As classicist scholar Alastair Blanshard has noted, “One needs to be wary of people attracted to obelisks” Blanshard, Alastair JL. "Obelisk: A history." Rethinking History. (2009): 561.. Whatever meaning one assigns to the obelisk as a monumental form (and history exhibits many such meanings), their erection tells a story about power and identity. After all, since the assets required to place an obelisk are significant, they are an effective measure of a regime’s command of resources Blanshard, Alastair JL. "Obelisk: A history." Rethinking History. (2009): 562.. And this helps us understand another reading of the One Tree Hill Memorial, namely, that of the obelisk as the ambiguous celebration of an imagined “East” and its conquer by the agencies of civilization “proper” Blanshard, Alastair JL. "Obelisk: A history." Rethinking History. (2009): 562.