Presenting Tom Judson's Canned Ham Tour

Well, Maybe Just a Little Bit Sexy

Bennington, Vt. -- Never one to let a good, solid phallic symbol go to waste, I stopped for a visit at the Bennington Battle Monument, a "commemorative shaft" from the Revolutionary War. Seems those cantankerous New England Yankees managed to fend off some British general who was intent on seizing supplies and they thought a nice display of superiority was in order.

I've always chuckled at how many obelisks are scattered around marking victories of some sort. Can the choice of a thrusting, erect shaft really be meant as the obvious symbol it seems? Is it nothing more than the winner telling the loser, "Mine is bigger than yours"?

In that context the supine, passive Vietnam Memorial seems all the more profound and even, yes, potent.