NEW PERSPECTIVES SERIES at EmperorsBridge.org Today marks the launch of a new Perspectives series at EmperorsBridge.org, the Web site of The Emperors Bridge Campaign. To find the series, click Resources in the Web site navigation — then click Perspectives in the drop-down menu. The inaugural piece — The Emperor & His Bridge: A San Franciscan Perspective — is by the late Michael Mattis, a founding member of the Campaign. :: :: :: At the Campaigns first meeting, last October, Michael — who, among so many other things, was a self-described advertising hack — volunteered to draft some talking points for the Campaign. Nearly every time Michael and I saw one another after that, he would say to me: Ive gotta get you those talking points. Finally, two Saturdays ago, Michael sent me an email with the subject line Talking Points and an attachment titled Norton Notes. Like Michael, I have a professional background in communications and branding. And what immediately was obvious that these were not, in fact, talking points as one usually imagines them — although, to be sure, the points were embedded. Instead, Michael had produced an editorial piece — a kind of op-ed — offering his own very personal, San Franciscan take on why the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge should be named for Emperor Norton. None of us could have imagined that, only a week later — and so many years too early — Michael would have left us, at the San Francisco-resonant age of 49 (7 x 7). :: :: :: But I quickly saw that Michaels piece opened up the opportunity for a whole SERIES of written perspectives, from people all OVER the Bay Area (and people who were born here but now live elsewhere) — as well as, for example: >>> from professional historians; >>> from amateur historians of the Gold Rush, the American West and the Victorian era; >>> from historically informed infrastructure geeks (calling Rachel Maddow!); >>> from advocates for the racially dispossessed communities for whom the Emperor demanded fair treatment; >>> from the Emperors own family members; >>>you name it. The idea would be >>> to express the diversity and the range that exists within the movement to name the Bay Bridge for Emperor Norton; >>> to demonstrate that the Emperor is a lens that pulls into focus many questions whose answers are key to an understanding of the Bay Area and, indeed, to human relationships; as well as >>> to MAKE IT PERSONAL — to show that there are real people, with real faces and real ideas, who are willing to stand up and explain why naming the Bay Bridge for the Emperor is important. :: :: :: There are two more of these pieces in the can — and another two being written. ARE YOU — OR IS SOMEONE YOU KNOW — A GIFTED WRITER WITH A UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE ON WHY THE BAY BRIDGE SHOULD BE NAMED FOR EMPEROR NORTON? Please contact me at john@EmperorsBridge. :: :: :: Thanks so much, and please spread the word — about the Perspectives series and about The Emperors Bridge Campaign! The Campaign sign-up is at emperorsbridge.org/signup.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 22:49:21 +0000
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