Gabriel, Crossroads High School. LA, CA: February 12-13, 8am to 3pm looks like your next event.

What comes after that? Jim

Hey Jim,

Before Crossroads, there's Berkeley this coming weekend for the STAND conference.

After Crossroads, a group is trying to get the permits to set up at UCLA on Feb 17.

I go to Redding on 25 & 26 for a presentation at a gathering of the local coalition, and I visit the classroom that sent letters and drawings to the children in the camps. I have drawings from the children of Darfur going to the Redding children.

There is Brentwood High School (LA area) on Feb 28 and then Cornerstone Middle School on Mar 1.

I meet with All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena this coming week to talk about when we go to DC for a ISWD day.

There are also dates in March and April already, and I'll post that soon.

We want to do something "big" on April 7 here in LA, and then I would like to go to DC for a Camp Darfur+ on the week leading up to the Save Darfur rally on Apr 29.

I get to hang out with part of our i-ACT team this coming weekend. Tsai Yi, Yuen Lin, Carolyn, and I will have some time to bounce ideas around in person, which is always cool.

Great schedule Gabriel. Thanks for describing it here.

How are these CAMP DARFUR events at High Schools and elsewhere evolving? What do you want to do differently in the future? What new ideas are coming from your hosts and students? What do you dream of doing but can't yet see how all the pieces can come together to make the dream happen?

How can we help you ? - for example to review and improve on displays, handouts and press materials.

You know, Jim, each Camp Darfur has its own feeling. The last few have been pretty amazing. The ideal is for each community to take it over and make it their own. At Venice and Wildwood High, they have completely done that.

I'd like to add material about "the beauty that is lost" when a genocide is destroying a whole people. At Camp Darfur-Pasadena last year, a Bosnian woman helped us out, and she brought a lot of the culture that was being destroyed, including typical dresses, arts, and books. She herself was a survivor, so it was a very moving experience to walk in to that tent.

I loved how the young people of the high schools did so much research, and then they shared what they learned with the entire student body. It was very effective.

I would like more interactive activities. I've been speaking with Tsai Yi and Stacey, both of whom have arts/theater/etc. in their background and have great ideas about how to really engage visitors in a more complete way.

It would be very helpful to get material that would help with all of this and ideas on how to make it better.

Oh, we definitely need to add more on heroes, upstanders, regular people that embraced responsibility and decided to act. We have one for each of the genocide presented, but we need so much more. We also want to start collecting the stories and pictures of many of the people we meet around the country, who are themselves upstanders.

On the action side, we always have action as a big part of CD, so ideas that would make action more than just signing a petition would be good.

So, there is a lot to do, but we don't stop moving while we work on it :)

I agree with everything Gabriel said. I think it'd be amazing if we can do a better job at simulating an experience that isn't only about Darfuris in refugee camps but one that shows their way of life before their displacement. If we can somehow find props that replicate the way women squat over the fire to cook, for example, it will highlight the way in which one seemingly banal element - firewood - can be core to their culture.

As Gabriel said, the idea of incorporating theatre into our work is still being discussed. It'd be amazing if we write one or two short skits that travel with Camp Darfur and are open to local groups' adaptation. We can even write a play called "The Beauty that is Lost" which would involve performers mimicking the grace of Darfuri women carrying firewood and girls carrying their little siblings on their backs. The possibilities are endless! Imagine how far a school can take the performance if, say, it happened to have a group of dancers in their student body! I need to calm myself down now...I'm getting too excited...

Another crazy idea emerged over dinner when Gabe and I were in Boca - we were so impressed by the rally that we wondered if we'd be able to pull one off in L.A. the first week of April. The attraction of the event would be to (somehow) connect the audience live to our DC protests and, if possible, to Ali in Chad. I.e. it'd be large-scale i-ACT as the kickoff anti-genocide event of the month. We have something rather big in mind - so we can use all the help we can get in making it a reality!

Some interest from Vermont:

Dear Gabriel,

I am part of NESEI (New Sudan Education Initiative) on the UVM campus in Burlington, VT. We would love to organize a Camp Darfur event either on campus or on the Waterfront of downtown Burlington. What would this entail, and is it possible? Please let me know your thoughts.

let me know if you need coordination assistance -- i'm in the small village of cabot about an hour away and can definitely pitch in. its pretty cold right now, though maybe by your April actions things will have warmed up :)

Thanks Lars. I responded to the above inquiry and asked about possible dates; it might have to be in May, right after the action in DC. I'll let you know how it's looking.

Sure -- from my efforts to try and bring some Sudanese down to the DC event last summer/fall-ish, I made a few connections with the community in Burlington. I am certain they would like to be involved. Email me if I can be of help as I might not track here over the coming weeks.

Best,

lars

Cool, thanks. Hey, since you are the man when it comes to Peace Tiles (among many other getting-things-done projects), maybe we could make them, Darfur Peace Tiles, a big part of a Camp Darfur-VT? We have collected quite a few at some of the CD's in the past, starting at the very first one. I have not kept it up at all CD's lately because of logistics, but it is something that visitors truly enjoy, and the tiles that come out are so great. Maybe at VT we could display in some way all the ones that have been collected so far, and I can make an effort to include the creating them in more of the upcoming CDs.

That's a "roger that" Gabriel. I can offer my time, materials and workspace to get that done. Let me know what has worked best for you in the past, what you'd want to change, and what I can contribute. If you wanted, we could even do an event -- ie public art installation -- at the picturesque capitol, which is about a half hour from Burlington and quite supportive of public use.

Great, thanks. I'll work at nailing down a date and location that works with local group.

