<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Chris wrote:</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"><i><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#0000FF">I'm hoping to stick with the native Indian theme. My class will be trying to follow all the leads that have been posted, as I hope others will also. Thanks all... </font></i></font></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Chris,</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">I applaud your idea of wanting to focus the content of the mural on the indigenous Native American population. However, I've got a pretty strong reaction to how you conceive of describing the theme in the mural. You mentioned that our history is one of "honor and shame". It seems to me though that your conception of the mural is to not address the rich complexity of the town and nation's history. It strikes me that your proposed idea of the content of the mural stems from your particular view of history and how you would prefer to have it represented. </div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "> </div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">My reaction is that a mural so narrowly focused leaves out a great deal of the complicated, and often painful, subject matter that makes up the history of the area interesting and rich. It seems disingenuous to me to produce a public, community-based mural that focuses solely on one narrow conception of our shared history. You have asked for community input, as well as the input of your students, and have suggested a particular theme, but then acknowledge that your team does <font class="Apple-style-span" color="#0000FF">"not have the time or inclination to research specifics about the American Indians that walked paths along the anacostia tributaries". </font> I don't understand how one can propose to create a historical mural without doing the research work necessary to adequately and honestly portray that history. </div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">As others have mentioned there are an abundance of historical resources nearby and easily available that could be drilled into to so your students and we as a community, could collaboratively create a mural that depicts a particular slice of our shared history with as much historical richness and complexity as possible. It strikes me that delving into the history and coming up with a mural that interprets that body of material in a multiplicity of ways (through various creators of content and mural panels) enriches the educational value and substance of the process for your students, as well as all of us who will read the mural over time. It may be my views stem from an equally particular and personal sense of how a community mural / art project should be constructed, so take the comments as you wish.</div></span><div><br></div><div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">Regards,</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">marc stauffer</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">4913 ravenswood rd.<br></span></font><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br></div></span><br><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#0000FF"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br></div><div><br></div></span></i></font><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br></span></font></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>