David, I have to say that this project was/is both impressive and important. Mobilizing people to rally around such a significant event is not an easy proposition. Kudos to your passion and hard work on this project. The video kiosk reminds me of 'Speaker's Corner' in downtown Toronto, where you can pay a couple of dollars to record your thoughts on the local City-TV - which they edit/air on the weekends. I guess my feeling is that it's events like this that help breathe 'our' voice back into our communities. I look forward to engaging discussions about this event on AOIR. Steve -----Original Message----- From: air-l-aoir.org-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-aoir.org-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of david silver Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 2004 3:30 PM To: cultstud-l@mailman.acomp.usf.edu Cc: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: [Air-l] saturday, september 11, 2004 The September Project (09.11.2004) http://www.theseptemberproject.org On Saturday, September 11, free and public events about democracy, citizenship, and patriotism took place. To the best of our knowledge, 469 events took place in all 50 states. Outside the US, events took place in 8 countries: Australia, Cuba, Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, and Venezuela. Living in Seattle, I had the opportunity to attend 55 events spread throughout the Puget Sound area. All of the events were free. All but two events -- at the King County Jail Library and at the King County Regional Justice Center Detention Library -- were open to the public. I wanted to attend all of the events but a day is short so I selected two: the Ballard Public Library (my neighborhood) and the Central Library downtown. Both events were inspired and beautiful. At the Ballard Public Library, librarian Ellen Fitzgerald organized an excellent event. About 75 people attended a talk by Ian Spiers, a college student whose photographs of a popular Seattle landmark led to visits from police officers and officials from the Department of Homeland Security (http://brownequalsterrorist.com/), followed by comments by Doug Honig, Communications Director of ACLU-Washington. Few were silent during the Q & A period and the discussion covered issues of security, racism, civil liberties, and justice. 75 community members discussing issues that matter in a public space: it was as if we were all part of an unironic and uncynical Norman Rockwell painting. The event finished with folks talking about how we can continue to have events like these. At the Central Library, Andra Addison, Chris Higashi, Amy Twito, and Kristin Zavorska organized a diverse set of events, including two film screenings of the film "Poetry in Wartime," a facilitated discussion about the film, poetry and creative writing workshops, and information booths featuring local organizations and non-profits. The event also included a video kiosk (designed by The September Project's John Klockner) which allowed participants to record their personal thoughts and reactions to the day. It was great to see kids, young adults, and adults record their thoughts throughout the day. Outside the library were four blank murals. This was a very large project, involving many, and organized primarily by Irina Gendelman, Giorgia Aiello, and Tema Milstein, three graduate students at the University of Washington. Each mural had a different theme and color -- America (red), patriotism (white), war and peace (blue), and 9/11 (black). As the day went on, people (some library patrons, some who were there for September Project events, and some directly from the streets) observed the murals, talked about them, and added an image, a word, a sentence. It was quite beautiful. Every community should have community murals! For images of the process and product, see: http://students.washington.edu/giorgia/photo_mural/ http://students.washington.edu/irinag/murals/91104/ I find a ton of hope in individuals and collectives that are working hard to make our communities, our countries, and our globe a better place. Here's to LIBRARIANS, who, despite budget cuts, despite pay cuts, and despite the Patriot Act which compromises their very job description, work hard and creatively to heal our communities. Here's to ARTISTS and ACTIVISTS who have always and will always tackle the kinds of issues we are encouraged to be silent about. And here's to YOUTH -- the hopeful, the unjaded, the uncynical, the not-yet burned out. It is difficult to find someone, anyone, who is happy with the directions our communities, our countries, and our globe are taking. I'd like to end by thanking all of you, from all of us, for succeeding -- with grace, with inspiration, and with belief that it can and must be done -- in working to change those directions. Here's to libraries. Here's to public culture. Here's to free culture. Here's to dialogue, discussion, and dissent on topics that demand attention. Here's to the people. david silver _______________________________________________ Air-l-aoir.org mailing list Air-l-aoir.org@listserv.aoir.org http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org