Kumamoto Nichi Newspaper. October 25, 2013.

Kumamoto Nichi Newspaper. October 25, 2013.

"Before I die I want to..." Written on a blackboard placed at the Kawaura-machi Nakamura Community Center are those words along with the hopes of local residents. Zachary Johnson, twenty-five from Illinois in the US, working as an assistant language teacher in Kawaura, created the wall. According to Johnson, it's part of a public art project which began in New Orleans, US. In over forty countries, various people have installed the same kind of project, he said. Some hopes written by Kawaura residents were, "I want to become rich", "I want to have lots of dogs", etc. Johnson stated, "I want to give people a way to express the dreams they normally keep silent." The piece can be seen until the 29th. 

The first submission to i identify as by a high schooler! Submit your own self-definition. Check out the how-to at: http://iidentifyas.tumblr.com/

Submit your own self-definition. Check out the how-to at: http://iidentifyas.tumblr.com/

Apartments built for fishermen in 1994 in Ushibuka, Japan. Taken with a 1980's Minolta.

"A gay man was here. November 19th." Click the tag #wearehere to learn more about this project and how you can get involved.

To engage the students with 75 Voices, the exhibition of work by Mark Addison Smith that just finished its run at my middle school, I had them respond to Mark's pieces. Each illustration by Mark comes from a snippet of conversation he hears in his everyday life. So, as an optional English assignment, I asked students to choose one piece and imagine either the proceeding or following sentence in that conversation.

Twelve students participated, including some who usually show no interest in English. I especially liked the abstract interpretation by M. Shimasaki who imaged Mark's piece "Yes yes yes. No no no." as the silent conversations we have with ourselves.

I displayed their pieces side by side with Mark's for the remaining two weeks of the exhibition.