The Virtual Peace Garden

My daily search for emblems, mottos and slogans has made me realize that my own organization, African Soul, American Heart, needs to turn our attention to these three items. We have a name, and an acronym, but no actual emblem, motto, or slogan.

A similar group working in Fargo has an image and slogan. Can any of you tell what the group is doing based on the logo? What are your responses?

Thursday’s class certainly got me to thinking about the subject of activism, and since then I have been asking myself again and again if we students are truly active in today’s society. Do we really make a difference in helping solve some of the World’s most prominent and recurring problems, or are we actually contributing to them with mere passivism? I think the overall answer may be “yes,” and “no.” Sure, some students may in fact be far too concerned with simply getting through college and graduate school (I know my brother is!) and then simply getting a job that will help pay some bills, while a handful of other students (like myself, I would like to think) are simply relishing the whole college experience and are hoping to use that experience to help impact the world. And all this is not to say that I and others like me are not ourselves concerned with getting those high-paying jobs after graduation either. Nor are we not at times not weighed down by assignments and other academic pressures of sorts. The main difference between those handful of students who would define the primary purpose for their academic careers to be impacting in some way the world around them versus all other students is that those handful of students are not happy until they have witnessed some sort of change resulting from their projects.

In completing my draft of my MEmorial this weekend (I call it a “draft” because the project is truly an on-going one) I enjoyed the realization that this project has already changed the way my family and friends have viewed certain environmental issues. This change came about in the form of clarification because, for the first time, my friends and family had pictures to go with everything I have been telling them for years about my ideas and concerns about the environment. For once, they truly “got it” (i.e. what I was thinking).

Again, Thursday’s class really got me to thinking about activism; and I would certainly classify the MEmorial project as an active one.

In reflecting on the MEmorial process for the final project in the class, I came to a realization that filled me with a lot of hope. The realization is that, in essence, I have been introduced to a unique way of mourning tragedy and tragic events whereby I can actually make a difference. It used to be, perhaps prior to the tragic events of the 11 of September 2001, that most people (like me e.g.) felt as if their voices could never truly be heard regarding sadness and loss. Then internet participation changed everything, and now people are becoming more aware of a realistic way by which they can potentially vent and even help contribute to planetary change.

For me personally it goes a little deeper still, since I have often struggled in my own life to find a realistic way by which I could voice my ideas about change related to planetary issues. Prior to this class assignment involving the MEmorial, my most constructive outlet of sorts had embodied a self-published book related to environmental concerns. Although that self-published book was certainly a good start, its overall audience was too small.

My internet MEmorial, although not as thorough as that self-published book, already has a larger audience than my environmental book. I know for a fact that a few of my friends and basically all my family have already checked it out via my Facebook page; and since I am growing in friends on Facebook (Ha!Ha!), it would be a fair assumption to say that the audience for my MEmorial is increasing as well.

The problem with my self-published book is that it’s just sitting on my shelf these days, gathering dust. The benefit of my MEmorial, conversely, is that my MEmorial constantly has the potential to reach others via the web. It’s a hopeful realization.

Epic Change: http://www.epicchange.org/index.php

Epic Change, as best I can tell, invites or collects (this part is unclear) "epic" stories of ordinary people with the idea that those stories can "sell" in a way that helps people with their lives and projects. Their logo, therefor, is a globe icon set over a book and the word "Epic" in a marker font, the word "change" in a much smaller, less distinctive font. No slogan or motto that I can find.

KD: I took the liberty of displaying your great work!

Maybe I'm not going into this with the right perspective, but I'm having a really hard time getting behind Giroux.

Mostly I think it relates to the issues that I have with my father, and the fact that Giroux sounds just like him...only the exact opposite. Give him a soapbox and he will go to town about how the liberal educational system is brainwashing its students. In fact, if you were to turn around Giroux's statements exactly I can completely picture something my dad would say. In many ways Giroux is the crazed liberal academic my father warned me about.

I don't have too much to say about Giroux because I have been saying or trying to say the same stuff all semester. Also, I feel every time I make a point like Giroux's I am seen as depressing or anti-American or something of that matter. The fact is I am pro-humanity and if individuals can't realize the disaster we have created in basically every institution in this country then I don't think any "intellectuals" are going to "save" the situation.

iPeace: sharing peace, making a difference.

http://www.ipeace.me/

The emblem is iPod-ish, but without the stylish curves of Mac logos, and the slogan is fine but not particularly distinctive or memorable. While posting this message, however, I have heard Bob Dylan's Masters of War and Lou Reed's Perfect day. Nice addition to electracy: soundtracks for life.

The question “is our class pursuing activist research” is a very interesting one. Once again, I think individually it is quite difficult to consider ourselves as activist researchers on account we haven’t taken the last step I mentioned in my previous post (group development of peace garden ideas or community involvement). I think in the near future, with the publication of this website and possibly subsequent academic promotion of our work by Dr. Brooks that our class will indeed meet the criteria for activist research.