I love the statue of Barbara Jordan. Larger than life. Sitting in her chair. Open book, glasses in her hand. Intelligent face expressing gentleness and strength. Her feet crossed very humanly at the ankles. Perhaps a lace half untied?

I visited Paris in 1996. One thing I took home with me was the public embrace of sculpture. Statues to represent events, emotions, places, ideals. Some to represent the person they portrayed. And so many were women. Jeanne d’Arc seemed especially popular.

Do you know at that time, the only public statue (outside of churches) I could think of in the US that was female was the Statue of Liberty?

And she was a gift of the French.

We are a masculine country. We honor only half of our psyche.

Well here in Austin there has been some remedy of that imbalance. And Barbara Jordan is a part of it.

So. Why is she in the basement? Such a beautiful statue of a powerful woman in the baggage claim area of the airport. She deserves SO much better. Couldn’t she at least be at the curb of the ticketing area where she could see some sky?