Viewing the Library of Black Lies

When I saw Edgar Arceneaux’s installation at the Henry Gallery on the UW campus, the image of Abraham Lincoln’s log cabin came to mind immediately. Before I could digest, wonder or analyze that thought, Donald Trump’s slatted fence popped into my head. There was no way I could have known what I was doing exactly—what did the artist Arceneaux want me to do upon viewing his work? James McPherson’s Battle Cry of Freedom came to mind. No one can read each of the more than 15,000 books written about Abraham Lincoln, but the longtime Gettysburg bookstore employee did not hesitate to tell me McPherson’s book is the best one book there is on the Civil War, the Civil War book with the most truths I have seen.

Then I walked around to the cabin entrance. Suddenly I stopped as I viewed the walls, looking like mirrors, covered with Mylar. Refl