demise for years now. Betty even oversaw the design of magazine cover depicting the hockey player, skater, monster truck, et. al. bidding farewell to New Haven back in 2002!
Last year, about half of the Coliseum was knocked down, leaving it like a ruin. Koko recalls Mayor John DeStefano's unceremonious wrecking ball accident of 2005: he lost control of his machine, then swiped off a chunk of the Knights of Columbus building across the street.
Does this month really mean the end? Betty won't believe it till she can't see it.
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