Friday, September 07, 2007

the september project comes alive

during september, the september project comes alive.

what: the september project is a grassroots effort to encourage free and public events in all libraries in all countries.
when: most events occur during the month of september. some events take place in october, november, and just about every month of the year.
where: september project events have occurred and continue to occur in over 900 libraries in 30 countries.
why: because we believe now's the time to gather publicly and share ideas about issues that matter. and because we love libraries.

as i shared with ACRLog, the september project has no political agenda. however, it is, of course, political. these days, to exercise any form of public discourse is political. to publicly assemble is political. to organize anything free is definitely political. to talk about issues that matter - to talk about the war, to talk about human rights, to talk about the Earth - that's political. in our times, any idea that encourages us to be citizens rather than consumers, any activity that encourages peace rather than war, is highly political.

on sunday, i fly to salt lake city to be part of the university of utah's september project. the events are being organized by marriott library in collaboration with the tanner humanities center, the hinckley institute of politics, and the associated students of the university of utah (students as co-sponsors! yes!). events include a "september speak out" in front of marriott library, a talk titled "why i blog and why you should blog" by myself, and a talk titled "democracy as an ongoing project: threats and challenges to democratic governance in the US" by alexander keyssar, professor of history and social policy at harvard university’s kennedy school of government. if you live nearby, please join us!

the september project began in 2004 which means this is the fourth september project. judging from images we've already received, this year's events are powerful, important, and quite beautiful.

the images below are clickable. click them if you're curious.




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