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Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Photos from The Chalking of Ghent

As I walked around The Chalking of Ghent this past Saturday,

and I saw all the kiddies flopped on the ground, drawing on the sidewalks of their city, I was filled with a sense of hope as bright as the pastel pinks of the chalk.

Photo | Anne K. Rodriguez.

Those kids were being taught that those sidewalks were theirs. Which, in reality, they are. This city–and whatever city you’re reading from–belongs to us all. On Saturday, there was no separation between government and the people, or private and public ownership. Everyone just did their thing, and it came in rainbows.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it a thousand more times before they haul me away: We own these streets. We do with them what we please.

In the famous words of the great Woody Guthrie, This land is your land, this land is my land. This land was made for you and me.

And now, some pictures from Saturday, which really was a lovely event that couldn’t have taken place without the diligent work of the organizers, most notably AltDaily’s Hannah Serrano, but also The Ronald McDonald House Charities of Norfolk and The Ghent Business Association.

Special thanks to the artists who helped out, Chelsey Barnes, Tim Skirven, Nichole Ashikis, Rhiann H Stewart, and Louis Fisher. And volunteers Bethany Morris and the Wave Church volunteers; and Melanie Cramer.

An extra special thanks to the local businesses that donated prizes: Salon Fringe, Virginia Stage Company, The Naro Cinema, The Hermitage, Young Chefs Academy, Ten Top, Fair Grounds, Ocean Mystique, Applebee’s, Yorgo’s, Mambo Room, Rita’s Italian Ice, Moe’s Southwest Grill, and the gracious hosts of the after-party, Y Not Pizza.

Plus, Color Me Mine, Harbor Gallery, East Coast Bicycles, and Garden Gazebo.

Click the names for photo galleries.

Anne K. Rodriguez

Walt Taylor

Chris Bonney

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ABOUT THE WRITER
Jesse is the editor in chief of AltDaily, and he's going to take this bio seriously, but not so seriously that he's going to continue in the third person. I've been involved with a bunch of local projects and civic groups in various roles, including: Hampton Roads, The Canvas; Art | Everywhere, Street Performance in Norfolk; Survive Norfolk; Hampton Roads Pride/Out in the Park; Bike Norfolk; re:Vision Norfolk, and such. I originally came to Norfolk as a Perry Morgan fellow in ODU's creative writing program. Before that I bummed around quite a bit, writing stacks of books that never got published, hitchhiking, couchsurfing, riding the Greyhound up down and back across this country. Some of my favorite jobs and volunteer gigs have included working on organic farms in Ireland; being first mate on an old sail boat in Holland; working at a long-term home for young men in South Africa; being a journalist and high school teacher in New York and California; washing dishes in Yosemite National Park; teaching English in DC and swimming in Florida; and interning at ESPN in Bristol, which was much less cool that you'd want it to be. My career highlights have been having three of my op-eds run in the New York Times, and being the executive producer of a six-part docu-drama on BET. Because school is cool I have three master's degrees (ODU for MFA, NYU for magazine journalism, University of Connecticut for secondary English education). I live in Norfolk because I believe in its potential. Email your ideas or nicely couched criticism to jesse@altdaily.com.
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