The Vietnam Veterans Memorial marked the start of a new way for Americans to memorialize events or people, according to Carole Blair, associate professor of rhetoric and communication at UC Davis. Other later works such as the Civil Rights Memorial, the Astronauts Memorial and the Memorial AIDS Quilt also illustrate the trend. Today's monuments all use the names of the dead as a principal symbol, according to Blair, who has spent the past four years studying the political and cultural significance of the rhetoric of memorial art and architecture. The memorials become eloquent "voices" of public deliberation and advocacy, according to the professor. Blair's research team suggests that the populist, grassroots character of each of these monuments shows a recognition by Americans that our way of life has exacted a cost. Represented in all of these memorials is the dark side of modern experience and achievement, says Blair.