Photographing museum exhibits usually produces little more than descriptive visual information. But not this time. The battleship USS Arizona was sent to the bottom of Pearl Harbor by Japanese torpedo bombers on December 7th, 1941, taking nearly 1,200 American sailors with it, and bringing the United States into World War II. An exhibit “Flagship of the Fleet: Life and Death of the USS Arizona” is a fixture at the Arizona State Capitol Museum. While a rusted fragment of the ship’s hull is the focal point of the exhibit ( see http://www.pbase.com/pnd1/image/111595488 ), a tattered, yellowing life preserver from the ship runs a close second. The preserver is mounted in glass case, which is backed with a vintage photograph showing a sailor aboard the ship. What drew me to it was an eerie reflection – the left hand side of the glass case was reflecting a ghostly version of the sailor back into the display. The more we look at it, the more likely we are to travel back into this sad and terrible story. While the sailor is grim, his reflection seems to grieve. The yellowed life preserver provides context for both.