Experiencing the Peace Mural & Dance Obama

I want to flash back on the incredible thousands of paintings all by one woman - Huong, originally from Vietnam. I saw them at the Peace Mural Gallery in Washington DC, the night before the Inauguration. As a young journalist, she came here on a refugee boat after the fall of Saigon and settled in Alaska, where she began to paint. The Peace Mural took fifteen years to produce and there are 8' by 600' worth of paintings! It is a war/peace collection and there are many places for viewers to add comments about peace. Collectively, the paintings have an impact quite like Picasso's "Guernica." (Huong is shown here with her daughter - my photo, then WaPo one - see also their story at this link) - the exhibit leaves DC 30 Jan. and will be staged elsewhere - there is info at the link if you know someone who could help bring it to your city.

In this amazing space, I also attended DanceObama: The Pulse for Peace. Karen Bradley wrote:

Over the next few days, change is a gonna come. The change is overt: a new President, a new administration, and it is as-yet-undefined. Some startling clues exist, however: pictures of dead children in Gaza horrify us, creating the clear loud message that brutality and carnage, no matter under what guise, are not to be tolerated. A pilot saves 155 people with calm and skill that reassures us that not all disasters end in total loss and that paying attention and thinking clearly actually works sometimes. A gay bishop and a rightwing preacher both celebrate a new government that is not catering to any one constituency but appears to want to cut a swath across all, and maybe even elevate the country to a higher moral ground, without privileging one belief system or lifestyle over another. The train rolled into town yesterday, bringing a newly-forceful but always thoughtful guy to lead the changes. He did not bring the change with him on the trip, nor will he deliver it to us with his inaugural address. But over the next few days, through music , art, dancing, sharing food and warmth, change will come to us. We will create it.

Karen is a good friend and Professor of dance, and has written a book about Rudolf Laban, who over a hundred years ago devised participatory dance events called "movement choirs," in wich each person contributed to a communal celebration of harmony. Here is some of the music which was used. First video shows an individual dancer that I liked watching, but many of the pieces were more communal and group-interactive, as in the second video.

Here is some of the music which was used: Sweet Honey in the Rock: “We Are the Ones We’ve Been Waiting For” Kanye West: “Love Train” Sly and the Family Stone: “Everyday People” Cat Stevens: “Peace Train” John Lennon: “Imagine” Johnny Clegg: “Life is a Magic Thing” Seal: “A Change is Gonna Come” (or any version) The Pointer Sisters: “Yes We Can, Can” U2: “Beautiful Day” Karen said she put the "Beautiful Day" in there for me, which was kind - it was the song most closely associated with John Kerry's campaign by many of us, and special. I like it when the guy yells "Dance therapists in the house?" at the end. The photos show Karen being interviewed and the two gentlemen with the Bush piece are Ben Doko and Josh Castle, from Seattle.

(A version of this appears at Silenced Majority Portal)