In the Museum of London there is a white earthenware plate bearing the inscription ‘You & I are Earth 1661’. Recovered in modern times from a London sewer, the plate is made of earth; it has come out of the earth and with an unwavering gaze (or glaze) confronts the viewer with their own earthliness. It is a reminder of mortality, at once accusing and sympathetic: not ‘as I am, so will you be’, but ‘as I am, so are you’. For me, this plate has always distilled the shock of recognition and excitement inherent in the study of material culture: the way ‘things’ can stitch up time, joining two very distant moments and people through a single object.
thing. cnn newsroom continues right now with randi kaye. hi there, suzanne. thank you. well, three major stories on the radar this hour. starting with a major hurricane. category 3 irene batters the bahamas and eyes the carolinas. chad myers is watching that. a hostage ordeal is over in tripoli, but the fighting goes on, and moammar gadhafi still out of sight. and washington surveys the damage from the earthquake that shook the east coast almost 24 hours ago. i want to start with a huge and still growing hurricane irene. chad myers is watching it all for us. what s it doing now, chad? and exactly where might it be headed? well, it s headed to the bahamas. and right now, if you want to get a map, it s right over crooked island in the bahamas. and later on it ll be going over long island at the bahamas. the irony is that there s the potential, at least in the cone that in four days it could go over long island, new york. right now at 115 miles per hour forecast to get