Question: have you worked with other material besides the somewhat heavy wood planks for the tiles? Is there something more transportable? Maybe it's just finding lighter weight planks. We've used the same kind that Evonne first got for the first CD last year.

Since for some of these CD's it is in-and-out of town, it would be cool if I could, by the end of the day after CD, be able to pack the tiles and either take them with me or ship them, if not too expensive.

I'll read more on your website to learn about other PT projects, and I'm sure there's also lots of ideas there.

I have not experimented with anything less than 1/2-inch plywood. I really like this thickness for public installations etc. That said, I always -- and very quickly -- cut the 8'x4' sheet down to 8" sq tiles. These pack very nicely, though I understand are difficult to move when large quantities are involved. Since there is 1/4" finished plywood easily available, I suspect you could achieve pretty good results with these, and double your quantity to weight ratio.

All that said, since I am loath to travel much out of my day job, should you or any of your allies make it to Vermont I will be more than happy to go out of my way to make it worth your while!

Well, I'm excited about creating a large public art installation with all the Darfur Peace Tiles; I'm picturing it in my head, and I think it would just be a powerful statement, so I'd like to help make it happen. Your home State is the perfect place to first present it.

Gabriel, that would be a tremendous privilege. We have many peace and several refugee networks that I am certain would like to be involved. Let me know what you need from me as things materialize. Happy to be in touch with your UVM colleagues when the time is right.

~ Gabriel said: ~

~ We want to do something "big" on April 7 here in LA ... ~

Hey! that's my birthday!!! :D

I've always used 1/4" plywood, finished one side. It does pack up nicely and travels much lighter. When I was installing the global Peace Tiles mural at the International AIDS Conference this past summer there were tiles there that were created on this very thin but firm white board. I couldn't figure out what it was and I'm not sure where it came from ... they came from everywhere! It's quite possible that one came home with me; we divided up some at the end. I'll check and if there is will take it to the local lumber yard and see if they know what it is. Very lightweight and sturdy.

:)

Thanks for the info, Meron! Well, the 1/4" sounds good, unless that white stuff also works. Do you think it lost some of its umph when going from wood to white stuff?

CD at Berkeley:

http://dailycal.org/sharticle.php?id=22844

Great photo Gabriel!

With All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena taking the lead, we're looking at Apr 23 as a day for an action in DC.

We are just starting to plan, but my first idea is to have a rally at the White House and then a march from there to the Sudanese Embassy, where we'd have a candlelight vigil and projecting of pictures of refugees on building.

All Saints Rector Ed Bacon will confirm the date soon, but it will likely be around that date. Ed is sure to attract some attention and probably the participation of other notables.

Brad Whitford, actor from West Wing and Studio 60, wants to participate, so we're hoping that Ed and his schedule fit. Brad came through for us for i-ACT, our last trip to the camps. We did not have all the funding just days before departure, and we needed lots of cash for on the ground expenses. Ed called Brad who on the spot decided to give us all that we needed for cash in Chad...very cool. He did this anonymously at first, but I asked if I could mention his name in thanking him publicly, since--no matter whether we like it or not--"celebrity" helps, and he gave the OK.

Jim,

Do you think it would be possible to secure a visible location for Camp Darfur for the week leading up to the rally on Apr 29?

I really believe that we have to help in setting the tone of activism, with very strong message and action, leading up to and after the rally. As we all know from the last few Save Darfur events, they can have a deflating effect on activism, so we have to make the strong statement about the need for people to be active and stay active until there is protection of innocent civilians in Darfur/Chad--Boots on the Sand.

Berkeley would like us back with Camp Darfur the first week of April, with UC Davis just before that, plus two high schools from the Bay area. All of this comes from student leaders visiting Camp Darfur at the STAND conference in Berkeley.

It's getting busy!

Monmouth University (http://www.monmouth.edu/) has confirmed for Camp Darfur on April 11 & 12. Monmouth is in "West Long Branch, less than a mile from the Atlantic Ocean and close to New York City and Philadelphia."

From there, students in Vermont are working on getting location for Apr 16. They are going to City Hall tomorrow to ask for a space at the waterfront. Lars, I'll introduce you through e-mail to Alexandra, from UVM, in case you have some thoughts about location.

i think their choice of waterfront is very good.

OK, dates for upcoming for SGN in the coming weeks/months, including Camp Darfur and other presentations/actions:

2/12-13: Crossroads High School (LA)--Camp Darfur

2/14: Carson High (LA)--Presentation

2/22: Cal Tech (Pasadena)--Presentation

2/25-26: Redding CA--Gathering with Redding coalition; presenting of children of Darfur drawings to 2nd grade class that sent letters and drawing during i-ACT2; presentation at University; presentation at College.

2/28: Brentwood High School (CA)--Presentation

3/1: Cornerstone Middle School (CA)--Presentation

3/7-8: U of Delaware--Camp Darfur

3/18: CD tent in Santa Monica Library (1 week display)

3/19: Venice High School (CA)--Presentation

3/21: New Roads High School (LA)--Camp Darfur

3/23: Notre Dame High School (Belmont, CA)--Camp Darfur

3/29: UC Davis (CA)--Camp Darfur

4/2-4: UC Berkeley (CA)--Camp Darfur

4/6 or 7: Working on event/action in LA in coordination with rest of country on anniversary of Rwanda.

4/10-12: Monmouth University (NJ)--Camp Darfur

4/16-17: Vermont--Camp Darfur (to be confirmed)

4/19-28: Are planning actions, including with All Saints mentioned above, in DC, leading up to rally on 29. (work in progress)

This is what we have that is at least close to solid, plus there are other possibles.