#paper monuments

[shenanigantwigs-landscape]

[wtulnews]

Stories at the Crossroads: Who Built This City?

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What is an appropriate monument to our city today? This is a question that guides the work of Paper Monuments: a project described as a series of opportunities, events, and interventions designed to elevate the voices of the people of New Orleans, as a critical process to creating symbols of our city that represent our collective vision, and to honor the erased histories of the people, events, movements, and places that have made up the past 300 years as we look to the future. Through public pedagogy and participatory design, Paper Monuments is working to expand our collective understanding of New Orleans. On September 25th, 2017, community gathered together at the corner of Canal Street and Jefferson Davis Parkway for a Paper Monuments event called Stories at the Crossroads. The concrete base where the Jefferson Davis monument once stood transformed into a stage- rather, into a stoop- where storytellers, writers, poets, and historians voiced their own answers to the question rooting the Paper Monuments project: what is an appropriate monument to our city today? Mr. John Hankins, Director of the New Orleans Master Crafts Guild, answered the question with one of his own: who built our city- and even more- who built the monuments to our city? Amidst details on ironwork and ornamental plastering, Mr. Hankins lays out the story of Philip Reid, a masterful craftsman born into slavery in Charleston, South Carolina who worked on the Andrew Jackson bronze monument in Jackson square and the Statue of Freedom at the top of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington D.C. An appropriate monument to the city, then, is one that honors those who really built it.

Stay engaged with the Paper Monuments project on their Facebook page

Learn more about their work from their website

Join in the conversation by giving your own answer to their question: What would be an appropriate monument to our city today? 

[oakleydalton-blog]

Paper Monuments || Oakley + Elliot

"C'mon! Stay in your own lane!" Oakley found herself shouting at the aggressive yet surprisingly skillful Italian drivers. She felt the tiniest bit of warmth creep to her cheeks when she remembered that she wasn't alone in the tiny car they had borrowed from the house. "The next thing on my list would be to learn some Italian profanities. That would be extremely fitting in a situation like this." the brunette said with a smirk, her dimples clearly showing. Currently, she and Elliot were driving through Rome with an unclear destination. They had meant to visit the ancient Roman amphitheater Oakley had studied in her book 'A Tourists Guide To Italy' but soon found out that they had missed the last admissions by a solid hour and a half. Not willing to admit defeat and leave the city without having visited at least one noteworthy monument, the pair decided to drive around and see where they could still experience history, despite the rapid lowering of the sun. 

Every morning Oakley woke up with the objective of visiting at least one ancient roman monument, or at least going through various parts of the city. With an opportunity like this practically handed to her on a silver platter, she wasn't about to take it for granted. However it was better said than done. She seemed to be stuck in an endless cycle of waking up with the intention yet never getting around to actually leaving the vortex of a house. In fact, she was in the process of mentally scolding herself for her newfound laziness when she ran into the boy in the first place. Her ears perked at the mention of leaving the mansion and doing some sight seeing. Oakley wasnt the type to believe in signs, but this was a sign. She couldn't help but giggle to herself at the thought of her 'Oxford self' going to extreme lengths to make sure her 'Valleys self' actually does something productive. Oakley and Eliiot had never even met before then, but even so, she was quick to accept the invitation. Proper introductions would have to come later.

"Well, I think we were just too little too late." the dark haired girl spoke after quite a while of driving -- she insisted on being the one behind the wheel as she thought it would give her the full italian experience. "Though I wouldn't go so far as to say this was a complete failure. We did drive by some places just sketchy enough to be the home of potential mafia. You know, if I ever decided I wanted to join. That would give me some street cred, you think?" Oakley bit her tongue, realizing that she was going off on yet another tangent -- she had already gone off on more than enough rants during their trip around the city, and she was sure the poor boy was just about ready to throw himself out of the vehicle. "I've been cut off one too many times. I think i'll start heading back to the house, unless of course you have any other ideas. It was nice meeting you Elliot. Seriously, I will write a letter to that dumb tourist book's editor telling them that they need to get their act together and add in business hours."