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Morning Circle with Team
Well, we did it! After a five year vision, two years of hard work, thousand and thousands of kids, hundreds of parents, volunteers, friends and family, an amazing team, a dog, the City of Alameda, the US Navy, sponsors, the PTA, school district, and excellent weather, and so much more - we just set a new
World Record!We will now gather our information and submit it to Guinness to see if we set their record.
Top Two Photos by Michael Layefsky
I was the first person on site (I was also the last person to leave) and unlocked the gate for the last time. There was an about two hours of set up, making sure everything was as it should be. I can't say enough about the support we got from everyone, from friends and family, from the extended community - it was truly a sight to behold. Everything about this project was good medicine - kids, community, and the creative spirit. We basically couldn't go wrong.
We did have several incidents though, we gave out THREE BAND-AIDS!
People started to just flow in, checking in at the greeting tables, reading our information boards, and then going out onto the site, finding chalk that was stashed around, and they started to draw. We had donated an excellent sound sysytem and I got to make the play list with all the music that I love and know works well with making art, dropping in, and having easier access to one's creativity - almost all non-vocal work, movie sound tacks, ambient, and trance.
People came from all over. The mom (on left) came down from Napa to make art with four teenagers.
Having a huge canvas that the community could create together on was something that I hadn't quite thought about or seen until it happened. A biog opportunity to create and express, alone or with family.
There is/was something here, something I can only now barely sense, something about a community being creative together, something else that is created, not just the imagery, but an collective energy.
Chalk seems to be a perfect medium, it gets color in your hands, get you outside, bending over or sitting down on the Earth, it's temporary, here now, then fads away and disappears over time.
My youngest kid and me at the heart of the critter.
Cristin speaking at the opening/closing ceremony.
At 11:o0am we started to pull people off the site to get ready for our satellite photograph at 11:20am. There were 800-1000 people who lined up holding hands. I introduced the project, told a story about a salamander and a gingko leaf, and acknowledged the team and our sponsors. At the 11:20, we stood quiet and breathed in and out this big creative community adventure.
The famous chalk and mural artist and friend,
Tracy Stum. Tracy holds the Guinness World Record for the largest chalk drawing created by a single artist.
Two of my main supporters.
Maria and Kevin - Documentary Film
Over the last several days I have been thanking the larger groups of kids for helping me with this big dream, and that when they have a big dream for themselves, to come find me and I'll help!
Well, that's it for now. I have had lots of insights already. I'll blog daily for a couple of more days to share more. I'll post the satellite photograph when I receive it (hopefully this week). The production of this event was awesome, and went over without a hitch and that is because we were so organized!
Thank you everyone and everything in helping us out, all the seen and unseen worlds, it's been way too much fun. What incredible kids and adults I have meet and have had the honor to create with! I am not who I was when I started this.
End of the Story: the lost kids remembered that they were already home because they were connected to the some of the oldest living life on the planet, and connected to their creativity and imagination.
May we all be blessed more than ever with the Creative Spirit in our lives.
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