Roughly 9 months ago, Haiti was hit by an earthquake. A lot of money was raised and promises were made: “You will not be forsaken. You will not be forgotten.” said Obama, days after the natural disaster.
A journalist friend of mine, Jonathan Montpetit, was part of the passengers leaving on the first plane heading for Haiti to report on the unfolding events. When he returned to Montreal, he had a few stories to tell about the state of things – what he saw. He talked about things in precise and direct words, yet his stories remained somewhat distant and the details hard to imagine. He told of destruction, panic, tears of loss, bodies, and above all the smell of death. Listening to him, I did my best to understand, through my mind’s eye, what it was to live in that time and place as a Haitian or as a journalist witnessing the scene. Despite the blanket coverage Haiti received in the weeks after the quake, I have to admit it was difficult to put myself in his shoes.
A couple of weeks ago, Many and I were biking home along Sherbrooke when I noticed that a few of the 2D moose (fighting urge to say ‘meese’) had been painted over. I was pleased to see that they weren’t going to remain black canvases forever. Intrigued and inspired by Many’s posting on knitting graffiti, I searched for the source of the project. Put on foot by Le Quartier du Musée, Orign’Art is an experiment which presents 9 x 2D life-size moose on the sides of Sherbrooke street between Stanley and Saint-Mathieu for the purpose of promoting public art.
J’ai récemment découvert une nouvelle initiative dont l’idée de base me tourne dans la tête depuis quelques jours et me titille l’esprit par son ampleur. C’est en écoutant Jean-Noé Landry, un des conférenciers au Rendez-vous des médias citoyens le 23 Août dernier, que j’ai découvert l’existence de groupes à travers le monde qui œuvrent pour faciliter l’accès aux données et renseignements civiques… aux citoyens.
Roughly 9 months ago, Haiti was hit by an earthquake. A lot of money was raised and promises were made: “You will not be forsaken. You will not be forgotten.” said Obama, days after the natural disaster.
