Day 11: Danielle

As you all know, tomorrow you'll be participating in the arts and activism project, One Million Bones. This will be the 3rd year that Bridge students have made bones. In fact, three years ago, Bridge students were the very first people to contribute to the project; we made the first bones! The goal for tomorrow's bone-making party is for each class to create a skull and as many other bones as they can with the clay we're given.

Last Thursday, Perrin showed you a video of Naomi Natale--the founder of the OMB project--discussing the arts and activism projects she's done and the reason she does them. So, you should remember quite a bit about the OMB project. Most importantly, you should know that the bones we make tomorrow are meant to commemorate someone that has lost their life to genocide. Your bones symbolize real bones--real people.

It is very important to me that you are all conscientious and compassionate art-makers; you should know and care about the world around you. So, going into tomorrow's bone-making event, it is integral that this project have some emotional resonance. I want you to be thinking about why you are making these bones, what the bones represent, and how we still live in a world that allows genocide.

For today's blog assignment, I want you to do a few things:

1. Revisit the One Million Bones website: http://www.onemillionbones.org. You should spend 5-10 minutes reading through various parts of the website; I'll be watching to make sure that you are doing this. Eventually--after you've looked through the rest of the site--I want you to visit the "Conflicts Today" link. This link tells you about all of the genocides that are happening right now--genocides that are happening as you read this blog post. (For those of you reading They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky, you'll recognize much of what is written about the genocide still happening in Sudan.) Spend at least 15 minutes reading about today's genocides. Find out as much information as you can. Read the survivor stories, and look at the photos. Half you blogging time today should be spent reading.

2. After you've spent 20 minutes reading, I want you to write a 300 word response to all of the information you just read. This response should tell us something new you learned (something you didn't know before today). The response should also be a place where you explore your own thoughts/ideas/confusions about both genocide and the OMB project. Finally, your response should tell us what goals you have for tomorrow's bone-making project and why you think taking part in these kinds of projects is important.

I'm looking for these blog posts to evidence the kind of deep, critical thinking that I know you're all capable of.