By this time next week, I should be the proud owner of two posters that span two generations, but share the same ideals.

Through the miracle of Ebay, I purchased (what I hope are) original prints of Milton Glaser's iconic 1967 poster of Bob Dylan and a surplus print of Shepard Fairey's Obama "Hope" poster, left over from the Florida campaign. I have my doubts that the $20 purchase price for each is going to get me good copies, but I suppose it was worth the risk to have these two pieces of history.

Both will stand side by side in my classroom, a reminder to my students that idealism can persevere, even in the most difficult of times and against the slimmest of odds.

In 1967, the crown princes of ideas were Dylan, Lennon, MLK and Bobby Kennedy. When King and RFKwere gunned down, the country and possibly the world fully entered the dark era that started when JFK was assassinated and continued for many years, possibly until now.

Glaser's poster of Bob Dylan back in 1967 was an attempt to not only portray the immeasurable ideas that flowed forth from the mind of a musical genius; it was also an attempt to share those ideas in a visual language that the common man could comprehend.

Fairey's poster series are also attempts to use the visual languages of the past to put Obama in the same pantheon as Dylan; but while Glaser's poster is contemplative, with the slight downward tilt of Dylan's head, as if he is deep in thought, Fairey's posters owe more to Nazi and Soviet propaganda, with their strong, powerful images of men and women who were the ideal humans. Heads straight, jaws thrust forward, proud and determined.

Obama may just span the generations - strong and proud, yet thoughtful and contemplative. But even if he is not, these images will last; they will remind us of the ideals that we hold onto - that ideas, free thought, intelligence and forward thinking are worth striving for.